Thread: Ruptured ACL

This is a hard one to write and I need a bit of help.
My best mate of 10.5 years has ruptured his ACL. He is a little foxy x jack russell terrier. Useless at hunting but keep me company and has guided me through some tough shitty times.

I feel like shit cause he hurt his back leg and seemed to recover so as a treat I threw the ball for him in the backyard. Since he is so ball obsessed and a little psycho this is when he ruptured his ACL. We stopped walking him for a few weeks and hopes he would recover. I went away on a fire deployment to Canada for 5 weeks thinking he would be back to his self but he's walking around on 3 legs.
So I took him to the vet yesterday to have a once over. Had some X-rays done and confirmed he ruptured his ACL. Surgery is recommended for him.

I don't know what to do, one side of me says not to do surgery. He never has done well after surgery and the recovery would be hard on him. Let him live life and make him as comfortable as you can with knowing he has the potential of 5 years left or more. Doing some reading it is common that the other knee shits its self from the compensation of the bung knee.

Then there is surgery, potentially he makes a full recovery. But it's also common for the other knee to breakdown in time.

I can afford one surgery but two is getting up there. It sounds like it would be $3000 a leg. I want to do what's best but Im lost here. It seems like to me whatever track I go down will be the wrong one. He's a healthy fit dog but getting up there in age. I just fear whatever I choose it will be the wrong decision.

I anyone has some wise words I would be more than grateful.

I would go surgery no surgery and his other good leg breaks down then no back legs and you are possibly looking at the vet recommending something more final - at his age to be on three legs thats tough on him and yes could result in his good leg becoming a lot less useful- he may well make a good recovery - its worth that risk - in the mean time have a dam good look around what can I sell to offset the cost what is sitting around gathering dust could be used for funds -

We had a Pointer do his ACL at 6 years old. Had the surgery and he was back in action like nothing ever happened.
Sadly kidney failure got him at 10 1/2.
For us it was worth the surgery even though it was not cheap, even if he had only made another couple of years it would have still been worth it.

I was thinking about this the other day as well. I figured it wouldn't be hard for me to do some extra mahi to make an extra 3k. Sure it might mean giving up a few weekends or evenings, but I'd do it in a heart beat for my best mate.

If you love him, do it; he loves you unconditionally, but will live in pain for the rest of his life if you don't.Up to you

Reading between the lines of your post . . . You can tell from his demeanor and behavior if he is distressed or in continuous pain. If he's not distressed by the injury I'd leave him be. Same process if he injures the other one, Time is a wonderful panacea for problems with dogs and horses, interventions by vets (however well meant) are often to clouded by anthopoligical thinking, to the detriment of the animals "enjoyment of life". I'll probly get in the shit here but a lot of our treatments for humans is the same.

We just spent 15k on our 8 year old dachshund. He was a very energetic dog, but unfortunately suffered a slipped disk and he was in a lot of pain with mobility issues. 2 weeks into recovery now and his pain has immediately reduced, but still gaining mobility back. Unfortunately it’s likely it will happen again. Our insurance covered 5k.

We didn’t have any other options really so was an easy choice not even a discussion

The other leg will likely go anyway since it is now taking more of a hit with him favouring that side. I would get the current leg done so when the other one goes he still has 1 good leg.

We done our old foxy similar age she ended up doing here other ACL with in 12 months from what i remember . We didn't operate the second time round we managed it.
She was around 14 when we had her euthanize, she ended up with cancer
One of the best dogs i ever owned

I feel for you, mate. That sort of injury is par for the course for a JR..I know, I had them for 30 years. Good luck, I hope you can sort it.

My 2cents worth..

Our 13yr old Lab did something similar, vet said $6500 to fix it .
We are half shares in her as a breeding bitch but day to day vet bills are our responsibility. The other fella involved advised us not to do the operation as he said she could die of old age a month or 2 after the op. Our dog is still alive, limps a bit when tired but seems happy enough, more than happy to chase a ball.
My son who has farm dogs has done a couple of similar operations and every time the other leg has gone.. he also advised against operating.

My pitbull did hers in

Did the surgery and waiting on the other one to go, i dont think i will do the next leg tho.
She has not bounced back very well at all and went from a dog who would come for a 5k walk every night and do trips to Rangiwahia hut etc to now she can do about 2kms slowly and much more she is limping the next day.

When they performed the first surgery, the vet said he wouldn't recommend a double for her if it goes, as the knee they just operated on wouldn't handle the recovery of the other one, she always had bad joints and has elbow displacer in both her front legs.

Edit to add

https://wildernessathlete.com/produc...thlete-new-dog

I give her this topping with dinner and it makes a big difference, i tried about 6 local ones in powders, chews and drops but she responds best when having this.

Thanks for all the comments. I'm going to have a chat with the vet tomorrow and try to make a decision soon. Hea a happy little guy right now so it's hard to put him under the knife.

By now I think this issue will have been sorted ,however here's my view for what its worth .I've had several dogs over the years that have had the ACL to rip. If you do nothing ,it will remain as is ,he will hobble for the rest of his days and when he's really old trying to manage getting up and walking will be a task for the wee guy. As long as you strictly follow the advice of your vet regards post OP there is no reason he wont made a full recovery. A good idea is to include joint tablets in his food ,it does help keep the dog moving .Jumping is the most common cause of the ACL so try to keep any at a bare minimum. Keep us update if you can what ever you decide for your wee pal. I'd thought hunting would have been in his DNA given his breed .

I had a foxy x whippet staff. Fantastic little pig hunter who ruptured his ACL, I sent him to a mate who kept him in a run and only walked him on a lead for 3 months. He returned to hunting with vigor and died at 14 of a great retirement. Small light dogs have a good chance of mending if restrained for some months, it's hard, hence why I sent him away as he would not have been able to stand it at home with all the crew hunting and not him.
Good Luck!