Dog injured

snake

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Several months ago, I noticed my one dong holding her back leg up when she stood. She would put weight on it with a little limp and it seemed to get better. Since this she has been a bit gimpy getting up in the morning and slow up and down stairs. Finally dumped money into a vet visit and imaging. $300 later, they send us out with a pack of anti inflammatory/painkillers and information on the dogs torn ACL.

Seems there are 3 different surgeries they do for this. Lateral Suture Technique which is done on dogs under 50 lbs. (Mine is 90 lbs) Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy and Tibial Tuberocity Advancement. I'm not sure which one is which but for the 2 I have to choose from, we're looking at about 3k or 4k.

Any of you dog lovers been down this road? This is a real financial hit but she's young, 5 y.o. and worth it to our family. This needs to be a 1x thing. There will be no do over's out of my wallet which I will explain to the Vet.




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Rhino99

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Snake,

Yes ive been down this road twice with one of my dogs. Stats say a good chance they will tear the opposite knee sometime in the future and thats what mine did.

Buddy, you've seen my posts and you know im a dog guy. So are you. You're a big family guy and dogs are part of the family.
She is counting on you to get her help.

I had my 2 dogs for 11 years and i spent about 20k between the 2 of them in that time, and I cannot afford it but I made it happen. It was my responsibility to do everything I can and mine was about 8 when she tore the first one. I just couldnt leave her be like that the rest of her life because its a diminished quality of life and im sure painful.
She will have some arthritis going forward too.

It's a no brainer my friend...you know that.

Ask me anything specific you want to know...i've been through it all.
By the way the first one I had done at the 'specialist' and cost me 5k, the 2nd one at my vet 2500.





















 

tinymk

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Our youngest lab was diagnosed with hip dysplasia on both hips at 18 months. We did both surgeries and got about 50% improvement. He is a little gimpy but I feel his quality of life is better after the surgery. $2,200 later. Imo it was worth the money
 

Rhino99

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By the way, im pretty sure mine had 1 of each type. One is where they cut the bone and reshape it and reattach what they need to, the other one is a little less involved but still a major surgery.
Its been about 6 years or so since, you can google both procedures but if you need anything specific let me know and i'll try to jog my memory a bit.
Also, she will be in a lot of pain afterwards and will / should be on heavy pain meds for a couple weeks or so. You need to keep her contained while it heals and for a couple weeks I was carrying mine outside 4-5 times a day to go to the bathroom. She would barely eat and I had to give here the pain meds so taco bell cheesy roll ups did the trick...
 

Bobbyloads

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That's a lot of cash to drop on a dog surgery I know we have some pet health insurance my wife bought so far it has been covering stuff maybe look into getting that waiting a while and try to make it look like it was not a preexisting condition.

Another thing I would look into is Mexico sounds sketchy but I did that for my teeth and knee injections before and saved a shit load of money.

It's a weird situation because its a knee injury no like the dog has cancer and putting it down would not be as hard to decide but this is something that just makes you sad they have to be in pain all the time. I talk a lot of shit to my wife that if we have to spend a lot we are putting the dog down but I do not mean that I love animals look into all options to see if you can save some money maybe even animal shelter hospital they are way cheaper and if your in a position where you can afford it with out putting your family in a bad spot do what you have to do.

I hate big expenses.
 

Beserker

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Sorry to hear snake, I couldn’t say what’s best but wish a speedy recovery for ‘em. Dogs are always worth whatever it takes in our home...
 

Joliver

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Ex wife ran a rescue. So I've been down this road a lot for a lot of years. I ended up taking them all to a veterinary college for major surgeries. Cheaper and better. They don't charge as much and never charged a boarding fee. I'm sure different Schools will vary, but it's worth a call.

When my dogs lose a step, I cut their weight down. Makes all the difference.

Good luck. If you need some additional advice...pm or shoot me a text. Never hear from you no mo'. Starting to think you don't like me.
 

MrRippedZilla

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This won't help with pre-existing problems but in the future, I'd recommend getting your dog hooked up to fully comprehensive pet insurance the minute you get him/her. You should never be in a position where you have to contemplate the financial cost of saving someone you love. It's that simple for me.
 

bugman

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I a huge dog fan. My last dog was 18 and we had to put her down. It ruined me for a couple of weeks. If I am financially able, I will always put the money into helping my dogs. They deserve at least that in my opinion.
 

BigGameHunter

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x2 on the pet insurance. Many of them allow you to purchase it right then, before surgery no pre existing condition exclusions.

Id also add that dinovite is amazing for dogs. It has all the vitamins and nutrients that is cooked out of traditional dog food. Just add a scoop to their dog food. It helps with shedding, joints arthritis and allergies among other things
dinovite.com

I’d shop for pricing as well, possibly a second opinion

Start a pay pal for this I’d be proud to help you with this as I’m sure others will. It won’t be that much especially if you qualify for the insurance Rip was talking about.
 

RISE

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I have a care credit account open for animal emergencies. Something you might want to look into.
 

snake

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Thanks to everyone that read this thread and a special thanks to those who weighed in.

I'm going to look into Jols advice but right now with what's going on, that may not be an option.

As for pet insurance, I heard it runs about $700 a year. That number has not been verified yet. Money wise, and in the grand scheme of all the dogs I have had, I'm way ahead of the ballgame without it, even if I drop 3k. Still I will do my homework on this and the pre-existing condition that BGH talked about. I have my work to do.

Thanks to everyone and anyone else who reads and/or post to this thread. Our pets are family. I could walk into my home with 5 other people and the dogs are the only ones who say hello.
 

CJ

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Thanks to everyone and anyone else who reads and/or post to this thread. Our pets are family. I could walk into my home with 5 other people and the dogs are the only ones who say hello.

And that's why dogs are better than people. Never had a human shake their ass when I walked through the door... unless they were getting paid to do so. :32 (17):

Whatever you decide to do, I'm positive you'll make the best decision for your situation.

Best of luck!!!
 

dk8594

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Late in seeing this snake, but here is my take on it.

For our fifth anniversary my wife bought me a German shepherd pup. I loved that fuking dog. About 4 years later got stomach bloat, a fatal condition that needs to be immediately repaired. We took her to the vet and the price of the repair was $3k. I could afford it, but had a hard time rationalizing it so we put her down.

I don’t have many regrets in life, but 7 years later this is still the one that haunts me.

My advice would be that if you have the money you do it. You’ll never miss the money in the same way you’ll miss your dog.
 

Ragingmenace223

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i just had to have my pittys uterus removed. she got some sort of infection and if i waited one more day it would of burst and she would of died. it cost me 4 grand and she is 4..to be truthful though at the time it didnt take a second for me to choose to save her but i find my self second guessing the situation...now she seems to be having problems with her hips...if you do elect to get the surgery i would definitely keep the dogs weight as lean as possible. i give mine a joint treat that seems to work almost instantly...mine is just in beginning stages though...best of luck. i told myself id never kick out that kind of money out. when put to the test i kicked it out before she even told me the amount. but i was like you...if i wasnt going to get back the same dog with a long life expectancy i wouldnt of done it..shes worth every penny but its still hard to swallow spending all that money,best of luck my man
 

BrotherIron

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I have been also been told that for surgeries and other operations it would be wise for me to take her to the university. There is a top vet school in my state and if I needed to take my baby in for a surgery I would look into taking her there if it was going to be very costly.
 

snake

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Update

Yesterday was the surgery. We had the TTA procedure done on her and the Doc said she did well. It's now on us to PT her and keep the other dogs away from her. 8 weeks of no stairs and no running.

Thanks for every ones posts!
 

dk8594

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Yesterday was the surgery. We had the TTA procedure done on her and the Doc said she did well. It's now on us to PT her and keep the other dogs away from her. 8 weeks of no stairs and no running.

Thanks for every ones posts!

Glad to hear it went well. Good luck luck with the PT.
 

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