HELP! my super-ACTIVE dog is getting ACL surgery

    • Bronze

    HELP! my super-ACTIVE dog is getting ACL surgery

    Today I got the diagnosis that my 2-year-old GSD mix has a torn ACL. I'm having the surgery done, but I'm moving across the country in a couple of days (driving, with the dog) so she'll be about 2 weeks before she can have the surgery. My baby (Maggie) is SUPER active (about 3 hours a day of pretty intense exercise, she's very very lean (borderline underweight), not a big fan of any food (I've tried everything, including human food).
    My questions are:
    How much activity/ exercise can a dog do with a torn ACL?
    Has anyone had experience with this surgery and can tell me what to expect, or recommend things (such as a pain patch?)?
    How on earth do you keep a super-active dog who isn't interested in food entertained for 2 months after surgery?!?
    Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer! 
    • Gold Top Dog
    I've done a lot of rehab on Border collies - not specifically the ACL post-operative proceedure you'll be going through, but crate resting for up to three months. Yes, the two words guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any BC owner - "crate rest". [:o][:o]

    First, immedately after the surgery, follow the doctor's instructions to keep your dog comfortable. Go lightly on the pain meds. Pain is your friend, and will keep your dog quiet during the crucial initial healing period. IT sounds cruel, but pain doesn't affect a dog the same way it does us - as long as you offer a quiet, safe place for your dog and nice things to eat when he feels like eating. Dogs don't sit there and go, "Why is this happening to ME? How can I stop it?" like we as humans do. They know instinctively what to do and as long as you offer him what he wants - peace and quiet and safety - he'll be OK with it.

    OK, things to do while on crate rest. If you don't already have a clicker, get one, and get a book on basic training, and then download all the stupid pet tricks you can find that don't involve too much moving around. Run everything by your ortho vet, then once your dog is cleared for limited activity, spend part of that three hours you used to spend wearing him out physically, doing brain games. You will probably find that the brain games wear him out faster than you are used to!

    Also, consider going to (if you aren't already there) an all raw diet, where the bulk of your dog's food would be raw meaty bones. I know you are moving and it's going to be difficult to manage such a diet in the midst of all that - but the benefits, both mental and physical, are terrific. If you feed your dog his meal twice or three times a day, plus recreational bones, he'll be spending a lot of time crunching his food. This works the brain and body more than you would think.

    Once he's used to the bones, you might even try feeding the bones solidly frozen. That's REALLY fun (and it's a great timeof year for it, too). When we go away and Ben has to be kenneled with a farm sitter, we leave him a frozen whole duck and he's literally happy for an entire day. You can also prepare ground meat treats and stuff kongs with them - even the pickiest eater can't resist fishing ground chuck mixed with sardines, egg, yogurt and squash, from inside a kong.

    You'll want to get informed on how much he will need to eat in a day, and make sure you don't feed more than that, but most highly active dogs have such a high metabolism that it's difficult to overfeed on a completely raw based regime. The only real "danger" you run is turning a picky eater into a food hound! That's what happened with my Ben - but I love the fact that he gets excited at mealtimes, snarfs down his food, and actually looks like I feed him most of the time, unlike before when he pretty much looked like a walking skeleton all the time.

    If you fix his food, you can also optimize his diet for maximum healing and muscle health. Egg, turkey, and pork are easy on the stomach while on pain meds and antibiotics. Vitamin E and B supplements promote healing and liver health and fight post operative depression. Antioxidants help clear out damage. Any raw meaty treat with a lot of connective tissue, provides the GAGs he needs for repairing the surgery site. You can get books and do research to guide you in this. http://www.rawdogranch.com is a great place to start.

    Good luck! I've got two rescues here on crate rest, so I definitely feel your pain!
    • Gold Top Dog
    What a great and informative post, Becca. Thank you!
    • Gold Top Dog
    the surgery is usually pretty succesful and if your vet feels that the pup may be too active after the surgery he/she will put on a self limiting cast or brace...The dog will get used to it pretty soon....should be no problem..its not a difficult operataion and when the tendons or ligaments are  fastened in they are pretty secure..
    • Gold Top Dog
    When KayCee had her second knee operated on, it was pretty bad and the ACL was torn.  It had to be repaired, the tibia crest cut and the tibia torquec and permanent pins put in.  I had to keep her inactive for 6 weeks and kept her tied.  None of my dogs had ever been crated at that time and I was scared I would do more damage trying to get her into the crate, so that is why i tied her.  She was tied to sofa leg and a chair was placed on the sofa so she coudn't try to get up on it.  But i did spend a lot of time here, massaging her back, etc as she could not exercise o roll around like she enjoyed doing.  Long story, short, her leg healed just fine and she can run and jump and play with no problem.
     
    PS.  I did borrow a large wire crate when we found out Honey had heart worms after adopting her and she had to hve the treatment and be crated all those weeks.
    • Gold Top Dog
    you might want to see if there is a vet clinic somewhere nearby that offers physical therapy. In humans those that "rest" after surgeries like this recover much slower and often not as fully than those that immediately start on physical therapy programs.
    • Gold Top Dog
    How on earth do you keep a super-active dog who isn't interested in food entertained for 2 months after surgery?!?

     
    You ask the vet how much your particular dog should be able to do, then you crate her the rest of the time or keep her tethered.  [&o]