Torn ACL experience?

[sparrowgreen]

Haven't been around much lately, but Bella tore her ACL this week and will be having surgery soon. I know we used to have several posters who'd been through this - anyone around to offer me some advice? How was recovery? Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[mmp]

Which surgery is your surgeon doing? My dog has had both repaired, a year apart. Both times she had an extracapsular repair.
Be as conservative as you can in recovery. While the surgery is a little forgiving, you don 't want to go through surgery, only to screw it up by letting your dog do too much.

[luvmygsp]

Poor Bella!

Ditto mmp. Cooper tore both CCLs & has had surgery (Traditional, extracapsular) on both....he just had a partial hardware removal of the most recent surgical side this Feb. Its been a loooonnnng, frustrating road, but he is *finally* back to normal & seemingly going to stay that way. (::knock on wood:

I have LOADS of my pp's from thenest about our journey. PM me if you'd like me to send them to you for more advice.

GL! & my best piece of advice regarding choosing which surgery, & which surgeon, is to go w/your gut. We consulted w/our Vet, as well as a orthopedic specialist. We chose to go w/our regular Vet, as opposed to the specialist, b/c we just didn't feel like the specialist was the right choice for our dog. We also didn't go w/the type of surgery that "most" people might choose/suggest b/c we didn't feel like it was the right choice for us, even though our dog was/is young, & extremely highly active, high energy. Ultimately, only you know your dog, your lifestyle....etc. & for everyone thats different. There's no right or wrong choice here, you just have to make the choice thats right for your dog.