My poor dog teared her ACL

Question
Per my vet's diagnosis, my dog has a completely torn ACL and osteoarthritis in her knee. She recommended surgery and prescribed tramadol, rimadyl and glucosamine. I am only giving the glucosamine right now. She was on Turmeric but I had to stop it because it interferes with NSAID's like rimadyl and tramadol. I also had to stop the turmeric because if she needs surgery it is my understanding that it interferes with proper blood clotting. Yet,through research I hear about lots of people who have healed their dogs through conservative management and skipped the surgery. I am also scared to give the tramadol and rimadyl and was wondering if it would be bad to continue the turmeric and bromelain instead and try to skip surgery and see what happens after 8 weeks of complete rest. I heard the torn ligament will form scar tissue if it rests and in 6 months should heal. I would love your input on this! Thanks!

Answer
Hello Alessa,

This question would fall under the parameters of "practicing medicine without a license", so I can't really make a whole lot of recommendations. I would recommend that you find a Holistic Vet in your area and work with them, or call Dr Gerald Wessner at 352-245-2025 and schedule a phone consultation. He is wonderful. I would also recommend that you put your dog on a totally raw diet, or at least 50% raw to 50% grain free (add enzyme and probiotic supplement as well 50/50 or just grain free dry)). There are outstanding frozen diets available if you live in an area where they are available. If not,BARF has a drop ship program. To check it out, just follow this link: http://www.barfworld.com/cgi-bin/product.cgi?category=29&af=1011

The reason for the raw food diet is that it will help repair tissue much better than anything else.

I think that your instinct to avoid tramadol and rimadyl is a good one. Pain is the body's way of keeping your friend from over taxing the tissue so it can begin to heal, so it is actually a good thing. It will be hard enough to keep him off of it for a very long time while it heals.
Also, they are both hard on the body in other ways.

I hope this helps.
Sue