9 month old CC ACL problem and activity restriction?

[Becky5565]

We just found out that our 9 month old cane corso, Bear has a problem with his left ACL and that he will have a problem is his right one in the near future. We are trying the restricted activity approach first. All the articles I've read involve dogs that are older. Any helpful ways to keep him from running and jumping would help.

A little bit about our situation... Bear sleeps on our bed with us. He has a doggie bed he sleeps in when he wants too. (It is now located in my emptied out closet with a baby gate in place of my door but he won't go in it without a great deal of force and I'm scared about hurting his knee more). We have a doggie door that is now locked so I can supervise him outside. We also have a 16 year old lab pointer that I have to keep separated because she keeps tying to play with Bear and trying to get him to run up and down the hallway with her.


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[musicdeb]

I'm sorry to hear about your Bear. A number of members have had the same medical issue with their dog. All you can do is your best to keep her inactive as possible. Do you have a crate?

Do a forum search for ACL for more info.

 

[Smokeycat]

I wouldn't just supervise outdoor I would have him on a leash at all times. I don't have any experience with ACL issues but I did have to have Kryten on restricted activity after his elbow surgery. There can be no running, jumping or even active playing. I found that having him leashed really helped to prevent it. It will prevent your other dog from being able to get him to play as well. I also used bones/chews to distract both dogs and to keep them calm as well as getting Jiggers out more to try and drain his energy so that he was too tired to make an effort to get Kryten to play (this failed most days as I wore out before he did).
My bed became just the mattress on the floor. That way he could still sleep on the bed without having to jump up. He started to refuse to enter his X-pen after his surgery so instead of trying to force him, I also was worried about causing damage, I encolsed him in a room where he couldn't take more than about 5 steps and there was nothing on a raised surface that he might want to jump for.

 

[DDSK]

I would also look at getting another opinion about his knees.
This is an over diagnosed issue in my opinion.
My 3 year old and my sons 9 month old were both diagonosed with this issue. neither of these diagnosis were correct.
My son met a Vet at a party that confirmed this is an overdiagnosed issue, he said at this age there was little fear of an ACL issue and it turned out to be growth plates sore from over workiong them by rough play.
My CC Zoey was diagonsed and it turned out she has Addisons disease, once it was under control she has had no issues with her knees and this was with surgery scheduled when she crashed from the Addisons and almost died.
And that Vet also said both knees would need to be done.
I would take a wait and see attitude and search for another opinion from a Vet that is trusted and has high moral values.
I think that some vets see this as a cash cow and a profit maker for them, everytime a dog comes up limping they can prey on our psyche and sell us a surgery at $3500.00 to make us feel we are doing the best for our pets.
Just my opinion from my experiances.

 

[DMikeM]

Young dogs with this really need to be leashed during potty breaks. Getting on and off of a bed or couch is not a good idea. Buy a crate or teach him to use that closet. How was he diagnosed with a "problem with his left ACL and that he will have a problem is his right one in the near future"? They are bad or they are not bad. My dog was diagnosed with a CCL/ACL tear just about 14 days ago and I was told she would need surgery immediately. Today she is running and jumping like nothing happened. Bad diagnosis period. All I did was stop her pain medication and restrict her activity until I knew that the diagnosis was wrong. Doing the Drawer test on a young dog can cause injury especially while these ligaments and tendons are growing and stretching to their limits. On some pups you can get a false positive just because of uneven growth. Typically a Vet will tell you if this knee has an issue, the extra weight applied to the other will cause it to blow out as well.

If Bear is putting weight on the "Injured" leg you already have a good sign that he can recover without surgery or injury to the other knee.
Here are 2 websites that will help you understand and choose a proper course of action.
Dog ACL Injury-- Is Surgery Really Needed?
Cruciate Ligament Damage in Your Dog or Cat
After reading just these 2 sites I decided that surgery was just a joke and should be avoided. All it does is just patch the leg until it can heal and create the needed scar tissue to stabilize the joint. You will need to restrict movement for the same amount of time regardless of surgery or conservative treatment. Outcome will be the same or better if you go conservative.