Dog Blog: My Dog Tore His CCL

This has the been the scene at our place for the last couple weeks as we’ve been awaiting the final results of our dog Brutus’ lame leg. It’s been pretty hard keeping this guy quite to try and prevent further injury, because he loves to run and jump and play. He especially loves jumping.

But it will be a while before Brutus gets airtime again. We finally learned the outcome of his persistent limp. After reviewing x-rays, our vet determined that Brutus has fully torn his CCL or cranial cruciate ligament.

To put this into perspective, the vet compared it to an athlete tearing their ACL.
So, yes, surgery will be needed, which is not free. Plus, physical therapy for months to follow. Yikes and yikes.

We have a long road ahead of us, but the recovery rate for dogs who have this surgery done is pretty promising. The only thing we’re worried about is down the road there’s a 50% chance he will tear the CCL in his other knee. Can’t wait :(

For now, we’ve got to soldier on and just get through this surgery.

Brutus is slated to go under the knife next week and I’ll be posting updates as we go through this recovery process to help you, if you should ever encounter the same thing with your four legged family member.

Likewise, if you’ve ever had to take a dog through this process, I would love to hear from you on how things went. Any suggestions for things to look out for, to avoid, or to try during therapy – I’m all ears!