Interesting article L M. Having 2 dogs with ACL/Meniscus tears in both knees, I’ve done a ton of research on this for many years. I do agree with most of the article, but find they’ve missed what seems to be a big problem that is only now becoming mainstream knowledge. Early spay/neuter is a HUGE reason for this. Here’s a UCDavis link:
http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10498
There are many more, but this just gives you some insight. My first early neuter boy was very young, healthy and athletic, but was an adopted dog and was pediatric neutered @ 8 weeks. My chocolate was rescued @ about 8 months and was already spayed. We found out when the vets (not my normal one) opened her up to spay. He did have surgery (fishing line) and it was successful, but he slowly became forever stiff as we were not as familiar with supplements and therapy back then. Our chocolate went through rehab therapy prior to surgery per my vets recommendation and did so well, she did not require surgery. We have kept her on fish oil and glucosamine supplements for over 5 years and kept her on the slim side. While she has diagnosed arthritis in both knees, she is still very active (walks up to 2 miles almost daily) and we continually do strength exercises on her. She is 10 and with the exception of a sloppy sit (which she’s always had since we found her) you would not be able to tell.
So, I really feel that the most important part of recovery is therapy along with continual supplementation of fish oil and glucosamin/chondroitin. I use human supplements.
