Any veterinarians in the house? (Rottie with TWO torn cruciate ligaments)

[Stugein]

Several weeks ago my rottweiler started limping, not putting weight on her rear, right leg. We thought it may be arthritis or some joint/muscle injury and we started giving her glucocamine which seemed to help her. After a couple weeks though it started getting worse again so we took her to the vet who decided that she had dislocated her kneecap. He gave us Cosequin and Deramaxx for her and told us to check back in with him in a week's time. Two days ago she suddenly began struggling to stand, limping even more severely when she walked, obviously in a lot of distress. She can't go up or down any steps..in fact I need to carry her down the one, single step off my porch to the yard so she can do her business. I called the vet back and he referred me to an orthopedic vet specialist who I saw today. The specialist informed me that she had torn the cruciate ligament in both knees. The first (right) she injured outright and probably partially tore the other (left) at the same time, but completed the tear after a couple weeks of trying to support herself on only her left side.

At this point she struggles to change positions (from standing to sitting or laying and vice verse), cannot walk without severe limping, can't stand upright with any weight on her hind legs, and cannot navigate even a single step on her own. Rottweilers are very stoic dogs and won't tell you they are in pain, but it is pretty obvious.

The options I was given by the specialist were a nylon cord "extracapsular stabilization" surgery at $3,000 per leg or TPLO surgery at $4,500 per leg. On top of the high cost, she said that they would only do one leg at a time with 8-12 weeks recovery time and physical rehab between/after each surgery. They said that they dog may get back to "around 85%" but will "never be 100% again".

My rottweiler is 6 years old. What's the prognosis for something like this on a dog her age (rotties have a life expectancy in the neighborhood of 10 years)? Is it fair to subject her to a surgery, 8-12 weeks of being crated the majority of the time and rehab, then another surgery and then another 8-12 weeks of the same? Are there any non-surgical options that we could explore that would help her? Is there a different surgical procedure they didn't tell me about that I should be aware of? And at the risk of sounding callous (honestly, I'm choking back tears as I type this) cost is a factor too; I love my rottie to death, but I just can't swing >$6,000-$9,000...I just want to find an option that stops her from hurting.

What say you, ES? Do we have a vet in the house? Anyone else with experience with this type of injury in a dog? I'd appreciate any input.

[Heisenberg]

Don't really have any input - 6 years seems really young to be having to make such painful decisions. I can't imagine being in your position so I'll just say I hope an option comes up that allows your dog to live out the rest of her life.

My lab will be 3 in April and I can't even imagine having to think about that option. I'll keep your dog in my thoughts and hopefully someone here can offer up some better advice.

[maxiumone]

http://www.helpinghandsvetva.com/contactus.html

You should give these people a look. They specialize in a less expensive way for surgery for pets that might end in otherwise putting the pet down. I had to have that surgery done 4 years ago to my Australian cattle dog mix and wish I was able to use there services.(did not know about them and dont think they were in business) We paid almost $4K to have it done to our dog. He is health and while not as agile as before has had a very happy life.

[nycskinsfan]

The good news is the surgery will help. My Rottie who is now 9 has had both of her ACL's repaired. The price seems a little steep per leg, we payed approximately $1,800 but that was a few yrs ago. At the time we didn't have the $ but we used Care Credit which provided us w/ an extremely low interest credit option. Unfortunately, the surgeries will be required for her to ever regain a comfortable life. PM if you'd like to discuss further I've been through it and would be more than willing to provide you w/ additional info.

[Bliz]

I passed your post on to a friend of mine who is a vet tech, and this is her reply:

I hadn't clarified that you are not in Atlanta. So you can ignore that part about coming in, unless you want to make the drive. Though for that level of savings, it might be worth it

I would definitely have him come see dr. Shepherd. We do that surgery on the knee for about 1250 per knee. He does a lot of them. I do not know if he would do them at the same time or not. I would be Happy to talk to him so if you want to give him my email, I could give him some more info. if he did them at the same time, the price would be less than doing two separate. Also the second would be cheaper than the first because we wouldn't have to repeat all the xrays and pre surgical bloodwork. I do feel that this dog could still have a very high quality of life if he can get the surgery done. There is pretty strict cage confinement on his part post surgery but it is worth it. There really is no good inexpensive surgical alternative. If he wants to come see us, give him my email and I would love to get him in for an initial consult with dr. S. An exam is $52, and it is definitely worth it to get a second opinion.

I think the key takeaway here is that you need to get a 2nd opinion and pricing from a different vet than the one you are going to.

If you do have some follow up questions, send me a PM

[JimboDaMan]

Check out the vet school hospitals. We had surgery done at Virginia Tech vet hospital and were extremely impressed with the professionalism and the results. I know its a hike for you, maybe there's something closer, but for us Tech charged less than half what our regular vet estimated.

[Huly]

I was looking around on the internet to determine what new treatments might be out there (it has been awhile since I was a Vet Tech) and came across these websites:

http://www.tiggerpoz.com/

http://dogkneeinjury.com/

http://www.vetinfo.com/dligamt.html

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-practice-news-columns/complementary-medicine/changing-views-on-ccl-repair.aspx

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_2/features/Canine-Ligament-Injury-Options_16198-1.html

Also I would call other vets to get prices on the surgery as from my expierance specialist rip the owner off and most local vets should be able to do the surgery if needed.