Should we opt for surgery for our dog?

Not sure why he told you to wait 9 months unless it’s a partial tear. A (fully) torn ACL does not heal on it’s own, and time only increases the arthritic changes in the joint.

Whether to repair the tear will be a judgment call on your part. A 13yo GSD doesn’t realistically have a whole lot of years left, but it really depends on his quality of life.

There are several surgical techniques available, although my personal choice for an older animal would probably be an extracapsular repair (as opposed to some of the more dramatic techniques). It’s less expensive, less invasive, and though it doesn’t tend to last as long, that’s probably not an issue in this case. (We primarily use the TPLO technique, or excap for small dogs.)

Nine months seems like an eternity for a dog to keep going like that.

If the expense is not too much for you, why not? I personally opted out on a surgery for my 13 yr old, but he had cancer and I couldn’t bear to see my baby cut up and in pain any longer.

Putting them down is much cheaper and is normally a very peaceful process, and in my mind, kinder than pain they can’t really understand or speak to us about. Especially as the pain increases and they deteriorate.

If nothing else, make sure to get puppy pain pills and/ or arthritis meds, xanax. It helped my old dog in his last few months tremendously. Good luck, my sympathies to you.

We have pain pill for her. I don’t know what to do. Why isn’t pet health insurance available? Or is it…?

@Dutchess_III It is available, although there’s a lot of variation and careful research is strongly urged. In this case, however, the injury would count as a pre-existing condition.

Is she still sharp and physically active? Does she play? Eat well? Any other health issues? Arthritis? Have you had a chemistry panel to check organ function?

She’s been limping for a long time. Then she seemed to be getting a lot better. Then I think she hurt herself again yesterday and OMG. She couldn’t walk. However, she started figuring out how to get around on 3 legs. Took her to the vet today…and now she seems a little better. Here is a pic of her when she was just a couple of years old. She’s the best dog ever.

Ithink the vet is being cautiously optimistic to suggest waiting to see if it heals on its own. And if it doesn’t, ACL surgery is not majorly invasive. I would do it at that point unless the money makes it prohibitive.

I wonder what it would cost….

Would you even be asking this question if that dog were human?

Nope @ragingloli.

@Dutchess_III Ask your vet and maybe save for it. On the other hand, if the dog is old and happily limping, you may not want to put her through the pain of surgery.

She doesn’t seem to be in pain….

Make sure they give the dog an x-ray before much longer if they haven’t yet.

My vet said my dog’s limping was due to arthritis and it ended up being cancer in his front shoulder joint. I wouldn’t let anyone suffer for nine months, even pain pills can affect their kidneys negatively.

You should be asking it if the dog were human. It doesn’t always makes sense for humans to get every bit of care possible. I have a shoulder problem and I opted for physical therapy instead of surgery. The therapy kind of helped, but mostly I’m just living with it, because I don’t want to go under the knife and take all the risks associated with that.

Should our pets get every bit of medical care possible just because we can afford it? Do they love getting surgery more than we do? I doubt it.

I think a lot of people operate under guilt with pets. They are responsible so they think that means doing everything possible. I think you should try to get rid of your guilt and look at this as a quality of life without surgery, vs risk of complication and quality of life for how long with surgery.

These are impossible calculations, and yet we must make them. But I think guilt makes people do too much medical care a lot of the time. I think our love makes us do too much, the same as it does for our parents at the end of their lives.

Very often, the best thing to do is nothing, and just be with your pet (or parent) as much as you can while they die. This is the most humane thing to do. Endless medical intervention is dehumanizing or depetanizing. I think it’s wrong, anyway. Put the pet first. Doing every medical thing possible is often not putting anyone, pet or human, first.

Sigh

Very often, the best thing to do is nothing, and just be with your pet (or parent) as much as you can while they die.

No, not “very often”. Occasionally.

Do some folks go too far, have too much trouble letting go? Sure.

But a relatively noninvasive surgical procedure vs. chronic pain for the rest of a life, for example? If my own knee surgery was as affordable as it would be for my pet, I’d have it done tomorrow.

Excruciating end of life pain, drowning and suffocating with the fluid in your own lungs, for example? If it were legal, I’d sign up for euthanasia for some conditions, just as is currently legal for pets.

@syz. That’s what I’m battling with. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, and it just might get better. But it might not. And she might end up in pain, and I don’t want that.

And to all who may ask again, No, I would not even be asking this question if we were talking about a human!

@Dutchess_III Have a frank discussion with your veterinarian; based on her current health, what’s a realistic expectation for her life span? What’s the long term prognosis for surgery? What can you expect if you do nothing? What palliative options do you have? Tell your vet your concerns/hesitations and see what he/she says. (And a second opinion is never a bad idea.)

The other thing is, she’s a German Shepherd. She’ll probably end up with hip dysplasia before too long, too. And arthritis.

@Dutchess_III I knew it was time to put my 13 yr old dog down because my old boy was laying around, semi-moaning even on 4 pain pills and the arthritis pills, as the cancer grew larger. Surgery would have been about $1000 and there was no guarantee it hadn’t already spread. So we made a really tough decision, but I kept telling myself he’d be running around like a little puppy up in doggy heaven. Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with or convinced of.

I’m not comfortable doing it, and I’m not comfortable not doing it. I don’t know know what to do.
I knew when it was time to put my 15 year old Snuffy dog down in 1996. One of the worst days of my life.

@Dutchess_III Poor thing, just wait and see then, there’s no need to do anything today, or tomorrow or even next week, so just ponder it and observe. As many people told me, you who know and love your dog best will know when it’s time. As long as the pain is managed appropriately, it’s okay to wait, I promise.

My husand had a torn ACL and it was extremely painful, and since dog’s can’t talk, you’ll just have to be especially observant. You’ll see him using the leg again if it’s getting better!!

Yes, I agree. I think it will become clear to you at some point.

Please, please, please see another vet and get a second opinion. Nine months is too long to suffer with physical pain.

Agree with @SadieMartinPaul. Just as you would for any member of your family, get a second or even third opinion.

@SadieMartinPaul I don’t think she is in pain. She doesn’t seem to be. We have pain meds, just in case though.

I wouldn’t.

And just to add, I think the comparison saying, “Would you be asking this question if it were a human” is a fair one.

German shepherds have a life expectancy of 9–13 years, according to Google. This dog is 13 years old, so this would be the equivalent of doing an elective knee operation on a 90 year old person. And I absolutely would not be doing an elective surgery on a 90 year old.

Right….

I would probably not do surgery for such an elderly dog…. I probably wouldn’t have surgery myself at an equivalent age. As far as pain goes, as time goes by, things will heal to some extent, and the dog will not be in the same amount of pain as she was at first, just like if you sprained your ankle, for instance. We have a dog who had a torn ACL, although he was only 2 when he did it; our vet was really pushing surgery, but if you really look into it, the success rate, especially for large dogs, is not great. DH got a brace for him, which helped a decent amount, but what really helped was keeping him exercising it, not letting him run like crazy and reinjure it, and most of all, time. Now he’s 4, and you would never know there was ever anything wrong with his knee.

You could also see if there are financing options. We use CareCredit for human medical expenses, and a patient of mine said they got it when their pet needed surgery.

@Rarebear – thank you for bringing a note of reason into the guilt mongering of “would you be asking if it were a human.” I completely agree with you 13×7 = 91 and even if that is not completely accurate, 13 is a ripe old age. I have a 14 year old who did the same thing jumping off the bed. I opted to keep her as quiet as I could and give her pain pills as she seemed to need them. That was about 8 months ago and now she once again seems fine. She is however a small dog. Surgery is risky at any age, anesthesia is tricky, if it were my knee at that age, I would probably get myself a mobility scooter and terrify pedestrians.

The point that I haven’t seen brought up here is that I thought there was very little guarantee that surgery for ACL is going to be successful. Does anyone care to comment? Unless someone is going to give me very good odds that the recuperation period is not going to be more traumatic than the actual injury and that there will be a positive outcome from the surgery I would not consider it.

On the other hand I know of a woman who has a kelpie, not quite as old as yours, who had the surgery a couple of months ago and nearly drove herself crazy trying to keep the dog controlled during the recuperation, she ccrated it most of the time, anyhow the result is very good, the dog now seems to have no pain at all and is moving freely. But hey, so is my little dog.

So there you go, not much help, but I like to look at all sides of the picture. I don’t think it is going to get any worse by waiting so what do you have to lose? Treat her with pain killers, google holistic treatments for acl tears and use those suggestions, keep her quiet and see what happens in time. If she gets worse, you have your answer.

It was help @rooeytoo. Thanks.

When our dog tore his ACL, the vet gave us a range that the surgery would cost us. I would think finding out the cost would be one of your more urgent considerations. You may also want to ask your vet or look up statistics about how often the “good” ACL tears.

It’s not a surgery that I would personally go into debt for, but only you can answer this one.

She seems to be doing better, guys. Have had her on pain pills for two days. She’s walking better…even trying to trot….

That’s good news @Dutchess_III