DemoDick wrote:Am I being too optimistic to hope that he'll get full use of his knee back? I expect eventual arthritis and possibly another surgery in case his other knee fails, but I hate the thought of him being less than 100%. I've found few people who have had this done who work their dogs as physically as we do, or have this kind of dog.
I don't know a lot of pit owners personally that have had the surgery but know quite a few people with other very active breeds (sport, hunting, etc..) whose dogs have gone back to 100%
Earl is a gangly Lab but is VERY active and puts a lot of stress on his leg through daily activities and definitely gives Kayden a run for his money when they are playing together. I've done flyball, agility, dock diving, frisbee, weight pull, etc... with him without any indication at all that his knee was repaired. They probably won't know until they open Connor up but Earl tore his meniscus as well when he injured his knee. From what I've read that can cause some added arthritis later down the line.
Earl initially recovered very quickly and then hit a plateau. He was still shifting the majority of his weight to his good knee after 3 months and the surgeon said, "Well that may just be as good as he gets"... What I found out after talking to a lot of people is like humans, some dogs take a little longer to get better and to not rush his recovery too much. I did a lot of jogging with him after those 3 months and that helped speed up his recovery a LOT. The first year after Connor rehabs you will have a lot of oh sh!t moments every time he goes balls to the wall, but that knee once healed really is strong as hell.
I would be VERY surprised if Connor slows down at all after he rehabs. He is a strong, determined monster of a dog. You guys keep your dogs active and lean (minus Mrs Ruby of course) so that dramatically reduces the chance of him screwing his other knee up.
Connor will be back to new in no time