Torn ACL - Looking for opinions - Page 3

My 28 month old was diagnosed by TWO stupid vets as having a torn ACL and requiring TPLO. Mother's Intuition led me to opinion #3.....official, correct diagnosis..............pano.

Yes, interesting article and food for thought.  Exerpt below is from his website: 
  "Credentials? Biographical Info?  Who is this Max guy anyway? The tiggerpoz website is provided anonymously, pro bono, as a source of information about dog stifle ACL / CCL ligament injuries. Remaining anonymous and not stating any claim to credentials of any kind makes it possible to function more effectively and answer questions more straight-forwardly. Most doctors could tell you why that is true, although many will prefer not to explain it to you. "  

 

Hello, I am the person looking into the Prolotherapy for a torn ACL on my 3.5 yr 80lb girl.  Of course all the surgeons want to do the TPLO becuase they are surgeons.....I guess..I to have a gut feeling that the TPLO is not the right thing to do for my girl. She puts weight on the leg and gets around at about 90%.  I try to keep her still but she is Extremly high energy. She " broke" out today when my back was turned and ran the whole yard like crazy and seems sore but not unable to move.  I have not had the moment to have the Prolotherapy done on her yet due to other health issues in the family but I know a guy who had a 100lb dog use prolotherapy and he swears by the method. His dog recuperated and lived a happy , healthy active life.  This has been my first experience with the ACL and I have been very torn as to what is the best method to use and least invasive. I have watched the TiggerPoz and a lot of other youtube videos and am not convienced the TPLO is right for my girl.. Please keep us informed as to what this family decides. Thanks..

Jenni, How is your dog that was misdiagnosed doing now? 

I am not typically a big skeptic when it comes to vets, but I sure didn't feel good about this last ortho vet who said my dog had a torn ACL and needed a TPLO. The ortho vet we see tomorrow for a 2nd opinion I trust completely.  My friend's dog tore her ACL and the vet told my friend to try to let her dog heal on its own. She gave her specific instructions for PT. Two years post injury the dog still limps, but gets around ok. She is 11 years old and still active. She weighs 42 lbs. 

Well, I am not going to be much help. We went for a 2nd opinion today with another ortho vet. In agreement with my regular vet and rehab vet, my dog doesn't have anything wrong with his knee. He has a soft tissue injury of the abductor muscles of the hip, specifically the illiopsoas and pectineus muscles. It will just take quite a bit of time to heal.  She doesn't know of any upcoming new ACL techniques and doesn't do Prolotherapy. This ortho vet said she couldn't charge me for the visit today, after the money I spent at the previous ortho evaluation (she asked me what they charged me). I told her that didn't seem fair as it wasn't her fault, but she insisted. An awesome vet who is truly not into it for the money!  As for the other vet, well let's just say I'm glad I didn't listen to him. This taught me a very good lesson- always get a 2nd opinion or even a 3rd or 4th.  

A very good lesson indeed!
 

Actually, Starchar, he's dead.   That was ten years ago. LOL

He had pano. He was fine forever and ever. There was absolutely never a darn thing wrong with his knee. I spent almost $800 on the first two vets. As I said, nothing more than gut feeling made me seek a 3rd opinion. That, and the fact that the first two were terrified of him and I didn't want them handling him for surgery. 3rd vet even pulled fluid off his knee to prove to me that there was no inflammation or any other issue w/his knee.

When I asked how the vet definitively diagnosed a torn ACL, since an x-ray does not show soft tissue, she said that she would ask him.  She then sent me a picture of the x-ray the vet took and said that the vet explained that you could already see the changes her body was making to self-heal. Here is the picture, sorry for the bad quality on the left... I tried editing the exposure and that was the best I could get it.  I'm not seeing what the vet is talking about, but I have no experience with knee x-rays.  Anyone else see anything?

K9gsd78, I'm sorry, but I can't help. Hopefully others here can. Maybe make a separate post with the xrays. Have the owners taken this dog for a 2nd opinion?

Jenni,  I have always been lucky to have vets I really trust and have done right by me and my dogs. This experience with the first ortho vet leads me to believe he was...well...either incompetent or dishonest. Now I can see what other people have been talking about all these years when it comes to vets. I still choose to believe that most vets are in their profession due to their love of animals, but from now on when I need a specialist I will always get at least 2 opinions. 

The owner is going to do the conservative management for now rather than having more vets poke, prod and manipulate the joint.  It sounds like there has already been improvement, so we'll see how things are going in a couple of months.