[mswaynay]

Hey guys, I have been watching/stalking this forum for awhile and it has helped me a lot transitioning my dogs to a full raw diet. One of my dogs completely ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and is in TPLO surgery right now, he should be coming home tomorrow, fingers crossed!

My dogs are fed half commercial raw grinds/nuggets, mainly Northwest Naturals and Columbia River Naturals, switching between meats such as lamb, beef, quail. The other half of their diet RMB that I find good deals on at the grocery store or local farmers (mainly chicken and turkey). We live in a small house so sadly don’t have room for a massive freezer yet! As far as supplements, they are already being given fish oil, green lipped mussel and K9 Level 5000. They also get sardines and local duck eggs several times a week. Thankfully he will not be put on antibiotics so thats one less thing to worry about. I did buy a exercise pen for him to be in for the next several weeks and was thinking for some of his meals I could use a Kong stuffed with grinds, frozen it would provide a pretty stimulating meal.

So any advice on what supplements, types of raw food may help his recovery, tips to keep him entertained, etc would be much appreciated! I’m sitting at home with all my other animals bored our of our minds waiting to hear from the vet!!

[Dori]

I would suggest Standard Process Whole Body Supplement. If you diffuse essential oils in your home I would suggest Transition and also Calm-Away. For the oils I would suggest you go to AnimalEO.info and check them out. You can also order Standard Process products through that site. This is Melissa Shelton DVM’s site. I use a H2EO diffuser. You can read about the different essential oils on her site and if you go to her site oilyvet.com you can check out the different Standard Process supplements and see if any of them are worth while for your dog. I think the two I mentioned would be worthwhile for your dog but there may be others.

I’m also a commercial raw rotational feeder to my three dogs. I don’t feed anything processed.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by Dori.

[Anonymous]

A homeopathic veterinarian’s view on the subject http://vitalanimal.com/cranial-cruciate-ligament/
I don’t believe all of what they say, but maybe you can find some helpful tips from the blog and comments.

[C4D]

Interesting article L M. Having 2 dogs with ACL/Meniscus tears in both knees, I’ve done a ton of research on this for many years. I do agree with most of the article, but find they’ve missed what seems to be a big problem that is only now becoming mainstream knowledge. Early spay/neuter is a HUGE reason for this. Here’s a UCDavis link:
http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10498

There are many more, but this just gives you some insight. My first early neuter boy was very young, healthy and athletic, but was an adopted dog and was pediatric neutered @ 8 weeks. My chocolate was rescued @ about 8 months and was already spayed. We found out when the vets (not my normal one) opened her up to spay. He did have surgery (fishing line) and it was successful, but he slowly became forever stiff as we were not as familiar with supplements and therapy back then. Our chocolate went through rehab therapy prior to surgery per my vets recommendation and did so well, she did not require surgery. We have kept her on fish oil and glucosamine supplements for over 5 years and kept her on the slim side. While she has diagnosed arthritis in both knees, she is still very active (walks up to 2 miles almost daily) and we continually do strength exercises on her. She is 10 and with the exception of a sloppy sit (which she’s always had since we found her) you would not be able to tell.
So, I really feel that the most important part of recovery is therapy along with continual supplementation of fish oil and glucosamin/chondroitin. I use human supplements.

[Anonymous]

@C4D, I agree with your comments, the homeopathic vet does address early spay/neuter in another blog, but as you know, it is complicated.
My cairn was a pet shop rescue, neutered at the age of 10 weeks due to a inguinal hernia, almost a year old and he was stiff, hind leg weakness….in fact the vet ruled out myasthenia gravis.
I took him home and put him on fish oil and glucosamine, walk him for at least an hour a day. He is 2 years old now and his gait is normal.
I avoid vaccinations for this dog and keep pesticides to a minimum.

[Marcie D]

Hello,
I had 2 large breeds that had TPLO surgeries. Both were done by one of the Veterinarians who developed this wonderful surgery. When I brought them home I didn’t want to crate them only because they were so large they could not stretch out in a crate. I stayed beside them 24/7 with a collar and leash on because once they start to feel better they do dangerous things and down/stay doesn’t last for days! I put boxes around them in a room so that they could only stand up and turn around. As they got better the boxes were removed until they were healed. If your Veterinarian recommend antibiotic I would suggest you use them as this is orthopaedic surgery and right into the bone.
Good luck!

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