Our Lab tore her ACL at about 2 years old. We were told we could either get "TPLO Surgery" and she would be good as new after recovery, or leave it alone and she would probably have bad arthritis issues (and probably chronic pain) as she got older. Since she was only 2, we had the surgery done. It was somewhat expensive but it was the recovery period that concerned me. The surgery went well but after that she had to be as contained as possible for 12 weeks. In the early part of that period, we had take her out of the house and support the back part of her body going up and down steps, keep her on leash and come right back in after her business was done and keep her as still as possible until time to go out again. We had a 1.25 acre yard with invisible fence where she was used to just going out the door on her own and come back to the door when she was ready to come back inside, so staying confined to a small area indoors and only going out on leash was difficult for her. It was a long 12 weeks but we got through it and her leg was as good as new when everything healed and she got her mobility back. This was all prior to us moving to TV, so I don't have any surgeons to recommend to you unfortunately.
I'm not sure I would put a 12 year old dog through that unless the vet said the dog would be in constant pain otherwise. We have a 13 year old miniature poodle who lives with Addisons disease, diabetes, was virtually blinded by cataracts as a result of the diabetes, went through cataract surgery, only to be virtually blind again a year later. Through all that she gets along well, but if she were to tear her ACL at her age and after all she has been through, I would not opt for surgery unless the vet said she would suffer pain without it.
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