My senior Lab's limping badly. Is it an ACL tear or knee injury?

Question

Hello, I have an almost 10-year chocolate labrador who has had a bad, back left leg for three weeks now. He limped really badly and couldn't walk far at all. The vet said it was a suspected anterior cruciate ligament rupture, or something to do with his knee. He was given a 10 day course of anti-inflammatories, but put under three days into it for an x-ray but nothing showed up, the vet just said she's adamant its the knee, Got worse last 2 days cant walk, need possible answers, vet is useless. Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Male | neutered | 9 years and 8 months old | 75.61 lbs

Andrea M. Brodie, DVM · Accepted Answer

This certainly sounds like your dog has a cruciate ligament rupture, In the case of such a rupture the xrays will not show much of a change, if any at all. When under anesthesia, the vet can do and likely did an exam to check whether there is a positive drawer sign (a certain movement of the knee joint only possible when there is an ACL tear) and therefore diagnosed an ACL tear Unfortunately in large heavy dogs this is a matter for surgery as it will not heal by itself and cause serious arthritis when not fixed. The other bad news is that with putting most of the weight on the healthy leg now, her other cruciate ligament will likely fail at some time in the future as well. The disposition for this condition is hereditary and therefore it just happens, without any possible way to prevent it. So trust your vet and discuss possible treatments. There are several ways to treat this, the most successful ones being surgery. There are several types of surgery available and depending your your dog one might be more favourable than another. This is why you will need to discuss this with your vet.

My senior Lab's limping badly. Is it an ACL tear or knee injury?

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