I am pleased to tell you that we are completing week 12 of our Cruciate rehab surgery rehab surgery for my Whippet Domino. Throughout it all we stuck very close to your rehab book. Weeks 11-12 are where he really caught up. He is right where he should be now at the end of week 12. Once again we are so thankful to you for creating such a detailed rehab booklet.
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Bella, a lab/border collie mix had Cruciate ligament surgery on July 4th and is now almost fully recovered . Our Vet recommended your rehab program which we followed for the duration of her recovery and rehab. We can’t thank you enough for the amazing service that you provided, not only the rehab instructions but the weekly letters. These letters helped us greatly through this very trying period. It was very comforting to know each week that Bella was where she should be in her recovery and the small setbacks were to be expected. I could not imagine how we would have made it through this experience without your wonderful service.
thanks again.
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Little over 3 years ago my then, 2 1/2 year old Boxer, Belle, ran a Luring Course and started favoring her back left leg that very evening. When I got to my vet two days later, he said she either strained or partially tore her ACL, but the shelf action wasn’t severe enough for a positive diagnosis. We decided to give it a week or so with pain and anti-inflammatory meds before I made a decision to take action, which would be surgery. I searched the web and found Dr. James St. Clair and TopDog Health and Rehab. I read everything I could get my eyes on so I would know what I was dealing with and made a conscious decision to go with Dr. James St. Clair’s ACL Rehab Program and GlycanAid HA exclusively. I felt that if the ACL wasn’t completely torn, I had a chance to treat it back to health with Rehab and a good joint formula. I also knew a little about the HA factor, as I, personally, had been taking a series of knee shots (Euflexxa) that contained HA and they were keeping me moving without pain or surgery. It was such a positive to see that the canine world had the same idea of keeping healthy knees, etc.
I started out on the double dosage of GlycanAid HA and have continued on the maintenance dosage ever since. Knowing what the HA factor has done for my knees, I am very thankful that I found it for my dog. My vet warned me that once Belle had injured one leg, she could have the same injury to the other leg because she would be using it so heavily while recovering from the first injury. I was quite determined that that was not going to happen. I attribute no further injuries to following Dr. James St. Clair’s ACL Rehab Program to the letter and continuous use of GlycanAid HA to keep her joints and connective tissues healthy. She recovered without surgery or further injuries.
You just need to read the label to see the comprehensive listing of ingredients!! These are the same ingredients used on the ‘holder’ of-the-leash to keep our joints healthy! Belle is back to agility training and competing, her Therapy Dog work…and just enjoying life, as only a Boxer can.
So whether your canine is coming off an injury, rehabbing from a strain or torn ligament, recovering from joint/ligament surgery or has arthritis, I would highly recommend putting the dog on GlycanAid HA immediately and checking out all the great rehab outlines from TopDog Health and Rehab. If HA is good enough for me, it is good enough from my dog. In Belle’s case, it meant no surgery and a back-to-health and activity for her. GlycanAid HA is with us for life.
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First I want to say TopDog Company and Dr. J are the best thing since sliced bread. My 7 year old black lab, Sammy, had an ACL tear two years ago and had to have surgery, which was a long recovery, but thanks to Dr. J and TopDog, the step-by-step rehab program was amazing and helped Sammy get back to herself. I also purchased a harness to help her get in and out of car, get up steps, etc. which was also amazing and reasonable. The vet hospital that did the surgery, never suggested any kind of harness to help me get her into my SUV after surgery or the intensive rehab, that she needed.
A year later, she hurt her opposite knee (the vet said it was a tear) but didn’t seem as bad as first one. So I didn’t want to repeat surgery because of the long recovery and she was in pain for a long time, so I decided to try GlycanAid HA and rest her leg. After 3 to 4 weeks, she wasn’t limping as much and actually running around the backyard. We go for long walks now and she can jump up on the bed like her old self. I have refilled this 4 times and will continue to use. It is amazing, I wish they made it for adults….I need it for my hips and knees.
Thanks Dr. J (I wished you lived closer….I could use you as a vet here!)
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My 5 year old golden retriever had CCL surgery on April 21. I followed the TopDog Health recovery program, along with using the GlycanAid HA and she and I are already doing two 1.5 mile walks in a day.
This product along with the rehab guide has worked wonders for my dog. If it wasn’t for her shaved leg, you would never know she even had surgery. She walks without almost any trace of a limp. I’m so glad I found this wonderful rehab program, and the amazing supplement.
Thank you Dr J.!!!!!!!
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This website was the best thing that could have been found for information on the surgery Shelby (Aussie Cattle Dog/Sieberian Husky plus) was about to have. The weekly instructions help so much. While expectations were addressed at the Vet’s they were no where as helpful as having your instruction manual ( downloaded free) right at my finger tips to re-in force my memory as to what to do. I am 75 years old and love my dog to death. We are hoping that with the massages, ice, heat etc. and the addition of the GlycanAid she will keep on going as wonderful as she is at the starting of the fifth week. Your e-mails are helpful.
Thank you.
I have been wanting to write and thank you so much for your 12 week rehab program as I had written you earlier re: Lacey have two torn ACL’s and not having surgery on either due to what people were telling us, her age was 8. We did not have the surgery but I followed your 12 week Rehab program to the letter doing every step of yours, plus ordering the Glycanaid and the Flexerna too, both helped immediately. I have also had a vet come and do some cold laser on her legs along with spinal manipulation.
This summer I have had her in the water, she does not like it, but I bath her and have her swim as well.
The swimming has really strengthened her legs as well. Yes last New Years eve she had already torn her right ACL and that day she tore her left. She could not walk we had to take her to the vet carrying her with towels and they put her on a stretcher.
I had to start my/your Rehab out by helping her stand with towels. It has all worked and she runs and plays just like a normal dog, barking and having the time of her life.
We go swimming at the bay and walk down the pier together no one would believe that 8 months ago she could not move and I attribute it to your incredible 12 week program. Feel free to use this anyway you need or want as far as for your worth, advertising or whatever.
Thank you so much,
Oh by the way we used the shorted leash in the rehab and we always used to use an extension, due to your rehab i still only use the short leash and Lacey does not mind at all.
Dear Dr. St. Clair,
The vet who did the ACL surgery on my dog, Zorro (a very active 11-year old Siberian husky), recommended your website as part of his rehabilitation instructions. It was amazingly helpful and here’s why:
1) Written instructions regarding exercises are fine, but actually seeing them — as in your helpful videos — is extremely helpful. They were very clear and I was confident in implementing them with my dog.
2) You anticipated all the questions I had, right down to things that might seem self-evident. For example, when you suggest warm pack therapy, you actually say “Here’s what you can use…” I appreciate that you offered alternatives — a gel pack, a towel/facecloth rinsed in warm water, or, for a cold pack a gel pack or a bag of frozen vegetables! These are the kinds of instructions that people who have not been involved in rehab therapy before need to know. It sounds obvious, but it isn’t always. I always felt very comfortable following your instructions.
3) I liked the weekly prompts and expectations. They told me what I should be looking for so that I was able to measure my dog’s progress. I also really liked your frequent cautions and reminders that this is a slow process. It helped me to keep in mind that this was an ongoing process rather than an immediate cure.
4) The exercises were all useful for Zorro and also well within my capacity to do with her. I knew exactly what I should be doing, for how long, and what to look for.
5) Registering for your program was very easy and your website is very accessible and “user-friendly.”
This is the best informational website I have ever seen, and I’m not kidding. I have looked at websites for different purposes, not just medical/rehab, and I was impressed from the beginning with the thoroughness, the clarity, and the usefulness of the information supplied.
Zorro had ACL surgery 2 years ago on one leg and I did not follow up immediately with rehab. When we started a rehab program, it did produce startling results in terms of her return to normal. But our delay in opting for surgery in the first place and then in taking proper rehab action led, unsurprisingly, to her tearing the other cruciate about a year and a half later. The second time, we had her at the vet’s immediately after the injury, had the surgery promptly, and then started rehab right away. In addition to that, we also had your website supplementing our own fantastic rehab vet/team and through it had answers to any question that came up.
I am confident that if I’d had this kind of support the first time around, Zorro might have avoided a second operation.
We had the first ACL surgery done at Cornell University’s Animal Hospital (we live in Canada, but Cornell is the best veterinary care closes to us), and we were very happy with the treatment there. But we didn’t follow up with the rehab. We had the second surgery done in Ottawa (ON, where we live) and embarked immediately on rehab, supplemented by your program because the surgeon in Ottawa directed us to your website. I urge you to suggest to Cornell that they consider adding a referral to your website as part of their post-operative instructions. It would help anyone who is in this situation.
I had no problems or issues with any of the information you provided, any of the instructions, or any of the presentation. It was all extremely well done. As I said above, this is the best informational website I have ever seen for ANYTHING. Apart from helping people recover their dogs from the ACL surgery, your team could be helping other people design effective websites.
Thank you very much for all the information and for the assistance you have given me in helping my dog Zorro to recover from her ACL surgery. We will continue to do various exercises as part of her maintenance. And Zorro, at 12 weeks, is now pretty much back to normal. I am still careful with her and will continue to be, but she thinks she can do anything.
With much appreciation,
Your rehab email series was a great help in understanding how to help our dog recover. We decided not to submit him to ACL surgery. One of the big reasons we opted out of surgery is our dog (70 pounds) is almost 12 years old and his physical stamina has been waning for the last couple of years. So we had no expectation that he could be restored to boundless energy and running around like he was one year old, like he had been until he was 10 to 10 1/2 years old. We wanted him to be able to resume walking but did not expect a return to top speed sprints all over the place, like when he was younger. We were concerned about the stress of surgery on him as an older dog.
Our vet predicted dire consequences, essentially permanent disability, if he did not have the surgery. I noticed, however, that between the recommended courses of action for rehab following surgery and without surgery, the rehab was essentially identical. And although your rehab was stated to be for post surgery rehab, it worked just as well, I think, for our dog. We got a second opinion from another vet who recommended that we give the rehab 8 – 12 weeks, then reevaluate whether surgery was needed. I think the results so far support foregoing, or at least delaying, the surgery when the dog can be constantly restricted in his activities and led through a carefully planned rehab process, like you provide.
He is back to walking normally with no apparent instability in his injured left rear leg. He also is able to do some jumping and goes up and down stairs now with no difficulty, although he has learned to go up stairs more deliberately than he used to. He is still limited in endurance more than he used to be — he will now begin to limp a little and slow down his walking after 50 – 60 minutes of walking, although I am not sure whether the ACL injury or his age is the main contributor to that.
So all in all, we are very pleased with his recovery so far and we are grateful that you provided your rehab series — I think it helped a lot.
Thanks.
