Are we seeing more ACL injuries or does it just seem like it?

[Tommy Coyote]

I don't remember even hearing about ACL injuries until pretty recently- the last few years. Has this always been a major problem and I just didn't hear about it. Or are these injuries becoming more common? We hear about the border collies on this board but I'm seeing this injury in lots of other breeds, too.

 

One of the reasons I'm asking is because one of the articles that was posted here on the effects of early neutering was CCL ruptures. Could these injuries be a result of having dogs neutered earlier than we used to? (I just found another study stating that sexually intact dogs have a much lower incidence of ACL injuries)

 

Is there another reason? Or has it just always been this way I just missed it?

[2 Devils]

I think it has always been out there but just like with anything else - advances in medicine are helping get a correct diagnosis plus the use of the internet. Yes there are probably some more incidents of it in general but when have more people breeding and not always taking structure into account, you have people whose dogs are weekend warriors (playing sports, etc... mainly on weekends so don't have the muscle tone, etc to prevent injuries), people playing more with their dogs... there are many reasons out there on why you may just now be hearing about now.

[skybarker]

I think there could be a connection. Our BC was neutered early and wound-up needing a TTLO at age 6. Now he is 9 and has developed a limp which I fear may be a tear on his good leg. He is active but not so active that you would expect something like this to happen. The two unneutered BC's I grew up with never had a problem. I'll never neuter a dog again.

[Shetlander]

I've heard about higher incident of ACL injuries in dogs and possible reasons for the increase, including early neutering and more weekend warriors. That said, it isn't an injury I've seen in any the dogs I know personally, the vast majority of whom where neutered between 6 to 12 months of age.

[MrSnappy]

I have all these dogs that were neutered early, or late, and have never torn a cruciate ... and then I know a handful of small dogs who are intact or were intact for years that have blown their ACLs. I don't think any of these examples are medically relevant.

 

I have also read that the studies linking neutering to CCL injuries have been largely speculative and that the two biggest factors in cruciate injuries are weight and breed - larger breeds are more prone to tears, as are fat dogs.

 

I think we hear about more of them these days because of the internet. Does that sound overly simple? 15 years ago I wouldn't have heard about any of your experiences. I think we often forget this simple fact.

 

I'm more in Kim's camp. I think there are a whole variety of factors at play and as dog owners with much more information at our fingertips we are more aware of them now. Breeding dogs for profit and little else plays a large part in producing structurally unsound dogs as well.

 

RDM