acl surgery

[3RVR]

Hey, I was wondering if any of you could give me some pointers on how to keep my pup from getting bored while he is down because of his acl surgery. He is having it done today, so for the next few days he should be out of it from the pain killers, but I was told to keep him calm for about 6 weeks. He is a yr and a half old, and I know him very well... he will be bored after about four or five days of this. I have been trying to think of good ways to keep him occupied with out having him move around... sometimes life would just be easier if they would watch t.v. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[ABK]

Sorry to hear about your pup's injury.

From what I understand, after ACL surgery, your pup should be on crate rest for the duration of it's recovery. That means all crate, all the time. Should the pup be out at any time, it should be walked on leash, to include potty breaks, to prevent a break out of the zoomies. One zoomie episode can undo all the work on the ACL & your pup will be back under the knife.

I would invest in some mind simulating toys, such as a busy ball, kong, nylabone or knuckle bone & rotate them often while your pup rests & recovers in it's crate. Those toys should help w/ the boredom. If not, he'll just have to be bored. That's the life of a recoveree. :p

Hope this helps & good luck!

[ChiaPit]

Oh wow! Six weeks...we had to keep big girl still for four days due to hemmoraging after her spay and it seemed like forever. We got various chews and bones and things for her.

[3RVR]

I bought three nyla bones, and a kong toy... he is going to be giving me some evil glares from behind the crate door still

[miakoda]

Your pup should be strictly kenneled for the next 6 weeks. It's going to be tough after a while & of course the dog will start to get bored & want loose, but do NOT give in. It just takes one wrong placement of the foot & all that money you just spent is out the window & your dog will now need a corrective surgery to repair the new damage. When the dog needs to go out to potty, he MUST always be on a leash.....preferably a 4 ft. one. NO exceptions!

I have a dog that had bilateral ACL replacement. It was hard doing surgery on that first leg, waiting 8 weeks, & then doing the other. She spent almost 4 months entirely in a kennel. When she was out of the kennel, she was ALWAYS on a leash to go potty.

Some tricks to keep your pup occupied are to:
1. rotate the toys every day or every other day. Never give more than 1 toy at a time or he will get bored of all of them very fast. This rotation will keep things new.

2. Nylabones are awesome but IMO dogs get tired of them fast. Or at least mine did.

3. With the Kongs, use a knife to apply a layer of peanut butter around the inside. Pack it full of kibble & a treat or 2 (never full of treats.....will make your dog not want to eat it's food). Fill the ends with either yogurt and/or peanut butter & then give to your dog to enjoy. For more lasting entertainment, freeze the Kong beforehand & give it frozen. This will buy you at least 30 minutes to an hour & it kept my dog occupied for many more hours.

4. Raw knuckle bones......frozen. I suggest putting an old yucky sheet in the kennel first, then give the dog a bone. It's easily an hour of entertainment & dpending on the size of the knuckle, could be 2 -3 hours.

And last but not least, don't be afraid to ask your vet for a RX (prescription) for Acepromazine. Ace is a tranquilizer that is great to have on hand if your dog becomes agitated from being cooped up. An agitated dog in a kennel can do serious damage to it's leg so Ace is wonderful to calm him down & make him sleep. I pretty much kept Sukari Ace'd for much of the time as she quickly got to feeling better (due to the pain medications) & became restless. In doing so, she decided to take out her staples.....time & time again. When she wasn't taking them out, they were popping out due to extreme swelling from her constant turning in the kennel. For 99% of the people, this would require you going back to the vet day in & day out.

Oh, & no matter how much complaining your dog does, do NOT remove the elizabethan collar!! If you do, your dog will most definitely chew out the staples. Also have a roll of duck tape (aka duct tape) on hand to repair any damage to the e-collar from banging it around or hitting the edges up against the walls (dogs are stupid & can't judge that they themselves & the e-collar can't fit through that walkway between the couch & the wall........)

[Scotsman]

How old is your pup? It usually isn't a good sign that a young dog blew out its ACL. It is pretty common that if one leg goes the other will soon follow.
If your dog is a pup the sx will be easier, adult APBTs in general have so much muscle mass the sx can take I longer, I used to be a SX Tech for a Specialty Pratice and I had to scrub in on all the ACL's
Listen to Mia advice too!!!!

[3RVR]

thank for all of the input! I just picked him up and he is doing great...sleeping. I have a baby monitor on him so if he starts moving I can hear him... I have it out of reach though. I have a 2ft leash for him, I was worried about him tripping over a longer one if I was not paying attention. I do not plan on letting him loose so hopefully all will go well for the next two months!

He is a year and seven months. They told me that he only has a 20 degree angle so the other one more than likely will not have any problems. He tore it in the back yard in a gopher hole. I try really hard to keep them filled in, but I had not seen this new one. The exterminator has more work to do. So it was a freak accident. He tore it on Thursday and had the surgery today. I did the TPLO surgery. Hopefully we will not have anymore problems with it.