Cruciate surgery
If your dog has an injury to its stifle (knee), it may have damaged the cruciate ligament. If left untreated, there is an almost 100% likelihood of severe arthritis developing in the joint.
After confirming the diagnosis of a cruciate ligament injury on radiography, once the acute swelling in the joint settles we can undertake an operation to help stablise the knee. We offer several different surgical techniques so that we can discuss the most appropriate operation for your pet.
During the operation, we explore the injured joint to remove damaged ligaments and tears to the meniscal cartilages. To stabilise the knee joint and re-align the functional anatomy we offer operations including a Cranial Closing Wedge Osteotomy (CCWO), Lateral Suture or Tibial Plateau Levelling Osteotomy (TPLO). The last of these is undertaken by our visiting peripatetic RCVS Specialist in Orthopaedics.
After recovery from the anaesthetic, most dogs are ready to go home in the early evening following their operation. They will have had injections to control the pain and inflammation and will be discharged with further pain-relief, anti-inflammatories and (if necessary) medications to help keep them calm in the post-operative period.
Your pet will need a quiet 6-8 weeks to recover fully. We will advise you on exercise and medication during this time. We will arrange post operation checks in the days and weeks after the operation and will often start some basic physiotherapy techniques and teach you how to help your pet with massage and special exercises, to enable your pet to regain muscle and function in the joint. For many dogs, hydrotherapy is also very useful in rehabilitation.
If a pet has damaged the cruciate ligament in one knee, the other one is more vulnerable and there is an increased chance of this one becoming injured in the future.