Question:
Forgive me I am new to this forum. I posted this question in the wtong arena. So I will give this another try. My dog Jake tore his acl and miniscus and had surgery on it two months ago. He is still very much favoring his leg and doesn't put it down a lot. He will do it if he excited about something or will go upstairs but that is it. Is this normal behavior at this point of recovery?

Answer:
What did your vet say about the recovery time?

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We actually have a dog at the shelter where I work that had surgery for a torn ACL. It has been almost 2 months since the surgery and she still favors the leg. We brought her to a physical therapist for dogs, and they said it was perfectly normal for her to still favor it, but you may want to have your vet re-check and make sure it is healing okay. We have to do exercises to help the dog heal, such as walking her very slowly so she is more apt to put the "bad" leg down for 5 to 10 minutes twice a day, gently massaging and stretching the leg, walking her through agility "weave poles" so she has to shift the weight from one side to the other, and having her sit, lie down, stand up to stretch the leg and help build her muscle tone, as that leg has gotten weak from her favoring it.

I would say have your vet check, and see if they can advise any exercises to do, or if they can recommend a doggie physical therapist.

Good luck!

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My dog just had a TPLO surgery for his torn cruciate ligament three weeks ago. He has been putting weight on it since about 2 days after the operation. We have a hard time trying to get him to stay off it as he is supposed to be confined for the first two months and then gradual exercise for the next two months.

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A lot depends on the size and the weight of the dog. My guy was not allowed to do much for 8 weeks and then was only allowed short leashed walks for another 2 weeks. Then controlled play for a month after that. He still occasionally favours his leg but I've noticed that recently the muscle and size have come back. He was operated on end of november. Some dogs have longer recovery times. We had routine follow ups with the surgeon and still should something not be right, I'm to bring him back.

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Thanks for all the comments on this. He is like our child! When he hurts we hurt. We do go in the vets this Tuesday for a checkup on it. They said they may have to sedate him to check it. He will not like that we leave him again. Hopefully he will be cooperate and let the doc look without a fuss.

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You don't mention the age of your dog but if yours is an older dog they may take longer to bounce back. If there is another existing problem like hip or elbow dysplasia, your dog may never be able to handle the same type or amount of physical demands as they once could before the tear and surgery. I hope your check-up includes and x-ray as this will ensure that the surgery (you don't mention what was done) that was done (i.e. pins, plates, resectioning) is still in place.

If it is available in your neck of the woods, you might want to consider hydrotherapy (guided walking on a treadmill in heated water) or swimming in a heated therapy pool.

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