What is a Cruciate Ligament Condition?
A cruciate ligament condition is a common health issue in dogs that often requires expensive surgical treatment to treat. Cruciate ligaments stabilize the knee joint but can tear and break down over time, resulting in pain, limping, arthritis, and other painful side effects. While the cause of cruciate ligament condition is unknown, some of the primary contributing factors include obesity, overly aggressive exercise, aging, and genetic predisposition. Cats are at a low risk of developing cruciate ligament condition.
How Cruciate Ligament Conditions Work
One of the most difficult components of cruciate ligament condition is that it rarely occurs in just one knee. Once a dog has experienced a torn cruciate ligament, it’s considered a chronic medical condition because of the high-rate of other cruciate ligaments tearing during your dog’s lifetime.
If your dog has a torn cruciate ligament before they are on an active pet insurance plan, it will be considered a chronic pre-existing condition, which means that it will not be covered by any pet insurance plan (assistance options may still be available though).
Key Takeaways
- Torn cruciate ligaments destabilize the knee and lead to pain, limping, decreased mobility, and more.
- Torn cruciate ligaments are considered a chronic pre-existing condition due to the high rate of other cruciate ligaments tearing during a pet’s lifetime.
- Dogs are at a significantly higher risk of having a torn cruciate ligament than cats.
