Not choosing surgery for your pet - How do you know?

[BritAnnia]

My dog, a 10 year old irishwolfhound-mixbreed has hurt his ACL. We're unsure given his age and activity level if it's worth putting him through surgery or just allow the knee to heal as best it can on it's own through use of supplements and pain meds.

 

Anyone here chosen to NOT have surgery on their pet for a specific reason? I'm having a difficult time making a choice right now.

[Rebecca VA]

Last summer our border collie was having digestive problems. He became even more finicky than he had been before, and he was throwing up his food. The vet did many x-rays and lab tests, but could find nothing wrong. The next step was exploratory surgery.

 

Nothing definitive was found during the surgery, but afterward our dog went downhill very quickly (he was headed downhill even before the surgery, but the surgery accelerated the process). He lost his will to live. He hung in there for another few weeks (actually, my husband refused to put him to sleep), but he was miserable. He was refusing food and water during his last weeks of life; we had to force-feed him.

 

I vowed after that that I would only take extreme measures to save a pet who truly wanted to live. I would happily save a pet who is vibrant, who enjoys each day, and who will come out of the surgery with the expectation of a long, loving life ahead. But I won't spend thousands of dollars to save a pet who is miserable.

[mooooom]

If this was your dog, what would you do? And take that into consideration. (not that you should necessarily go with what he/she says) There should be some statistics on the likelihood of the success of the operation. But I think you should go with your gut feeling. How will you fee if you do it and it doesn't work. How will you feel if you don't do it and he doesn't get better?

[3byzaz]

We have a dog that has probably torn both her back leg ACL's. She is very active and runs like a maniac in our backyard. The first time we didn't know what it was, but it wasn't toooo bad - she limped here and there and eventually it was fine. It did take like 5-6 months, though...but we didn't think it was anything major.

 

Then, early this year, she hurt the other one pretty bad. Since we knew whatever had happened to the other one had healed, we just watched her for a while. After a few weeks, I took her to the vet. He did some 'exploratory' manipulation putting her under and said that it was a torn ACL. I am pretty trusting, but to be honest, I didn't really believe him. Anyway, he wanted to do a $1600.00 surgery. (Or take her to a specialist for a 'newer' better one to the tune of like 3000-4000.) I came home to do some research. Googled it and found out that they definitely can heal on their own - through the scar tissue bridging the knee. Probably not great, but we decided to see what would happen. (I was willing to pay for the surgery - she was only just about 5 at the time.) What I learned and read is that the surgery WAS a big deal - not like what he had told me - that they can tear it again - doesn't always hold - and that she will get arthritis one way or the other. She was on three legs for a while, but also started to walk on 4 pretty soon after. She is fine now. But, again it has taken about 6 months I LOVE my animals and am a huge freak about them, but I didn't want to put her through the recovery from surgery and have it really not work for long anyway. She is living a great life - running crazy - and she will probably not have a great old age - one way or the other!

 

Anyway, that has been my experience!! HTH!!

[Tree House Academy]

For me, it would be a matter of overall health and life expectancy. My husband had a mutt dog that was in great health until he was 16. Yes, SIXTEEN. He could have had surgery at 10 and bounced right back. However, my best friend's lab - no. At 10, that poor girl is barely getting along. I am not even sure she could survive the surgery.

 

I think it is a very personal choice and I would talk in depth with the vet to see what he/she thinks is best. I trust my vet 100% to help me make that kind of decision.

[hornblower]

www.dolittler.com did a series of posts on ACL. Have a search through her archives because I think they might help you decide on a course of action. She talks about some non-surgical options IIRC.

 

I have big dogs too and ACL strikes a deep fear in my heart. I know too many folks who've done one, only to have the other blow within the next year. I don't know. I'd consider age, overall health, and how well the dog will manage on crate rest. The crate rest after the sx is so critical to a good recovery.

 

best wishes -

[grace'smom]

We had to have our dog put to sleep a year ago for the something that sounds like this... He was older, between 10 and 12 (adopted as adult so we don't know). He had arthritis and was getting grumpier and grumpier, and we couldn't allow him to be near our daughter b/c he was in pain and would bite her if she got too close, as children are apt to do. So he spent a lot of time in the backyard, which is almost a cliff. There are two sets of stairs to go down just to get to the ground. He hurt his back legs at some point and limped, then could not get up on them to use the bathroom. The vet said he could do surgery to help, but that the dog would have to stay on flat land/only one floor afterward. We couldn't provide that for him, and the surgery would have cost more than our daughter's therapy and curriculum combined. We would have to seriously slash her curriculum and learning activities just to pay for it, because we live tightly enough that there is no extra cash lying around, and the vet couldn't even give us a good hope that he would survive the surgery at his age. That was the hardest decision we ever made- he was miserable, anxious and getting risky to be around, but we still loved him. So I completely understand the hardship of this decision. Whatever you decide is the best decision you can make... Sending you HUGS!

[LauraGB]

If you feel he is healthy enough, has no arthritis and has several good years in him, it can definitely worth it. But before you make your decision, please, please, PLEASE get references from your vet and other vets and be sure to check them. A good vet with a lot of experience is priceless compared to a vet with less.

 

We lost a beautiful, young dog because our vet was not as experienced as he had originally claimed. It was an awful ordeal that lasted nearly a year and caused her (and us) a lot of pain. This is not usual, I understand, it was just our case with our vet.

[Beth in OH]

I lost my 10 year old collie mix last April. She had lymphoma. We could have operated and given her meds but it would have only helped for a year at best. We had two glorious weeks with her before we had to put her to sleep. We did the best we could---and for us that meant no surgery, no strange vets, no fighting to get her to take medicine. For us, it meant runs in the park, squirrel chasing, hand-cooked meals, and lots of tears. You just do the best you can.

 

Substitute brain cancer for lymphoma, and you are sharing the end of life story of our 9 1/2 year old golden retriever about 6 weeks ago. It was very sad to go through the end with her (in fact, it's making me cry just typing this), but she died peacefully in our backyard on a sunny afternoon. No fear, no pain. It was a very dignified end.

 

Beth

[BritAnnia]

These stories are so touching. Amazing how deeply we can love our pets, isn't it. My much loved cat died last year and the vet never did find out what was wrong. Her health went downhill fast and it was a sad time with me left feeling I didn't try hard enough to help her.

This situation with my dog is less upsetting as this is not a life threatening injury but I want to do what is best for him and that may just be avoiding putting him through surgery given his age.