Advice on Senior Dogs and Ligament Injury – Bailey

Our golden retriever Bailey is ten and a half years old and has endeared two surgeries(TTS) for a torn cruciate ligament, the second time being to remove one of the failed/broken implants.

CCL Tears in Older DogHe has now torn the ligament in the other leg, our vet said he is healthy and would benefit from surgery, but we are very hesitant about surgery/recovery at his age.

Considering the first surgery was not completely successful we do not want to put him through that again. We want to do what’s best for Bailey to improve his quality of life and to keep him happy and healthy for years to come.

Any advice from similar situations would be very helpful and appreciated!

10 thoughts on “Advice on Senior Dogs and Ligament Injury – Bailey

  1. I can see your reluctance putting your dog through the surgery; particularly since the first one didn’t work out so well.

    You could go with a brace option, personally I really like what orthopets.com make

    1. I would agree with Jana that the brace is probably your best option, more specifically, a custom made device that will provide support for your dog throughout his life.

      You can find more info on the Orthopets brace Jana mentioned on this site at the following link- https://dogkneeinjury.com/dog-knee-brace-from-orthopets/ You can also read accounts/experiences with other braces by clicking “Dog Knee Brace” within the top navigation menu on every page.

      Wishing you all the best – be sure to check back in with us to let us know what you decide!

      1. Hi there, I thought I would give you update on how Bailey is doing. We decided to go with a custom made brace which he took to immediately! He is now going for walks again, and he can keep up with the rest of us happily wagging his tail the entire time! Thank you so much for the advice!

        1. Can you please tell me where you got the brace at? Our dog is 11 and just was diagnosed with a ‘probable tear’ I am not comfortable with putting him through surgery and am trying to find alternatives. I saw the wound wear brace but was wondering if there was another, better option out there.

          1. Hi Kristen, we got our brace for Bailey from K-9 Orthotics
            http://www.k-9orthotics.com/
            We spoke to our vet who ordered the casting kit to get an accurate cast of his leg to send them. The brace fits great and they were very helpful, even calling to make sure we were happy. I hope this helps, best of luck.

          2. Surgery is a scam. None of the vets mentioned how much age factors in surgery recovery. They did not hesitate to state the price, $5k in south Pasadena they wanted $10k. When I asked if there was any wiggle room they lady replied “No”. Options were never mentioned.

        2. Great. The surgery is a scam. We had it on our 8 year old lab. We should have went with the brace

  2. Hi
    I had the same decision to make a few years ago, but with a 13 year old huskie mix. We saw on the xray that her other knee was full of arthritis spikes, so decided to go ahead. She healed well and lived for nearly another 4 years (to 17! very old for a big dog). I am convinced it helped her to live a good quality few extra years.

    Hope this helps…

      1. We had it done on our 8 year old lab. There are other factors such as age, muscular build etc that they do not bring up. South Pasadena wanted $10k and we’re rather flippant about the price. We travelled to,San Diego for the surgery $5k. My wife a physician in Mexico did every bit of physical therapy we were instructed to do. It did not work. I just found an article stating most surgeries are don on dogs aged 2-5. After surgery my dog could walk a block and that was it. Get the brace.

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