Recovering from ACL Surgery #PetHealthAwareness

This post is sponsored by BlogPaws. I am being compensated to support Pet Health Awareness Month with an educational post, but DogTipper only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. BlogPaws is not responsible for the content of this article.

I am happy to say that this is the last week of Irie’s restrictions after TPLO surgery for a torn ACL. It has been a difficult three months since her August 26 surgery but she has come a long way. Her surgeon has now released her with no more follow-up visits unless we have concerns, although she expected that Irie might continue to show improvement for as much as six months from now.

I thought it might be helpful to take a look at all the steps we’ve taken, from injury until this week’s release, for those of you who might be faced with ACL surgery some day.

How It Began

The morning of Friday, August 23 began like every other day. We got up, and we let the dogs outside to potty in the yard. Irie and Tiki were walking around, tending to business, when suddenly Tiki bolted for the back fence after a squirrel. Irie took off after her…then we heard a yelp.

John and I both ran out to check on Irie. Honestly, we expected to see puncture marks from a snakebite. We looked and looked, checking Irie for a bite. We saw nothing. She was holding up her rear right paw. OK, we figured that she’d stepped on a wasp, which had happened the week before. We headed back to the house, and put ice on Irie’s paw.

One hour went by and then two–but with no improvement. We realized it wasn’t a wasp sting so we called our vet to see if they could work us in. They said come on in.

As always, we brought along both dogs (Tiki’s presence really calms Irie at the vet). After a short wait, we got in to see the vet who quickly suspected a torn ACL. (Technically it’s CCL in dogs, or cranial cruciate ligament, but that’s like the ACL in humans.) After a test for “drawer” movement, checking a back and forth sliding of the knee or stifle joint, and some x-rays, he confirmed that it was a tear and referred us to a local specialty vet hospital. Our vet also performed a full panel of blood work so we’d have that to take to the specialty hospital.

Of course, these things always seem to happen on a Friday, so, although we were able to make an appointment for Monday morning, we couldn’t get in to see the specialty vet until Monday. Over the weekend, we kept Irie as quiet as possible; our vet had also given us a prescription for pain killers to help make her more comfortable.

Off to Surgery

On Monday morning, we headed off to the surgeon’s office at the Central Texas Specialty Vet Clinic in Round Rock, a little over half an hour from our house. We met with the surgeon who explained our surgical options for Irie. Because of her size (about 65 pounds), we selected TPLO or tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomysurgery. It involves, like the name suggests, leveling a portion of the tibia, basically cutting the bone and reconfiguring the geometry of the knee. It also includes a plate and screws.

We left Irie at the hospital that morning for sedation, detailed x-rays, then surgery. Since the hospital didn’t like to worry about keeping up with blankets and toys, they don’t recommend leaving items with dogs but Irie is an anxious dog so I asked them to keep a cloth with her in her kennel. It was an old fleece sweater that I cut into a large square (so no arms for her to tangle in). I felt that the scent of home would be comforting to her (and it was comforting to me to leave her with something!)

We headed off with Tiki to go have some lunch at a dog-friendly mall in Austin (both my birthday and Tiki’s gotcha day were right around the corner) then we all headed home to wait for word on Irie’s surgery and to prepare the house for her return home the next day. By mid-afternoon, we had the call that the surgery had gone great, and Irie was awake.

Picking Up Irie

After what seemed an endless evening, we were at the clinic the next morning to pick up Irie. She came out in perhaps the largest cone I’ve ever seen. One of the techs helped us get her to and into the car. We’d prepared the car with a memory foam bed for her.

What we weren’t quite prepared for (even though we’d done a lot of reading on the subject), was the size of the incision, which was on the inside of her leg, was undressed, and included a long row of staples:

The incision was very clean. The first thing I did was to take the photo above so I’d know if there were any changes that I needed to be concerned about.

Once we got Irie home, we fed her a small meal and set about making her comfortable on the floor. She wasn’t to do any climbing so that meant no jumping on the bed or couch, her usual places to hang out during the day. And, since my office is upstairs, we’d closed off the stairs with a baby gate.

Instead, we’d made a pallet of dog beds on the living room floor. We kept Irie on leash all day, going outside only for potty breaks. That night, I slept with her on the dog beds on the floor with her on leash to make sure she didn’t get up in the night. (I can now say, with complete honesty, that those memory foam dog beds are comfortable!)

The first two weeks of Irie’s recovery were the toughest due to the very strict restrictions during that time. She only went out for bathroom breaks, and remained on leash 24 hours a day. We’re so lucky that we both work at home so someone was always available to sit with Irie and keep an eye on her.

Irie did very well with the cone, too. She’d never had to wear a cone in the past but she quickly adjusted and learned to eat and drink with it on. The surgeon had asked that we not use a soft cone because she was concerned that Irie would get around it and get to the incision so we went and bought another cone that was completely clear. Irie really seemed to enjoy that and it was easier on us as well; we were able to look at her and see if she was resting.

Rehab Begins

After two weeks, we went back to the surgeon’s office for the removal of the staples (and the cone!) At this point, Irie began her rehabilitation as well. Before we left the surgeon’s office, we met with the physical therapy team who gave us handouts on Irie’s week by week plan, starting with five-minute walks.

Week by week, we’ve been able to add more time to Irie’s walks, which were done at the pace of a bride going down the aisle…step, step. She would have been happier to have gone faster but that meant hopping, so she had to be held back, at my side, and we slowly walked along. Tiki came along on our super slow, short walks, but she was walked separately as well.

Along with changing up our walking schedule, we also changed up much of our home to accommodate Irie’s needs. We put the mattress of our king-sized bed directly on the floor so she could sleep with us. For the first several weeks, I kept her on leash in bed so I didn’t have to worry about her walking around the house in the night (which she never does anyway but I worry). We also removed all the cushions from our couch and John constructed a small step in front of the couch so Irie could get on the couch as easily as getting on our front porch, which the vet had cleared her to do.

As the weeks went by, we found our new normal–Irie spending the day beside me on the cushionless couch while I worked, taking Irie out on leash for all potty breaks, and taking super slow, short walks. We soon decided that Irie needed to get back into our day trip routine so that she didn’t feel like she was going to the vet with every car trip, and we began enjoying short trips, first to parks in our hometown then longer half-day and finally full-day trips.

In mid-October, Irie went back in for follow-up x-rays, and we were happy to learn that her leg was 80 percent healed. By the end of October, we were able to go to the beach on our rescheduled summer vacation, and Irie was cleared to walk, on leash, as long as she’d like.

Now that she’s clear to resume her normal activities, we’re still taking it easy, discouraging jumping (and the couch step is still in place, although the cushions have, thankfully, been returned). Next week, I’ll be heading back upstairs to start work in my office again, the first time in three months. We’ll be keeping a careful eye on Irie, making sure she continues to build strength in her back leg so that she doesn’t put stress on her rear left leg, a constant worry of ours (since roughly half the ACL surgeries are followed by surgery on the other leg).

This Thanksgiving, we’re going to be especially grateful that we were able to afford the surgery for Irie. Even with pet insurance, our self-employment budget took quite a hit. We’re so lucky to work at home, though, and to have had the flexibility to stay with her and to take on additional freelance work.

Most of all, we’re thankful to see Irie up and around again, feeling great and, now, happy to go out in the front yard by herself and lie in the sun…off leash!