Alternatives to ACL surgery

Question
I have a 6 year old Chocolate lab. he is a large lab, he weights 107, but the vet says he is at a perfect weight. this summer we took him to the vet after he had been limping on his left hind leg, they did a blood test and said he has lymes disease, so he was treated and the limping went away for awhile, not just recently he had started limping again, but this time on his right hind leg. We took him to a different vet this time and they told us that he had torn ACL ligements in both of his knees. the vet told us that the surgery for one knee would be $1,500-2,000. however,  we are not able to pay for the surgery. the vet also said that his hips are in excellent condition, and the ligiments are torn, but not quite completely torn. so my question is, what are some alternatives to the surgery that would still help our dog?

Answer
Hi Taran:  I have seen this many times.  The ACL surgery is not always 100% guaranteed to work.  I have done some research on this for some of my customers..

As far as I can see, the ACL surgery option is fine if the person has the money and wants to take the chance.  Many times the surgery doesn't take effect and needs to be done a 2nd time.  Also, the recovery period is a long one of 4-6 weeks with you doing some physical therapy.  What I mean by therapy is ROM , range of motion work on the limb that was operated on.  This ROM needs to be done 3 x per day.  Also, the dog's mobility is very limited and no jumping, stairs or runs are allowed.  This can be hard for a lab who likes to run and jump.

If you don't have the surgery, your dog will repair itself.  Most likely your dog will get arthritis in that area that was effected.  Many dogs can get arthritis even with the surgery options.
Your dog will need to be on an anti-inflammatory drug or a baby asprin for the rest of his life.  

Good luck with this:

A good supplement added to his diet will help with the Arthritis.. Also, Salmon oil added to his meals will help too!
Get the Alaska Salmon oil ... pure salmon oil



NuVET Plus - supplement -
http://www.apluspetcare.com/untitled4.html