Dog Knee Surgery

The joints of our dogs are perhaps as delicate as ours.



Just as we humans suffer from degeneration of joints and the resulting pain in them from overuse, our dogs too suffer the same fate. With age, the knees of our dogs also degenerate and they may suffer from diseases such as arthritis, among others. Dog knee surgery may at times offer a solution to this problem.



The exercises that our dogs perform are often stressful for the delicate joints of the knees. Simple exercises such as catching a Frisbee can make the joints of the dog weak. Large dog breeds are more susceptible to developing knee problems than the small dog breeds and dog knee surgery is routinely conducted on such dogs.



Overweight dogs are also at a higher risk of developing joint problems.  Sometimes, problems in the knee joints of dogs can be confused with problems of the hip joints, which is also a common ailment in older and heavier dogs.

Dogs may require dog knee surgery if they have a torn or an injured ligament. Just like in humans, torn and injured ligaments and tendons can cause a lot of pain and discomfort. In most cases, the only way to deal with the ligament or tendon is to perform a surgery in which these tendons and ligaments are completely removed. The dog knee surgery cost usually depends on the kind of procedure being performed and the number of joints it is being performed on. A dog knee surgery recovery is also similarly estimated. Depending on the type of surgical procedure performed, and the ailment that the dog experienced, the recovery may take from a few weeks to a few months. The recovery period also depends on the age and the general health of the animal.
Depending on the kind of ailment that the dog is facing, there can be several different dog knee surgery options. Surgeries could be performed to simply remove damaged and injured ligaments or there may even be surgeries for partial or complete knee replacement. The surgery is basically dependent on the problem that your dog is experiencing and the extent of damage that has been caused. If there is a lot of pain and inflammation, a more complicated surgery may have to be performed. If there is a fracture, along with knee degeneration, then too, there may be complicated surgical procedures involved.

Other surgical procedures may include bone grafting, cutting the ligaments, surgical replacement of ligaments, transplantation or reshaping of bones and knee replacements. All of these are time consuming and expensive surgical procedures.