Billy is at the vets today having the first operation on his knees as he has cruciate ligament problems - Podge and I are missing him so much.

He is having a wedge of bone taken out to adjust the angle of his knee so the cruciate ligaments will be able to hold it in place better. In six weeks he's having the other knee done so the vet said no walks until Christmas

Poor Podge doesn't know what to do with herself now Billy's not here - she spent all morning trying to play with another springer boy who didn't want to know, in the park this morning!

Has anyone had experience of this operation in a young dog, or of hydrotherapy? I'd really appreciate some advice and reassurance!

Regards

Julia

I haven't, sorry. Just wanted to send loads of healing thoughts. When will he be home?

Sam and Angel

thanks! Hopefully be home tomorrow, stitches out in about 10 days, hydrotheraphy in about 3 weeks hopefully.

I thought I'd take Billy everywhere with me in the car to keep him from getting bored without his walks - he's so good travelling.

A crate will come in handy too. Im sure there a a couple of memebers who know about cruciate ops - i will just have to try and remember who!

EDITED: try this link http://springthing.3.forumer.com/index.php...uciate+ligament

thanks for the link - interesting ball facts! The link on the rotweiller site was great - nice to see what Billy's having.

Just had a call from the vet - they won't operate today! Despite being seen by the vets four times in the last week they didn't notice he has a skin infection until after they put him under G.A today. Poor dog has had to go through this today for nothing - very frustrating.

Re-scheduled until next week if the anti-biotics work.......

I don't know how similar they are but when Angel had her hip replacement, 5 days prior to the op she had to have antibiotics pills and Maloseb (sp?) shampoo - though she didn't have signs of skin infection the vet said he like to be totally sure - as it can increase risk of failure rate.

How frustrating and worrying for you, can you pick him up today now? It may be worth asking the vet about the shampoo too.

Sorry you and Billy having such a hard time of it

Poor Billy

Sally had cruciate damage, luckily a strict programme of no walks then onlead only helped to strengthen her leg so she doesn't need the opeartion (the vet was reluctant to operate due to her age and arthritis - apparently the op would have made that worse)

Anyway we do go to hydrotherapy! or should I say did, as we got to a point where we couldn't put up with the physio any longer he was so mean!! so we are trying to find alternative hydro at the mo. Anyway, hydrotherapy is fine, sally didn't like it at first as, although she loves swimming, she couldn't understand I guess why she was stuck on the end of a pole!! but gradually she got used to it and the physio built up the time.

Poor you keeping him in till Xmas. It is hard knowing you can't walk your beloved dog, but still have to take the other dogs out of course which makes it harder. Xmas will be here before you know it though
There are people on here who have had the cruciate ops.....I am sure they will be along!

that's really helpful, thank you!

I may give the shampoo a go then - Billy hates the bath though! Sounds like you've got a really good vet.

So glad to hear sally didn't need to go through the op and she's so much better now. Billy is only about a year old, so they need to do a long term solution for him.

My O.H is unsure if Billy should be operated on - says he's such an active dog he can't be in much pain at all - so why operate now. Apparently there is a risk of the ligaments tearing altogether and also a risk of arthritis if not treated but I do wonder if I should wait a while now......

my OH was the same, "but Danni, look ate her racing around, how can anyone say she's in pain" He hated the idea of not walking her you see as she loves her walks so much.

But if it's been advised, tbh I wouldn't go on how your dogs seems when running around as, well if anything like sally, she looked like she was tearing around but she wasn't putting enough weight on her back legs, the vet and physio said this could have dire consequences in the future, and you could end up putting them in a worse situation a couple of years down the line.

They are quite stoic I find, specially if it means continuing a walk. After Sally had her foot op last month, she was jumping on and off the sofa with bandage on the same evening and giving me heart atatcks!! it must have hurt her....but she was oblivious!!

I think you could get some good advice from Sandy (gundogs.inc) and Robert who have both got dogs who had snapped ligaments, and Claire (Godolphin Girl) I believe had to give Ruby rest to save her ligaments from further damage. If you pm them I'm sure they'll be happy to give you some advice.

What Danni says makes sense though - they are such lively dogs, they'll make any pain seem less than it really is!

Oh I wish him lots of luck!! My boy recently had an operation for his cruciate, they did TPLO on him. We go tomorrow for the follow up ex-ray, and providing everything is okay, we should be able to begin easing him into exercise once more. Sending healing thoughts for a quick recovery and healing!!

Good luck. I have no experience of cruciates, but have had lots of positive hydrotherapy sessions. We took our old girl for a couple of years before she died, and I'm sure, and so was our vet that it was the swimming that kept her active for so long. We take Charlie just for fun once a month, so if he does get an injury he can exercise through swimming.
I think you need to find a place you like with people you can work with to get the best experience.
And ours was covered on the insurance with a vets letter.

Although my boy wasn't a springer he had both cruciates done one at a time (TPLO). He had a fantastic vet and we got hydrotherapy paid for twice weekly by Pet Plan. I really would recommend the hydro if you can get it - we used a treadmill as they said he might be lazy with his bad legs in the pool and in the treadmill he had to use them and you could see exactly what was going on. Jake grew to love his treadmill sessions and couldn't wait to get in when I took him. (all the ladies telling him what a clever boy he was and getting yummy treats I'm sure had something to do with it!) He recovered very well, although we really stuck to the vets guidelines re exercise and had to teach him a 'use it' command when he was being lazy with his leg. In fact, about 4 months after having the second op the vet cleared him to begin agility for fun and the people there didn't believe that he'd had it done. One other thing that was recommended was to get him to walk over poles spread on the floor to encourage him to use his legs independently again after the op.

All fingers and paws crossed for you x

It's so reassuring to hear success stories, thank you. I'm not sure if our insurance will pay for the hydrotherapy yet, if not we may not eat for a few weeks so we can pay for it ourselves as it sounds so worth it!!!

It's amazing to think Billy could start agility - there's a canine fun session near us that I'm sure he'd love when he's all better. I was a little concerned he may not get full springing use back but I feel reassured now, thank you.

I'm sure Billy will do great, just a thought but at our pool they let you share a session so I used to take Jake on the insurance and my friend would come for a fitness swim with her dog and just pay £6 for it as Jake had to do small amounts to start with. Perhaps if it isn't covered (or evfen if it is) you could look at sharing a session with someone as out of half an hour your boy will probably do some short bursts with a little rest in between and then that will be him done in under 10 minutes for the first while which leaves lots of time for a fitness swim or even a fun swim if you have that facility...

Best of luck x