One of the most common serious injuries we see at our clinic are dogs brought in limping on one of their back legs.
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Usually the owners will say that their dog was absolutely fine one day and then the next day the dog was holding the leg up and unable to put the foot to the ground.
Careful examination is needed to work out where on the leg the problem is coming from, and often vets find the stifle joint (our knee joint) is the culprit.
Inside this joint are two ligaments which run from the bottom of the thigh bone to the top of the shin bone.
These ligaments cross over each other which gives them their name - cruciate ligaments.
Because they cross over, they provide a lot of stability to the knee (like the supports holding scaffolding in a building site), but if one ligament is broken, the stability of knee is gone and the dog can’t put any weight through that leg.
This common dog injury is the same as what happens to some sportspeople - so if it happens to your dog they are in the same league as Geelong’s Daniel Menzel and basketball’s Derrick Rose.
In dogs the ligament ruptures because of gradual deterioration and often through trauma (or just too much force being transmitted through the leg).
Once we diagnose a ruptured ligament, it is important to plan for surgery to help your dog get back on their feet. If surgery isn’t performed soon after the ligament rupture, the knee joint will become very arthritic.
Vets use a variety of ways to fix the broken knee joint - the aim is to get your pet to return to walking well as quickly as possible.
Traditionally vets will place a synthetic ligament around the outside of the joint. This replicates the direction that the broken ligament used to travel.
After a few weeks we expect the dog to walk well on this leg. However this type of surgery has limitations - notably it works well on smaller dogs, but once dogs get above 20kg then there are newer and better techniques available.
Our surgeons perform an operation which involves cutting the tibia (shin bone) and moving the front of the bone forward. This allows the dog to bear weight differently through the knee joint.
Studies show that this type of advanced surgery produces much better outcomes for active or larger dogs than what vets have done in the past.
It is amazing to see dogs walking out of the clinic the day after their surgery putting a lot of their weight through their leg.