Dog Ruptured Cruciate Ligaments
The dog may run happily out to play, turn suddenly, give a yelp of pain, and return on three legs, holding a rear leg up. You examine the leg from the foot to the hip, flex, and extend it with no discomfort registered on the part of your pet, but the injured dog will not put any weight on it. This is a story veterinarians hear regularly and more often than not the cause of this problem is the rupture of a ligament on the inside of the knee or stifle joint. We compare the problem to that of a football player whose knee is hit from the side. We might be able to correct the “football knee” with a pressure bandage if the area were shaped like the human knee, but as it is cone-shaped, bandages slip down and just don’t work. There are a host of surgical procedures to correct it.
When an anatomical defect is present in one leg, it is apt to be present in the opposite leg also, so an injury to one results in the dog having to carry its weight on the good leg. This may precipitate the same injury as in the affected leg, resulting in two painful limbs.
Dog Ruptured Cruciate Ligaments Treatment
The following are information on the various treatment for dog-ruptured cruciate ligaments.
- In case you find that the pain in the knee joint of your dog is persisting for a long period, you are recommended to take your dog to a vet clinic for surgery. Dogs belonging to large breeds suffer from knee joint problems for a long period and should be treated effectively with the aid of surgery.
- There are various options for surgical treatments depending on the type of knee injury. There is no such best surgical treatment for knee joints as different surgeons have different opinions for the variety of surgery present. The following are the various surgeries like the over-the-top fascial soft fraud technique, lateral fabella imbrication suture, tibial plateau leveling osteotomy, or TPLO.
In case the dog is not treated with surgery the knee rupture may lead to the development of osteoarthritis. But with the aid of the right surgery, the dog will not be affected by osteoarthritis. In case your dog is overweight provide it with a diet that ensures loss of weight healthily. This will reduce the pressure that is exerted on the knees.
The best way to keep your dog away from the incidence of dog-ruptured cruciate ligaments is to take up proper preventive steps. Maintain the weight of your dog to a certain healthy range. Overweighed dogs are prone to the disease. To ensure good health of the joints you may provide your dog with dietary supplements consisting of glucosamine, chondroitin, perna mussel, and such. Do not allow your dog to go for a sudden jump or a run of around 0-50mph in 5 seconds.
See more: Dog Ruptured Heart