# Partial ACL tear



## SouthCentralDuke (Apr 2, 2013)

Duke's an extremely active dog. When I got home yesterday he was limping so I stayed home with him and we slept about 11 hours last night. I woke up he was walking on his leg again, pulling at the leash, etc. I took him to the vet and he lied down while we waited then all of a sudden started limping. Turns out the vet said he pulled his ACL, (no hip or knee problems luckily) and he might have torn it. If it is torn the vet says it's not a full tear as he guards it but still allows some touching to it and can walk on it at times. Right now he's on anti-inflammatories and sedatives. Cage rest 2 weeks then follow up later. Right now no surgery doc wants to put it off as a last resort as Duke is really young (1.5 years) and can most likely heal through it as he doesn't believe its a full tear. 

Any experiences with anyone? When he heals can he run and stuff again?

The vet says there's not really any way to prevent it unless I crate him all day and chain him up, it's just one of those things that happens I guess


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## jttar (Jan 31, 2013)

Hello SCD. My boy Titus experienced a very similar situation. It does take anywhere from three to four months to heal on it's own without surgery. According to my vet, letting it heal on it's own takes longer then if they have surgery but it is not necessarily a better repair. Seems once it happens the dog is proned to having more problems with the leg with surgery or letting it heal on it's own. My vet put my boy an Tramadol for pain and Carprofen for an anti inflammatory. 

The hard part is trying to keep a high energy dog down. They have such a high pain tolerance that they try to play and run despite the pain. Best of luck to Duke.

Joe


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## Jen A (Jul 13, 2014)

My late great Buster Boy tore both ACLs after a bad fall. Recovery took what felt like forever because it was hard keeping him still, but a few months later he was back to running, backpacking, digging holes, taking more flying leaps off of the porch, and doing all the other normal dog stuff.

Rest assured, Duke will heal and get back to being his regular self.


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## SouthCentralDuke (Apr 2, 2013)

Thank you both! Yes he is also on tramadol and he seems to be making a good recovery so far while in the house. He walks on it like nothing happened since yesterday when he goes potty outside and sleeps a lot. It gets tempting to let him run around again but I know I have to keep him contained. He doesn't like being crated so far house confinement works fine he just sleeps with the relaxant and anti inflammatory. He's back on the parvo diet: white rice and chicken, no complaints there. Lots of fish oil and water, joint suplements soon to come. And he takes melatonin whenever he starts getting to anxious being couped up or can't sleep, vet said 1 does of 3mg is ok.

The vet also said in the future even though it's not the worst tear possible he can still go back to doing everything normal but might have some issues if he has a day of a lot of activity he'll be sore the next day in that rear leg i can live with that. but other than that the vet says parvo was a much worse situation and he'll be running around in a couple months. Right now it's 2 weeks heavy rest then 2 weeks rest and 10 minute walks with a follow up appointment. Good news is that his left leg is extremely stable so no damage to that one while he was limping around. If i can get him through today with no limping he'll finally have had one good day without pogo sticking around and i'm confident from here on in if i can keep him off it he'll be able to avoid a full tear and let it heal.

vet really wants to avoid surgery. so far i take this as a blessing as i read most people's experience with vets is they start drooling at the mouth when they hear strained ACL. this is the same vet that was going to open dukes arm to physically find a vein when his blood vessels were too constricted during his parvo last year (he was 4 lbs and a bag of bones at the time). luckily after the third stick they found a vein but i remember the tech telling me "if the doctor can't get a stick he's preparing to open him up right now and make it happen" so i do trust this place


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## Jazzy&Veronica (Mar 18, 2011)

My girl had a partial tear which we healed with conservative management - took a good 6 months. We saw a surgeon who actually wanted to avoid surgery.

Once she healed I think it held for a couple of years - until she re-injured it with a full tear and needed surgery.

When we were doing conservative management, we built her up slowly as her leg healed. After her surgery - we did the same thing, but also took her to rehab and got some additional ideas for rehab exercises. We made a video of our rehab "plan" which may give you ideas - just remember to not do too much too soon.

(We were also super cautious about rehab because our vet strongly recommended the less invasive lateral suture surgery, not the TTA or TPLO - which is somewhat controversial for larger dogs. There were several reasons we agreed with the vet - but we were extra cautious during the recovery process and didn't rush things).


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## JoKealoha (Mar 22, 2011)

my boy just completed 6 months of rehab for partial tear.
i can't stress this enough... SLOWER is BETTER.
i consulted 3 surgeons and 3 canine physical therapists. and decided not to have surgery. 3 to 4 weeks of absolutely no exercise. pee and poop then right back inside. he hated me and i hated me too. 
i only gave him pain meds for 2 weeks. and anti-inflammatories during the first month. but after his month of rest, we did everything. cryo. hyrdo. laser. acupuncture. he was already on glucosamine and omega-3s. eventually strength training at home. stairs. alot of stretching and ALOT of icing.
he got better fast. and i became less vigilant. less disciplined. i allowed him to pull on the leash, run little, and jump into the car. then we had a setback. he limped around for a week and we basically went back to square one.
currently, he's about 95%.
if your pup was walking the next day, sounds like it might be more of a severe sprain or minor tear. but whatever rehab strategy you take. my advice is the more conservative the better.


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## Jen A (Jul 13, 2014)

Be careful with him. My guy was wanting to jump on the sofa, play, and pull on the leash 3 days after a de-gloving injury. There's no way that leg of his didn't hurt - he just didn't care. And there was no way he could do what he wanted to without messing up his stitches.

They'll re-injure themselves at the drop of a hat if you don't make sure they can't move that much. For my guy, that meant he got out of the crate to eat, pee, and poop. That was it until it was certain the wound was knitting together well.

Take it slow even though it drives you crazy and makes him miserable. In the long run, your dog will make a better recovery.


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## Strongboy (Nov 26, 2013)

*TPLO surgery Right and Left Knees*

We are in week 2 of rehab for Caesar's second TPLO surgery - ugh.....and it's totally our (humans) fault.

Caesar is a two-ish year old APBT from the Humane Society, at the time of adoption he appeared healthy, happy and ready to hit the trails. Unfortunately we over exercised him, taking him on trail runs, hikes, dog beach, swimming, and anything that we thought he'd love as much as we did (anthropomorphism at its best). Last April we noticed that he would limp and non-weight bear on his right leg and when he would sit he always kept his hind end offset to one side. We took him to four vets for consult and each one told us it was his CCL and recommended surgery due to his age. We decided to try a more conservative approach and rehab. After six months of strict leash walks, no running, jumping, etc, he "appeared" healed so we let him run with a dog pal.....later that night he was non-weight bearing again....we eventually gave in and had the first (of two) TPLO surgeries with VSH. Three months later (two weeks ago) we had his second TPLO surgery. We are following the vet's instructions with rehab (water treadmill, physical therapy, ice, massage, glucosamine, Caprofen, Tramadol, etc...

Our goal is for Caesar to be able to run with his dog pals again.


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