RETRIEVING AUSTRALIA FORUM

A friend of mine has a 6 yr. old Labrador that has been diagnosed with Cruciate Ligament damage to left knee and needs treatment.

Can anybody tell me the name of a good specialist that treats this disorder and also how any of you have gone with this treatment in Labradors.
Victorian vets only please.
Email me if you don't want to put them on the open post.

She has been advised that the general replacement of the ligament in a dog the size of a Labrador isn't as successful as in smaller dogs, so I am interested to hear from anybody who has had it done in Labrador and how the treatment went.

The dog has a passive life (not a retrieving trial or shooting dogs) but does get walked everyday for about 45 minutes, so she isn't a true couch potato.

Hope somebody can help.
Margaret Hall

Hi Margaret,
A Lab I had many years ago, at 4 years of age had a cruciate ligament problem. The vet created a deeper channel over which the ligament sat, resulting in problem solved and no trouble thereafter. But the vet is in W.A.!!
Ray Penman

Hello Margaret

I can highly recommend Sam Snelling, Advanced Vetcare, Level 1, 26 Robertson Street, Kensington. Vic. 3031.
Ph: 03 9092.0400 (24 hours) Melways ref 2A - A4

We have had dogs treated for this injury as a result of accidents, and all have made a full recovery.

Cheers
Wayne.

In my experience and the info that I have received from others, this can be successfully treated but the recover is a pain in regard to keeping the dog quiet. No recommendation for a particular vet, sorry

Hi Margaret
My black labrador bitch lila has had cruciate ligament injuries twice in the same back leg within twelve months. For the first surgery I went with the less invasive operation (and cheaper) which was the De Angelis stabilisation technique. This involves placing a tensioned permanent loop of nylon from the front of the tibia to the back of the femur on the outside of the joint. This mimics the function of the cranial cruciate ligament, reducing the forward and back movement which occurs when the ligament is ruptured.
Unfortunately 6 months later she did it again - same leg. This time I went for a different surgery called a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO). This operation involves changing the degree of slope of the top of the tibia by removing a wedge of bone. This reduces the forward and back sliding forces on the knee and eliminates the need for a cranial cruciate ligament. Because a deliberate "fracture" is made, this can be a longer and more painful recovery, but the joint is more anatomically stable afterwards.
It has been 12 months since the surgery and last year she competed in the second half of the season in Novice where she placed most of the trials. We have only been trialling for two year in total, but with the surgery x 2 we have only managed a half season each year. This year is going to be our year!!
The most important part of all of this is the rehab afterwards. I am in Adelaide and luckily have the ability to go to a vet who has a hydro treadmill which really helped in the beginning of her rehab after the first few weeks of keeping her quiet. Great fun trying to carry a lab to the toilet and expect her to do her business with out putting both back legs on the ground!!
It is important to ensure that you build up the muscle lost post operation, and small doses of exercise doing figure 8's is important so that she stops favouring the leg and forgets what has happened and starts to bear weight on it.
Its unfortunate that your friends dog cant have the surgery done in Adelaide as I highly recommend Steve Crouch as he is wonderful at what he does, and specialises in Cruciate surgery.
Hope this helps, and if you need anymore info feel free to contact me.
Cheers
Sandy