Canine Cruciate Ligament Rupture (CCL) - Lottie The Labradoodle
Canine Cruciate Ligament Rupture (CCL)
Lottie The Labradoodle
Lottie is a 7-year-old golden doodle. She was referred to me by her owner 4 weeks post operatively to repair her left hind ruptured cruciate ligament. Her owner felt that Lottie was not progressing as she should as she was struggling with the increase in walking. Lottie injured herself whilst climbing the stairs.
On her initial examination she was lame left hind and hopped occasionally. She was also extremely reluctant to weight bear on the left hind when standing and found turning difficult.
Her rehabilitation programme consisted initially of reducing exercise levels, controlling pain and strengthening exercises. Unfortunately, 4 weeks later Lottie also ruptured her right hind cruciate and had another operation to repair this. This is relatively common, as they compensate and put all their weight on the “healthy” limb causing it to also fail.
Lottie’s exercise was then restricted to cage rest and toilet breaks and we built her up from there, increasing the exercise as and when she was strong enough. Her environment at home was assessed and precautions put in place such as: stair gates, non-slip mats on tiled floors etc. Pain was controlled by drugs prescribed by the vet and weekly treatments of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy along with laser therapy, in between treatments the owner iced the affected area to minimise swelling. Her strengthening exercises initially started as simple weight-bearing exercises and proprioceptive exercises and developed into more tasking strengthening exercises such as raised poles.
Lottie made a full recovery and can be found chasing sticks and not bringing them back for her owner.
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