Dog ACL Repair – Pickles’ Story

Meet Pickles

Pickles was rescued as a puppy in 2003 from the Humane Society in Topeka, Kansas. He is a happy-go-lucky guy and always looks for interactions with other animals or people.

Through our many adventures, Pickles has enjoyed an active lifestyle. He has always enjoyed running, playing, and hiking with his family.

Little did Pickles know a dog ACL repair was in his future!

Realizing Dog ACL Repair Was Needed

After many years of his highly active lifestyle, Pickles began to show pain in his right knee, often limping especially after playing. After a visit to a veterinarian, he was put on an anti-inflammatory medication to treat his knee.

However, Pickles was determined not to slow down and subsequently ended up tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.  This is technically a CCL in dogs – cranial cruciate ligament, because dogs walk on four legs instead of two.

We had a prior great experience with Helping Hands Affordable Veterinary Surgery and Dental Care for prior affordable pet dental care.

We knew of the quality services offered and that this is where Pickles would need to go to get the caring attention he needed.

Notes from Dr. Lori Pasternak:

Pickles came to Helping Hands in December 2015 as a result of a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament.   There are a few different ways to repair an ACL tear (TPLO & TTA to name a few), but at Helping Hands we only perform the most affordable way called the lateral suture technique. We simply replace the torn ligament with a new one. We get calls with lots of questions and confusion about dog ACL surgery options. To better inform our potential clients we produced a short video to explain the different procedures:

VIDEO – Torn ACL in Dogs – $995 Surgery to Repair the Cranial Cruciate Ligament

On average, we repair a dozen or more torn ACLs in dogs in a week. Sadly, it is a common injury in pets and people. But the good news is… if your pet behaves during recovery, they will walk/run a pain free life like Pickles is now enjoying.

After Pickles’ Dog ACL Repair

Pickles had a very successful ACL surgery and the folks at Helping Hands were very accommodating in providing us with the resources to make sure his recovery was successful, even going to the point of contacting us directly to check on him!

The comprehensiveness of the care provided by Helping Hands enabled our Pickles to make a full recovery. We would not consider taking Pickles, or our other fur baby, anywhere else but Helping Hands for surgery or dental work.