Movement in the knee: surgery or not?

[LilF]

I went to the surgical vet today and he said like the other vet I took her to that she has some movement in her knee.
I do not know if these things are graded in severity. My friend's dog was unable to walk at all---surgery was a slam dunk. Blossom is limping and puts weight on it.
Obviously it is not a complete tear?
He did not take an xray. Should I go back and ask him to take an xray--they would have to knock her out and he did not want to do that if he was going to knock her out for the surgery when he could take the xray then.

However, what if the tear is not real bad, then she will not need a surgery and I can use other healing therapies to heal her. My homeo said he has healed cruciate tears with homeopathy.

Now, the doctor did say she could develop early arthritis if not fixed. He said it could scar over and heal up.

I read in another post from Dr. Hovfe that Ligaplex can help. I use that myself.... how many caps would I give a dog?

My homeo has his phone silenced so maybe I can contact him tomorrow for a formula. Is there a formula what did Dr. Jeff use on his dog or is that individualized or can it work generally?

I will still give arnica 10M for pain and drop the gabapentin and galliprant for now.
I asked the one vet clinic we went to last week about them doing laser and due to her behavior I guess they were not keen on it.
Does the lumismoothe require special glasses?

The surgery is 6K and really a chunk of expense since my front deck is rotted and the 6K could cover a lot of THAT repair. I want to do what is best for Blossom. I scheduled surgery for the first wed in June but now rethinking, My friend's dog could not walk at all but Blossom can bear weight but looks like Grandpa McCoy walking, for those old enough to remeber the Real McCoy's TV show. I think I should meet again with the vets and ask for an xray to grade the problem--is it a few tears or a lot of tears. He did explain it is a degenerative process. I do know ligaments have a poor blood supply. What would YOU do?

 

[Dr. Christina]

When I was in practice, I spoke with several orthopedic surgeons and they felt that if the dog was on joint supplements I had up to 3 months to resolve the cruciate issue.

Lumisoothe does not require special glasses.

I did not use homeopathic formulas. I individually match the remedy to the animals.

Dr. Christina

 

[GinnyW]

This is my integrative vet's page on healing without surgery. I've seen the results.

ACL Treatment for Dogs

Discover effective ACL treatment for dogs: Learn how to support your canine companion through ACL injuries with invaluable guidance from Dr. Finn

www.finndvm.com

 

[LilF]

Everyone, I am now flip flopping on ACL surgery for Blossom. I talked to a friend who just went through it. To have a dog in a crate with a cone and cannot move is torture for the dog and for me who sees the mental emotional and physical torture to the dog. I cannot bear to see this day after day. I also do not think I can do the PT that is required, i.e. bending down. Also do not think Blossom will want to go back into the crate day after day with the door closed after she is let out and knows that the crate is so horrible. I cannot do this to my dog. The cone would be hot enough in June and July as well. I need my knee replacement but still have not figured out how to get someone to come in to do things for Blossom when she doesn't accept other people. I was setting up a training but now with her ACL injury not sure it is a good idea.
So I am now going to ask for an xray to see how bad it is. The surgeon was SUPPOSED to do it last week and did not. He only did the drawer test without sedation. Blossom has had this very painful drawer test 3 times in a week with 3 vets. Why did they not sedate her like you are supposed to. It is hard to watch her cry out. Her surgery is scheduled for June 4th but I am going to bring her back for an xray and a conversation about how bad it really is on a scale of 1-10. I do know she is MORE at risk for the other side and arthritis on the bad leg. The repair is better for knee stability than scar tissue healing. But if she has the surgery she won't be out of her crate until August. That is absurd and abusive. I have to go out for my own appointments daily. This is an awful time. If I go with natural healing I would request SPECIFIC supplements, dosages etc or homeopathic remedies that have worked. I think they would put her on a NSAID and pain meds though.Anyway that is my next step, an intermittent step before a surgery. Then I wonder if my homeopath is the right one--why did this happen in the first place. He gave me calcarea for healing--one dose and see if better in 3-4 weeks. The arnica doesn't help much. The gabapentin does help. I spent so much on homeopaths and don't have time to start up with yet a 4th one.never had any success other than a vet who was not a homeopath but gave me remedies for a dog back in 2014 to take daily and that dog DID get better... Go figure.... I don't really have the money to keep doing this. i got a bill for over a hundred dollars for updating the second homeopath and nothing helped her anxiety in the car. At least with the current homeopath I can text liberally without extra charges and the appoinment fees are more reasonable.

Any thoughts or experiences anyone has to help would be appreciated. The xray will really make my decision and if i decide on natural approaches i would appreciate some specifics on protocol Forget about any holistic vets here locally or phone---I have run the gamut on those too-- I was unable to watch the video posted because the information was for pay.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

i decide on natural approaches i would appreciate some specifics on protocol

Great question Lil. If you are asking about natural protocols instead of surgery, your best bet is the patience and perseverance protocol with your current homeopath.

In addition to your fresh food feeding with lots of heart and kidney, there are tons of useful supplements out there with eggshell membrane, grape seed extract, special forms of collagen, oral hyaluronic acid, etc.

Perhaps avoid anything with MSM as they'd be too palliative and also may interfere with the homeopathic medicine.

And lots of snuffling (feed her less since she needs to lose weight) and other nose work games.

If she likes just sitting outside and meditating with you, then do as much of that as possible.

 

[LilF]

Thank you Dr. Jeff. I do not know if I mentioned but after one of your last posts I brought out the ol snuffle mat and filled it with SMALL pieces of turkey. Then took her for a ride---trying to get the happy hormones going and then we do sit outside a lot, grounding on the concrete or grass in the mornings. I made an appt. for an xray she will need sedation or anesthesia whatever, for next wednesday. She is still scheduled for surgery on the 5th but now I am thinking the mental effects like we talk about being so important will be severe for her. I am going to limit her activity more till the xray, use the BEMER but she gets so wiggly--and then sleeps after the 8 min treatment. If the severity is a 5 on a scale of 1-10 I would opt out of the surgery, or even a 6.... I do make an effort to get her out in the sunshine especially at solar noon which is about now. Lots of petting which she loves. Will set up appt. with the homeo, he is booked till mid june. This will be better than texting at this point. Good tip on the MSM Thanks for the encouragement the other day too, prompting me to dust off the snuffle again.

 

[GinnyW]

Yeah, I apologize for the link which sought a fee - I really had no idea my vet was marketing to that extent. So that leaves us with all the positive management strategies, most of which you are employing already. Your inner peace and confidence in her ability to heal will be most important. Keep working on peace and relaxation with her, looking for short periods of calm "on command" and rewarding that. It's possible that a brace would still be helpful, too. I would also feed collagen protein generously - you can add it to whatever else you are giving, and it's not expensive. But the most important factor is your calm and positive attitude - but you knew that. We're rootin'for you guys....

 

[LilF]

Thank you Ginny! I saw on youtube there is a brace vets use but the company requires an xray of the lateral bisection of the tibia and so will ask the vet if he can do one of that specifically with any xrays he needs. This is a brace only through veterinarians. It is an A-Trac Dynamic brace (whatever that means). There is also a brace from orthodog.com the vet I listened to said people can get on their own and he has heard good results. I took her in the car the other day and she seemed to go back to square one (but she DID enjoy herself). Luckily the weather is nice and she enjoys the grounding and sunshine. The arnica not helping much and will get an appt. with the homeopathic vet but he is booked for a few weeks. But by then I will have all kinds of info on her blood and xray for a better read on what she may need to heal faster. I hope she will have lost a few pounds by wednesday which would be encouraging.