Cost of ligament surgery for dogs

hkjohn

My 6-year old Springer has developed a nasty limp due to a problem with her ligaments and needs surgery on one or both or her rear legs.

Anyone here know how much such surgery might cost? There was an earlier thread which is from 2012 and so is hopelessly outdated.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

cocker5

hkjohn wrote: »

My 6-year old Springer has developed a nasty limp due to a problem with her ligaments and needs surgery on one or both or her rear legs.

Anyone here know how much such surgery might cost? There was an earlier thread which is from 2012 and so is hopelessly outdated.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Has your dog been see by a vet?

The cost will all depend on the actual injury and aftercare . What is the actual issue?

But in all honestly usually it’s €1,000’s I believe

Do you have pet insurance?

tk123

There’s a few different methods - so one is tight rope aka fishing line method which stabilises the joint - cheapest and more suited to smaller dogs... others involve cutting the bone and inserting an implant to change the angle which makes the ligament redundant eg TPLO, TTA, TTA-Rapid etc etc... my guy had TTA rapid and it was €2400 for the op, stay in the vets for a few days, all follow ups and medicine etc etc. Another option is conservative rest where you crate / restrict the dog long enough to allow scar tissue to build up and hope stabilises the joint... for a lively springer I’m going to guess that it won’t work! A torn ligament isn’t going to heal btw - some people are under the impression that conservative rest heals the ligament.. you also need to get the bad leg sorted ASAP as the other is more likely to go the longer you leave it as it’s compensating for the other.
With Bailey he has structural problems with one leg worse than the other so the ligament was half gone.. 3 vets agreed he needed surgery (his last surgeries on his hocks were 8 and 9 years ago)... the difference in him 2 weeks later when he was able to start short walks was amazing - he could bend his knee again for the first time in years!

jack presley

One of my dogs had a cruciate ligament operation in May ‘18 and that cost €1,180. Although as she was going under anesthetic, we had a wart removed from her eyelid and got her teeth cleaned as well so the price included those as well.

ki2388

Where about are you based? Have you priced anyone or your local vet?

hkjohn

Cheers for your input, everyone.

Have indeed seen a vet who says he will get back with timing for surgery to fix her ligaments ("within the next couple of weeks") but remains worryingly non-committal re actual costings. Am hoping that our pet insurance with Allianz will cover the bulk of it.

FWIW, we live in Roscommon and Xena's X-rays show that one of her rear haunches is a bit bigger than the other. Hence her problem and need for one or possibly even two (aarrrgh!) surgeries - one on each rear leg.

Xena's limp is most pronounced when she gets up after sitting or lying down but she shows no other sign of pain or discomfort. While she easily copes with a daily exercise regimen consisting of one big walk and 2x roughly 2kms ball throwing sessions during which she sprints up and down a nearby park 40 times, she struggles with her weight - currently about 19.5kgs. As the vet has recommended we cut out the twice daily 2Kgs ball throwing sessions until she's had (and has recovered from) her surgery, this is not going to improve in the short term

tk123

Has the vet checked her for iliopsoas injury? Bailey tore his and it can mimic hip/knee/back pain and you’d have the same unevenness. I’d agree with the vet too - no ball throwing as you’ll do more damage in the long term. My FB memory during the week was Bailey standing in the carpark of Gilabbey vets hours after his hock surgery - they can and will run around on an injured leg if you let them - it doesn’t mean they’re not in pain...

hkjohn

Thanks so much for your feedback TK123. Will post back when I talk to the vet. Hope Bailey is healthy and happy!

tk123

hkjohn wrote: »

Thanks so much for your feedback TK123. Will post back when I talk to the vet. Hope Bailey is healthy and happy!

Yes he's like a divil running around the place :pac::pac::pac: