{"id":2500,"date":"2018-03-07T13:51:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T18:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ovrs.com\/blog\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2018-05-16T15:26:17","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T19:26:17","slug":"pet-cruciate-ligament-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ovrs.com\/blog\/pet-cruciate-ligament-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"When Good Knees Go Bad: All About Pet Cruciate Ligament Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"petThere isn\u2019t a football fan out there who hasn\u2019t heard of an ACL injury. This common injury in the knee involves the anterior cruciate ligament and can have a player on the sidelines for months. What you might not know, though, is that animals can rupture their cruciate ligament as well. When this happens, thankfully, Oakland Veterinary Referral Services<\/a> is here to help talk about pet cruciate ligament surgery.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Knee Injury Explained<\/h3>\n

The ACL in dogs and cats is actually called the CCL. It is essentially the same structure, but the anatomical terminology is a bit different, since humans walk on two legs and animals on four.<\/p>\n

The cruciate ligament serves as one of the main structures stabilizing the knee. Humans tend to rupture the ligament acutely, due to some kind of trauma; animals often have more chronic injuries to the cruciate ligament.<\/p>\n

Pets with a diseased CCL will often show intermittent signs of lameness, difficulty rising, and muscle loss until the ligament eventually ruptures. This results in a dramatic and seemingly acute lameness.<\/p>\n

An orthopedic exam and radiographs (x-rays) may help support a diagnosis of a CCL injury, but neither of these things allow us to see inside the joint. Visualization of the knee via arthroscopy<\/a> can help us to identify partial tears and other soft tissue problems, such as meniscus tears, which often go hand-in-hand with CCL disease.<\/p>\n

Pet Cruciate Ligament Surgery<\/h3>\n

A cruciate ligament injury can be very painful. Much of a patient\u2019s discomfort is due to the instability of the injured joint and resulting inflammation. In many patients the best way to relieve this and return them to function is surgery.<\/p>\n

There are several options when it comes to pet cruciate ligament surgery<\/a>. As with many things, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to treating these. Our surgeons at Oakland Veterinary Referral Services evaluate each pet on an individual basis and may recommend:<\/p>\n

Arthroscopy<\/strong> \u2013 Arthroscopy utilizes a camera within the joint and allows us to successfully treat partial CCL tears and meniscal tears without a full surgical incision. When we can fix something with this method, it is the preferred choice due to decreased trauma for the patient, faster healing, and better outcomes.<\/p>\n

Extracapsular repair<\/strong> \u2013 For some pets, the joint may be stabilized using a heavy suture outside to mimic the function of the cruciate ligament.<\/p>\n

Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy<\/strong> \u2013 A TPLO is one of the more commonly recommended approaches to helping pets with cruciate disease. In this surgery, the tibia is actually cut and plated in place at a new angle calculated to help the knee stabilize. Arthroscopy may be used prior to a TPLO to assess if there are other issues within the joint.<\/p>\n

Rehabilitation therapy<\/strong> \u2013 Rehabilitation therapy is helpful in maximizing function after any knee surgery, but may also play a role for pets who are not surgical candidates. It can be a helpful means to increase comfort and function in many patients.<\/p>\n

Pet cruciate ligament surgery is one of the more common surgeries we do here, and our pet patients can have exceptional results. Please let us know<\/strong><\/a> if you have questions about how we can help your pet. It is our pleasure to bring only the highest quality care to you and your four-legged friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There isn\u2019t a football fan out there who hasn\u2019t heard of an ACL injury. This common injury in the knee involves the anterior cruciate ligament and can have a player on the sidelines for months. What you might not know, though, is that animals can rupture their cruciate ligament as well. When this happens, thankfully, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15,27],"tags":[853,856,852,854,855],"class_list":["post-2500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pet-emergencies-first-aid","category-pet-rehab-therapy","category-surgical-suite","tag-acl-surgery","tag-common-pet-surgeries","tag-pet-cruciate-ligament-surgery","tag-pet-surgeries","tag-pet-surgical-procedures"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Good Knees Go Bad: All About Pet Cruciate Ligament Surgery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When this happens, thankfully, Oakland Veterinary Referral Services is here to help talk about pet cruciate ligament surgery.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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