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Hi Linda,
Sounds like you have done more research than me and I’m definitely not an expert on what to do once the ACL tears – although I have seen plenty of dogs that have a good quality of life once the healing process is complete. I have assisted in handful of TPLOs as a tech but that is about it.
I have heard good things about Dr. DeAngelis but have never personally met him. There is also a surgeon named Dr. Steckle (sp?) that comes to Peekskill Animal Hospital that I know for sure first hand is amazing and gets called in for all the specialty surgeries. A lot of animal hospitals use him – a great guy and very honest.
The only advice that I really have to offer is as a preventative for your other dogs or maintenance once the healing is complete.
The two most important things I have found is weight and a high quality joint supplement – because issues with the joints are such a common problem with dogs I make this like a religion even for privately owned dogs that are kenneled at the facility because a joint injury will obviously affect the training.
I prefer to keep dogs as thin as possible without looking like they are unhealthy.
As far as joint supplements they are definitely not all created equal, and when you see it on a dog food label it is usually in such small amounts and such a small piece of what the dog really needs it might as well be ignored.
I SWEAR by the “agility” supplement I use on all the dogs. You can read about it here: Agility. I have seen close to miracles with it – and any dog in my care immediately goes on it. That I have delivered to the kennel.
Although I have never used it personally, Glycoflex 3, has a very similar formula, so I’m assuming that it might have similar results as a preventative and repair nutriceutical.
I have used Cosequin in the past and didnt get nearly the same results – I think because the agility has a better combination that includes the sea mussels which are great for the ligaments/tendons.
If anyone else has seen good results with other supplements I would be interested to know since there are a lot out there and can be difficult to know which are good options. So far the Agility is the only one that I have used large scale on enough dogs to know that what I was seeing wasn’t a coincidence.
Good luck with this!
