# knee braces for dogs



## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

Has anyone had experience with using a knee brace for dog. I have an 8yr GSD with a week knee. She was diagnosis with ACL, we opted for rest and rehab over surgery and she seemed to heal fairly well. She does not limp at all when at a normal pace in everyday life, except when she first stands up. However, she does have a lot of arthritis and the leg gets sore if she does too much. Since we do like to take hikes and take the dogs with us, I was wondering about a brace. I have seen a few on line, but my vet has never seen them in use. Has anyone used them or had any experience with braces


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## Jerry Lyda (Apr 4, 2006)

I'm going to watch this thread for I would like to know too.


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## Courtney Guthrie (Oct 30, 2007)

I have SEEN one is use...BUT I have heard goo and bad about them. In your case, I don't think a brace would do any good. Good for you for not getting the surgery....it usually does more harm than good. 

My APBT has 2 torn ACLs and is NOT even a candidate for surgery as she is literally too straight in the rear they have nothing to pull from without causing more issues for her. 

I use Absorbine Liniment for horses on her as well as lots of glucosamine/chondroitin and vitamin C. Also, try building muscles around the ligaments by low impact exercises. Swimming works best. My APBT went and swam for at least an hour every day after hers happened and she has no limp or gimp because the muscles are so built up around the ligament that they compensate for the ligament itself. 

I have torn an ACL and a meniscus along with a lot of other things in my knee when my horse kicked me and broke it. I opted out of surgery and just slowly built the leg back up BUT I do wear a brace everyday or am supposed too...I don't. 

Here is a link of the doggie ACL braces and after seeing one used I just don'ty think they're worth the money. This site is the BEST one IMO and the brace that I saw used. 

http://www.orthopets.com/ACLStifleDevice.htm

Good Luck. If you have any more questions about ACL injuries in general...I've done a lot of research on them as well have worked in a vet office. 

Courtney


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## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

I would love to swim her more because she enjoys it so much. However there is one problem. . . it takes forever for her to dry. She is a VERY long hair GSD and if I could figure out how to post a picture here I would. ( I put it on the Community Gallery, but can not figure out how to get it here)


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## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

Got it Thank you. In the mean time, in addition to the knee brace, has anyone heard anything about the new "Tightrope" surgery. I really want to avoid surgery, but if I have to go that route, I would like to do the least invasive.


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## Terrasita Cuffie (Jun 8, 2008)

Kate:

There is a yahoo group "orthodogs," and I bet everything you want to know has been discussed there and in triplicate, especially regarding any of the surgical procedures. Ann Schallert ordered the brace for her bouv [neoprene]. Needless to say it was several hundred dollars down the drain when she chewed it off.


Terrasita


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

The down side to any brace for people or dog is that muscle tone will be lost if it's used to often.
That's what keeps me from wearing a back brace.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Hey Kate, if you're only about 1.5 hours from Columbia, I'd recommend seeing if you can visit Dr. Jimi Cook, our orthopaedic surgeon at the teaching hospital at the vet school. He's one of the top orthopaedic surgeons in the country (and he was also named America's best vet in 2008). I suspect if anyone would know, he would.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Courtney Guthrie said:


> Good for you for not getting the surgery....it usually does more harm than good.
> Courtney



Am I the only one here getting peeved with blanket statements like this? 

Every surgery has risk. Some dogs are not good candidates. Some dogs respond well.

To judge a surgery, (or breed of dog - like in a different thread with the same poster) on limited experience and state it as fact is misleading and pisses me off.

Prove your statement with more than your personal experience and I'll recant.

And back to topic...

Katie - what do you feed your dog? Any supplements?


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Am I the only one here getting peeved with blanket statements like this?
> 
> Every surgery has risk. Some dogs are not good candidates. Some dogs respond well.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I was going to ignore that statement, but thanks for bringing it up. I've seen some AMAZiNG improvments for dogs getting their CCLs (the ACL in dogs) and hips done. They could finally enjoy being dogs again! Same thing with many other procedures and especially the ever present "my cousin's boyfriend's best friend's sister's nephew's dog died under anesthesia." One that I dealt with recently is my in-law's dog needed a tooth extracted because the tooth was cracked, abscessed, and dead. They let that dog (who used to be my dog) suffer for 4 months before they finally agreed to let their vet extract it because their neighbor's son's 6 month old golden retriever pup died under anesthesia (was purchased from a big BYB and likely had a heart defect). They were scared to death to let the vet do the extraction as they were scared to death it was going to be a one way trip. I finally got them to do it and the dog's change in attitude was seen literally overnight. He felt so much better and was all the sudden much more affectionate again. 

This isn't to say surgery is always the best option (my medial meniscus is torn on the right side as well and no surgery for me), but veterinary surgery has really come a long way in the last 10-15 years and if it buys a dog a good couple of less painful and more high quality years, I say go for it.


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## Ian Forbes (Oct 13, 2006)

Just to add that there are many types of surgery available for ACL injuries, some more suitable than others for each dog.

I would avoid surgery, if possible, but sometimes it is the best option. I have a bitch who had 2 x TPLO operations last year and she is now running around like a lunatic...:roll:


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## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

Maren: I have heard of Dr. Cook. It is my understanding that he developed the Tightrope procedure. My vet knows him and is going to get more infor for me. If I have anything done, it will be at the University. As I said before, I would like to avoid surgery, but we have been dealilng with this for almost a year. Despite reassurances from several vets that the TPLO is very effective, it scares the hell out of me and I am not going to do it. The Tightrope being less intrusive is what appeals to me. I just want her to be able to go on long hikes with us again.

As far as food and supplements, she is fed Royal Canin which has some glucosimine in it, (but not much). I am also giving her and additional 3000mg of both glucosimine and MSM per day.


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## Courtney Guthrie (Oct 30, 2007)

Anne Vaini said:


> Am I the only one here getting peeved with blanket statements like this?
> 
> Every surgery has risk. Some dogs are not good candidates. Some dogs respond well.
> 
> ...


Sorry that it pissed you off. I wasn't trying to pass it off as fact but see that it was written that way. 

I did a LOT of research on these things and well, came across a LOT of articles that said the way I feel about it and then there were others that supported doing surgery. I'll try and dig up links about it. 

I like the more holistic approaches first and then surgery as a last resort. That was merely MY experience. I'll try and watch HOW I type things so that they don't sound like facts. 

OT- what other thread are you talking about?? Can you PM me the thread? 

Sorry, 
Courtney


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Kate Kueper said:


> Maren: I have heard of Dr. Cook. It is my understanding that he developed the Tightrope procedure. My vet knows him and is going to get more infor for me. If I have anything done, it will be at the University. As I said before, I would like to avoid surgery, but we have been dealilng with this for almost a year. Despite reassurances from several vets that the TPLO is very effective, it scares the hell out of me and I am not going to do it. The Tightrope being less intrusive is what appeals to me. I just want her to be able to go on long hikes with us again.


Yes, he did indeed develop and patent the procedure. He's in really high demand from other general practice and board certified veterinary surgery specialist to learn the procedure, so I'll definitely make sure I study up. :smile: While it's new and time will tell, it seems like the TPLO is better for performed by board certified surgeons because it is quite extensive and the TightRope is easier to perform by general practitioners who do surgery, though it seems that they both can achieve excellent results. My small animal surgery clinical rotation is in July of 2010, so if you don't get it done before then, maybe I'll even be helping with the surgery if you all go that route. \\/ But I can't say enough good things about Dr. Cook. Him and his wife are a great team (she's a radiologist, he's an orthopaedic surgeon), he's very nice and an excellent teacher. He's just like a rock star. Or maybe a movie star...he actually looks like Matthew McConaughey with short hair and talks just like him too! :lol:


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## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

I just wanted to give an update on the knee brace issue. I did end up getting a brace for her from Sky Prosthetics (www.skyprosthetics.com ), and it is working great. It is basically a neoprene sleeve with a hard plastic brace that goes over. I only use the brace when she is exercising or when we go on a long hike. Between the brace and Adequin injection, she is like a new girl. I can now let her out the the other dogs to run in the yard. We don't allow her to catch frisbees anymore, but she still runs full out with the other dogs. Before the brace and Adequin activity like that would have put her on pain meds for days, now she does it everyday with out problems. 

I felt surgery was not the best option for several reasons, mainly her age (9+ years). I thought it would be too difficult for her to recover. Since (also due to her age) she only exercises when we initiate it, this solution has worked great.

I hope this helps give additional options to anyone else going through this.


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

Just some thoughts about pain killers, knee braces, etc. Does the dog need to go on long hikes to maintain its life quality?

The dog will not go easy on his legs if he doesn't feel pain but the wear and tear will be there the same.

Pain is sometimes a healer in that the dog is stopped from overtiring itself and wearing out the joints.

You wrote in one post that the dog only has exercise if you initiate it. Isn't this a sign that the dog would like to go easy on itself?

I wish you well with your dog and the above are only my thoughts and in no way intended to criticise your methods.


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## Ian Forbes (Oct 13, 2006)

Gillian Schuler said:


> Just some thoughts about pain killers, knee braces, etc. Does the dog need to go on long hikes to maintain its life quality?
> 
> The dog will not go easy on his legs if he doesn't feel pain but the wear and tear will be there the same.
> 
> ...


Sensible points, but I'll give a couple of counter points:

-Controlled exercise is better than uncontrolled exercise for a dog with orthopaedic problems. Exercise is necessary to maintain muscle tone. Swimming is very good for a dog with joint problems.
-Rehabilitation work is often painful. Sometimes animals (including humans) need to be pushed a little to progress beyond a certain limited point of recovery. Anyone who has had physiotherapy will attest that it can be very painful, but there can be benefits in getting back to a full range of movement.


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## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

Exercise when we initiate it simple means she lays on her bed until we pick up her favorite toy or grab a leash and then she begins running around the house barking like a puppy. So even though we initiate it, it is definately the high point of her day. Believe me, I won't force that dog to do anything she didn't want or feel like doing. She would definately not be happy if we all went out for a hike and left her behind.

I also don't believe that just because a dog has orthopedic problems related to either age or injury that you should let them turn to jello on the couch. With proper care and exercise, they can still lead a normal, if sometimes limited, happy life.


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

Sorry, just wanted to help.

I believe there is a great difference between going on long hikes and a "jello on the couch". What Ian says is correct and what I did with my dog. I exercised him to keep his muscle strength and for his brain I did tracking or similar things that didn't place to much wear on his joints.

I know what you mean by holding a toy in front of the dog or a leash but this I did when my Fila was about 12-13 years of age to test whether he would come out with me for a stroll or not. If he hadn't got out of his basket it would have been his end for me. He lived to be 14,5 years old.

Is this necessary for an 8 year old dog who doesn't have pain?

Again, don't want to preach, just want to raise issues.


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## Kate Kueper (Dec 4, 2008)

I don't want to turn this into a discussion on how much and what type of activities I should be doing with my dog. Those who know me know I would never do anything I thought was not in my dogs best interest. I just want to let people who are interested in alternatives know that this brace has been great for her and has allowed her to return to the activities she loves.


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

Fine with me! I thought you were open to ideas but must have been mistaken.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I will add that, knowing kate and her dogs, we should all wish for such a full, well cared for life.


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