Cruciate Disease in Dogs and Boogie the Rottweiler

Boogie the Rottweiler is young, upbeat and simply loves camping and walks on the beach. But recently the young Auckland pup had a mysterious limp that came and went. Cruciate disease in dogs was found to be the culprit.

Boogie had been limping on and off and at first it wasn’t clear why. She had lots of trips to different vets with varied diagnoses. Then last summer the Rottweiler and her pet parents were camping over New Year when a horrible cracking sound began to happen when she walked!

A solution was needed urgently. And needless to say the trip was cancelled right away. Boogie’s mum and dad rushed her home and straight to the vet.

This is Boogie the Kiwi Rottweiler’s story. It’s not over yet, but here’s what’s happened so far…

Diagnosing cruciate disease in dogs

Initially when Boogie started limping Lulu took her to the vet to get it sorted out right away. Unfortunately it was diagnosed as “growing pains” and Boogie was prescribed anti-inflammatories.

A handful of vet visits and anti-inflammatory prescriptions ensued. During this times Lulu also did some of her own research and asked the vets to rule out hip dysplasia in dogs via an x-ray. It turned out Boogie had no signs of problems in her hips so that wasn’t it either…

When, in passing, the vet commented maybe Boogie was just “acting” Lulu decided to switch vets. She knew Boogie wasn’t acting. Limping just resulted in fewer walks and being more cooped up, none of which are fun!

Here’s Lulu’s account of what followed:

In Lulu’s words

It was during lockdown, we couldn’t meet the new vet in person. She did a check up on Boogie and told us over the phone it was her lower back. (Boogie was not limping at the time after taking anti-inflammatory so more anti-inflammatories were given).

Boogie was fine for a while and we went on a camping trip during New Years. And of course had to come back as we started to hear a clicking sound as she walked. It was like the sound a person makes when they crack their knuckles.

Our current vet sent her old X-ray to a radiologist after he suspected Boogie could be having lower back pain after reading his colleague’s notes. He thought Boogie may have a transitional vertebrae by looking at her X-ray. On the radiologist’s report, they confirmed Boogie didn’t have hip dysplasia and didn’t suggest anything wrong with her spine. Then they suggested to check her knees and hocks and that’s when the vet found out where the clicking sound was coming from. 

Soon Boogie was diagnosed and a TPLO [Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy] surgery was scheduled… 

What is cruciate disease in dogs?

Cruciate disease in dogs is a degenerative disease that can make it hard for dogs to walk. It’s a common cause of hind leg lameness. And although humans can get it too, usually the cause in dogs is slow wear and tear, whereas in humans it’s often a sudden injury.

The cruciate ligament is a cushioning tissue in the knee that acts as a stabilizer. Over time it can become worn down and threadbare. At this point it can rupture, making it painful to walk and also damaging the meniscus, which is a loadbearing substance (similar to cartilage) that fits between the thigh bone and shin bone.

This is what had happened to Boogie. Although it can be difficult to place the root cause of cruciate disease in dogs, genetics is thought to be a factor.

Cruciate disease in dogs is found to be more common in certain purebred dog breeds, for example:

• Rottweiler
• Newfoundland
• Staffordshire Terrier
• Mastiff, Akita
• Saint Bernard
• Chesapeake Bay Retriever
• Labrador Retriever

Boogie’s cranial cruciate ligament had ruptured and the condition hadn’t just affected the leg with the limp, it was in both her hind legs. She had no ligament holding her bone in place and the meniscus was damaged.

The only thing keeping it in position was her flesh and skin! You can imagine how painful it was. No wonder she had a limp! ☹

All about Boogie the Rottweiler

Boogie is a proud PD Insurance pet customer. Her human mum Lulu started her on the accident plan when she was just a wee pup. Lulu thought the worst-case scenario for her happy and healthy young puppy would probably be accidents.

“As a new pet owner you get nervous when anything happens to your pet. Sometimes the situation turns out not to need medical treatment. But you just want to get your puppy checked out to be sure because they’re little. You always want to get the vet’s confirmation that this is nothing serious. But mostly these turned out not to be accidents.”
– Lulu

Moving from the accident plan to the classic plan

Lulu soon decided to switch Boogie up to the classic dog insurance plan; luckily this happened prior to Boogie’s condition emerging. “It’s the best choice we could have made,” says Lulu. “Since then, we haven’t looked back.” (PD Insurance was able to assist with Boogie’s treatment bills that ran into thousands of dollars).

“If we hadn’t made the switch to the classic pet insurance plan, treatment for cruciate disease in dogs would have completely broken our bank.”
– Lulu

A puppy’s health needs aren’t always accident related. For example, tender puppy paws get cuts from walking on hard or hot gravel. Skin irritation can happen from over-licking and allergic reactions. Infections can happen after a hidden wound stays dirty for too long.

As first time pet owners Lulu and her partner had been paying certain costs straight out of pocket while on the accident plan. It wasn’t long before they upgraded to the classic plan so they could benefit from cover for a wider variety of costs.

Lulu recommends pet owners “don’t have lucky thoughts when your pet is young and think what could go wrong? Anything could go wrong; it has nothing to do with a dog’s age or a dog’s condition.”

At PD Insurance we couldn’t agree more! Many of the biggest claims we see daily are for the unexpected. In the last year we’ve seen scores of claims for cruciate ligament ruptures and injuries in dogs.

Treating cruciate disease in dogs

So far Boogie’s had surgery on one of her hind legs. This includes straightening the bones and placing a metal plate to hold the tissue in place.

Once Boogie’s recovered she’ll have to go through the whole ordeal again for the other leg. And during her recovery her human parents are on post-op duty making sure she doesn’t run or jump for nearly a full month!

Side note: During our interview with Lulu, Boogie started chasing a fly. That’s a big post-op no-no after surgery for cruciate disease in dogs. But Lulu calms Boogie down right away and the Rottweiler comes to sit at her mum’s side, where she loves chilling out.

To date, Boogie is well on the mend. But the condition means she will endure arthritis later in life. Read more on arthritis in dogs and cats and how you can help. Also read about Maple the Rottie and how this poor dog got a broken leg.

Boogie’s traumatic incident

Although cruciate disease in dogs is mainly thought to be caused by genetics, injury and/or obesity can sometimes play a role too. (Speaking of pet obesity, find out how this affects diabetes in dogs and read about healthy treats in our article on National Pet Obesity Day).

Lulu tells PD Insurance about a traumatic incident that may have put added stress on Boogie’s joints.

One day last winter Boogie scaled the fence and went missing. At the time Lulu’s partner was on his way to pick Lulu up from work. The pair went shopping for groceries and were away from home for two, maybe three, hours.

When they got home Boogie was gone. There were scratch marks on the fence that were tell-tale signs of where she’d scaled it. The fence is fairly tall and the Boogie would have probably landed down hard on the other side from such a great height.

The couple stayed awake all night and contacted all the authorities hoping to find Boogie. It wasn’t until the next day she was returned by an animal rescue centre. At the time there was no indication of damage. There were no warning signs of the cruciate disease in dogs to come.

Having pet insurance has helped enormously

“The claims process has been so easy,” says Lulu, “and we’re super grateful. Usually my email gets responded to the very next day after I submit the claim and I always get payment back really quickly. I really appreciate it because some of the bills are really big for us, especially the last one we had.”

One claim is worth everything. You know you’ve got yourself covered and you can save your dog if the time comes.
– Lulu

Lulu also says “pet insurance is so important. I would recommend any pet owner gets it because it’s just a little bit of money that lets you plan in advance and avoid hard decisions.”

Click below to get a quick, free pet cover quote today.