Affectionate and loving, dogs can offer you the best company during your leisure time and they are undoubtedly cherished members of our families, aren’t they? So, when they get an injury, the pet owners leave no stone unturned to ease the pain of their canine friend.
Well, just like we humans, dogs also tend to suffer from a wide array of knee injuries like torn ligaments, arthritis, and sprains caused by running or jumping, and that is where a knee brace comes in. Even a simple knee issue, whether it is due to too much play or natural aging, requires a bit more extra care and support for your canine companion.
Though it’s freaking hard to find out the perfect knee brace for your pooch, not to worry! You aren’t alone. That is exactly why, in this review article, I’m going to help you sort out the suitable one from our 7 best dog knee brace for torn ACL available today across all price points as per your dogs’ needs within the next 10 minutes.
Don’t have enough time to go through the whole article? Well, just have a look at our top pick Labra Dog Canine K9 Knee Brace that stands out in the crowd because of its sturdiness, durability, and flexibility.
So, without further ado, let’s head straight into each of the 7 knee braces!
Notes:
The important features based on what I’ve made my decision are price, durability, stability, sturdiness, and flexibility.
As the pros and cons are reported by the current product owners, I’m damn sure if you go on reading the article, you’ll get to know which one to pick up for your canine friend right away.
Dog Knee Brace For Torn ACL: Comparison Table
Top 7 Dog Knee Brace For Torn ACL Reviews
1. Labra Dog Canine Knee Stifle Brace
Looking for a product that’s been designed with your dog’s comfort in mind? Have a close look at this knee brace. The Labra Dog Knee Brace secures the top position on our list because of its simple but supportive design that is suitable for both of your pup’s legs. As the brace offers robust support, any severe injury can be healed over time from its tight pressure.
.Specifications:
Dimensions: 32 x 9.17 x 1.73 inches
Weight: 65 Ounces
Features:
Unique In Design: The Knee Brace offers great of a support to injured knees and comes with a design that is slightly different from many other knee braces. Because it includes a strap that you can attach directly to your dog’s harness, providing additional stability and a secure fit and setting it apart from the other ones. Plus, the fabric is more durable than its competitors.
A Hip Strap: This product also features a secure hip strap that attaches to the other side of the leg to make your dog’s muscles stable and to keep the brace in its right place.
Post-Surgery Rehab: For pups with cruciate ligament issues, surgery is not the only option. If you want your dog to heal without going through an operation table, this brace can be the best bet for an active recovery plan. But, if your canine ends up appearing on the operating table, the brace will be a good option for post-surgery knee support and stabilization.
A medium-sized brace: As the brace doesn’t get along well with smaller dog breeds if you’ve got a tiny pup, you’re unlucky in this case. This is an appropriate brace for bigger dog breeds because there are 2 larger wraps available for bigger dogs. So, you should look at the sizing chart closely after measuring your pup accurately.
Chest Harness Not Included: As this knee brace doesn’t come with a chest harness, you will need to consider an extra cost of a chest harness. Because your pooch must have an appropriately fitting harness for this brace to keep it in place.
Overall, it’ll bring a lot of bang for your buck and you’ll be highly satisfied.
Things We Like:
- Suitable for strains, and injuries
- Sturdy and heavy-duty fabric
- A harness to keep it in place
- Secure hip strap
- Recovers muscles and joints-related injuries naturally
- Great for using after surgery
- Well-suited for bigger dogs with medium to extra-large sizing options
Things We Don’t Like:
- Some complained it’s a bit pricey
- it’s not easy to put on
2. Ortocanis Original Knee Brace for Dogs with ACL
The Ortocanis Knee Brace has to be used with the Fastening Belt Pack which is sold separately. Because the shape of some dogs may lead the Ortocanis knee brace towards sliding off the back. In this case, the fastening belt will keep the knee brace’s upper strap in place.
Specifications:
- Dimensions: 66 x 4.92 x 0.79 inches
- Item Weight: 71 Ounces
Features:
- Premium-Quality Design: This knee brace is manufactured to offer greater support as well as comfort without sacrificing the dog’s mobility. The High-Performance Neoprene assures increased elasticity for a better adaptation to the dog leg.
- Handmade Product: Each knee brace is handmade carefully by orthopedic experts in Barcelona to make sure of its standards. The brace helps reduce the pain caused by osteoarthritis, ACL/CCL, and kneecap problems by increasing the joint’s temperature that helps reduce the inflammation.
- Soft and insulating material: The knee brace is made up of a soft and insulating material that helps to trap a little amount of heat around your pup’s injury, reducing swelling, increasing blood circulation, and speeding up the recovery process. Plus, it won’t pinch your pup’s skin either, making it an excellent option for those canines with sensitive skin or longer hair.
- A Hip Strap: Though the brace also features a hip strap to provide adequate stabilization to this product, it tends to slip off the hips. To fix this problem, consider purchasing an additional hip strap fastening kit, but if you do not want to buy an extra hip strap to fix the brace up, you may look at Labra Dog Knee Brace, having a more rigid hip strap.
What We Like:
- Expertly handmade
- Relieves pain faster
- Stays in place surprisingly well
- Pretty comfortable to wear while healing
- Improves muscle flexibility
- Fastens securely and helps keep your pup much steadier on its feet.
What We Don’t Like:
- The hip strap is prone to sliding down
3. Broadsheet Dog Knee Brace for Torn ACL
If you want something lightweight and flexible yet capable of providing maximum support and stabilization, I’ll highly recommend the Broadsheet Dog Knee Brace. This one is also recommended by most vets.
Specifications:
- Package Dimensions: 6 x 4.5 x 1.5 inches
- Item Weight:4 Ounces
- Material: Neoprene sponge rubber fabric
- Color: Black
Features:
● Rubber Fabric Material: This knee brace is made out of shockproof and soft neoprene sponge rubber fabric which is a thermal insulator, and durable to use as well. This comfortable brace won’t do any harm to your pup’s skin. It is also ideal for wrapping the legs to cover wounds. All you need to do is to wrap around the wound with this brace to prevent the pooch from licking or chewing.
● Straps and Metal bracket design: The brace is equipped with lightweight and flexible straps that assure utmost support and stabilization for your pups during the injury. Plus, a metal bracket designed in the middle also provides stability for the dog. This brace is appropriate for repeated use and long-term wearing too. As it helps reduce joint pain as well as loss of mobility caused by arthritis, it is strongly recommended by veterinarians.
What We Like:
- Shockproof, thermal insulator, and durable
- Strong Support
- Easy-to-wear
- A metal bracket promising stability and mobility caused by arthritis.
- Recommended by veterinarians
What We Don’t Like:
- Due to manual measurement, the actual size can be a little bit off the mark.
4. Walkabout Harnesses Knee Brace for Dogs
The Walkabout Knee Brace is now available in Camouflage. The product provides brilliant support for dogs with knee joint injuries, or arthritis because of old age.
Specifications:
- Manufacturer: Walkabout Harnesses, LLC
- Package Dimensions: Medium-Large Size 12-13”
- Material: Neoprene fabric
Features:
- Top-Notch Material: This knee brace is made of 3mm neoprene fabric, ensuring flexibility, softness, and longer-lasting use. This brace is used to treat the knee joints of dogs suffering from small to severe joint issues such as CCL (cranial cruciate ligament) tears, ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), arthritis, and Luxating Patella Fatigue.
- Comes With A suspender: The brace is also equipped with a suspender that you can fix with any industry standard chest halter. But you have to buy a front chest harness separately and this knee brace is compatible with any standard chest harness.
What We Like:
- Flexible, sturdy, and durable
- Providing a suspender
- Treating minor to major joint issues
What We Don’t Like:
- No chest harness added
- Some complained their pup had a scratch on its belly after using it
5. Walkabout Canine Knee Brace
Walkabout has a very effective knee brace specifically designed for using on your dog’s left leg. This is a Medium-sized model (10-11″ inches) that is designed for medium dogs experiencing torn ligaments or while recovering from a surgery.
Specifications:
- Package Dimensions: 6.3 x 2.99 x 1.42 inches
- Item Weight:88 Ounces
- Material: Neoprene
- Color: Black
Features:
- High-quality material: The Walkabout Canine knee brace comes with a 3.0 mm neoprene compression sleeve designed to support and stabilize your dog’s knee joint to improve recovery.
The soft enough material prevents uncomfortable rubbing and skin irritation and the stretchy fabric ensures ample freedom of movement.
The brace promises great support for pups with knee joint injuries, ACL tears, severe arthritis, dislocating kneecap (luxating patella) because of old age or chronic instability.
- Support straps: This product also comes with two support straps that help to hold the brace on the leg and they are thicker than that of many other products, which is beneficial for dogs with sensitive skin.
- A suspender: This product also comes with a suspender that can be attached directly to any standard chest halter.
- No chest halter: Remember chest halter won’t be provided with this purchase. You need to consider buying a chest halter separately as it is recommended to use with the Walkabout Knee brace.
Assessing the overall quality of this knee brace, I feel it is well worth every penny. I highly recommend the WalkAbout knee brace if you are in need of something for luxating patella support.
What We Like:
- A strap harness to keep it in place
- Ideal for senior canines with joint pain
- Orthopedic design with soft materials
- Easy to wash
- Supports knee injuries
- Useful for post-surgery rehab
- Great for arthritis
What We Don’t Like:
- Chest halter not included
- Some complained that the brace causes sores
6. Kruuse Knee Protector For Dogs
Kruuse Knee Protector comes up with a soft yet supportive dog knee brace that is ideal for use with or without a harness.
Specifications:
- Package Dimensions: 5 x 9.5 x 1 inches
- Item Weight: 4oz
Features:
- A Back Strap: Thanks to its supplementary snug strap that lies under your dog’s abdomen and ensures added support for your furball. The strap is soft and lightweight enough not to dig in.
- The stable design: This brace supports your dog with extra stability and speeds up the recovery process from an injury, joint and muscle pain, or surgery. The knee protector is designed to help dogs recover from several different knee issues, improve movement and build up stronger muscles, and ultimately offer an improved quality of life to your furry friend without breaking the bank.
What We Like:
- Directly supports the knee
- Elastic and a stabilizing effect
- Can be used with or without a harness
- Suitable for extended walks
- Soft strap under the abdomen
- Comes in a wide variety of sizes
What We Don’t Like
- Some users found sizing runs small
- It’s difficult to keep in place
- Not stable enough
7. NeoAlly Dog Rear Leg Braces
NeoAlly Leg Braces deliver a soft and flexible joint sleeve that serves purposes from ACL tears to arthritis to recovering from surgery. This type of brace is always worth having to hand if you own a pooch at home.
Specifications:
- Product Dimensions: 6.75 x 6.75 x 6.75 inches
- Item Weight: 4 Ounces
- Material: Neoprene
Features:
- High-quality neoprene material: This dog knee brace is made up of 4mm top-quality soft and lightweight neoprene and nylon lining, which won’t pinch, or hurt your pup’s skin. While still providing your furry friend with maximal compression, the neoprene construction promises your pup enough flexibility and breathability.
These sleeves also work out well if your pooch is suffering from any kind of wound and prone to licking it away. Just cover the injury with this highly effective and cozy wrap to make the healing process faster and more hygienic.
- Not A Knee Brace: Remember that this brace is not a knee brace, this is specially designed to use on your dog’s rear legs, hock, and ankle (the lower joint). But it can deliver extra support to dog legs, and thus help recover dog knee issues like ACL or CCL too.
- Large Size: Larger dogs benefit from this brace as it is expressly designed for bigger ones.
- Reflective Velcro Straps: Each rear leg brace is equipped with 4 Reflective Velcro Straps along the outside that keep the brace fixed around the hock. Reflective straps also help keep your canine friend visible and safe in the dark, making it one of a kind.
- Comes With Pair: When your canine friend gets injured on one leg, it is more likely to get injured on the other leg too because of imbalance caused by the injured leg. Hence, It is highly recommended to wear braces on both legs.
What We Like:
- Faster recovery
- The curved design perfectly matches the dog’s hock joint
- Reflective Velcro straps keep it from slipping off
- Reflective Velcro straps help you watch your pup even in lower light
- Comes in an extra-small size
- Useful for a torn ACL
- Recommended by vets
- Backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee
What We Don’t Like:
- A Little bit expensive
- Some complained it’s not very sturdy
How To Choose The Best Dog Knee Brace For Torn ACL?
Out of many canine knee braces available on the market, you need to be picky while picking out one for your pet friend. Purchasing perfect knee braces for your dogs is often easier said than done. Besides considering things like materials and sizing, you also need to ensure the support provided is sufficient for your pup’s specific injury.
Before buying a knee brace, making a list of the features that you want in your dog’s knee brace is very crucial. And consider this list while evaluating different kinds of braces.
Here we go:
Material:
Choose a brace made out of high-quality material that is both breathable and flexible, and provides strong enough support to your dog’s knee, while still being soft to the touch. You can also select material that is long-lasting and easy to keep clean.
Most dog braces nowadays are made up of neoprene maintaining a perfect balance between comfort and support. But remember, no matter what material the dog brace is made from, it should make sure your pooch can move comfortably without hurting its skin or slowing it down.
Sizing:
If you fail to get the sizing right, your purpose of using a knee brace will go in vain. First off, check in on the sizing chart as well as the guidelines because it will help you figure out which part of your pup you need to measure. Be extremely careful while doing this and remember to avoid measuring your pup’s injured leg.
Comfortable Fit:
Finding out a brace that is snug but comfortable is incredibly important for your dog to promote its healing process. Make sure the brace fits snugly and safely so it remains right in place throughout your pup’s daily routine. Keep in mind that the brace shouldn’t be too loose or too tight.
You can consult your vet to know how to wear the brace properly for the very first time so that you can ensure you’re doing right. Or, to make sure a snug fit, consider measuring your pooch properly and double-check the sizing requirements provided online.
Level of Support:
Some dogs with torn ACL or other knee-joint injuries need different levels of support. So while you commit to buy dog braces, be sure to choose one that delivers enough support as per your pup’s specific requirements.
Good-quality canine knee braces are supportive. A good knee brace must provide ample support on and around your furball’s injured knee. Some of the best braces stretch all the way up a dog’s leg and cover around your dog’s lower hip for additional support.
Type:
Think once before purchasing if your dog needs a knee brace or a hock brace. Though a hock brace provides ankle support rather than knee support directly, you will be able to provide your furry friend with extra stability either way.
Well, now you’ve got a good understanding of what to look for in a canine knee brace. So while you are comparing between dog knee braces, think accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the most commonly asked questions coming up from the dog owners related to dog knee brace are as follows:
Q. When should you consider dog braces?
Well, if your dog experiences common injuries like tears to the ACL or damage to the CCL, you need to consider purchasing knee braces. Apart from this, if your pup has got a wound or is recovering from surgery, knee braces are the only go-to solution for him.
Q. Why do I use a dog knee brace?
One of the most common injuries a dog can suffer from is a torn ACL or CCL injury, which is a ligament injury that can result in a damaged knee. A CCL injury needs support and rest to repair itself.
In this case, the knee brace is here to assist. By providing support to the dog’s leg muscles, knee braces can help heal the pain from the tear or arthritis, and enhance your pup’s mobility without surgery.
Q. Can a brace help a dog with a torn ACL?
A knee brace works wonders if your dog is suffering from ACL/CCL issues or Arthritis pain. Studies showed that more than half of canines suffering from a CCL tear damage their other leg in the future. Fortunately, Knee braces provide extra stability and also help balance a dog’s back and hips, which can prevent injury to other body parts and joints.
Q. Can a dog recover from a torn ACL without surgery?
Dogs having a cruciate ligament injury can develop stability to a certain degree on their own within 6-12 months. However, as it’s not a “fix-all” solution, your pup may still need surgery, depending largely on the severity of your dog’s issues. So you are better off consulting your vet to have a better idea of what to do.
Q. Should dogs with joint problems wear knee braces all the time?
Actually, it’s a good idea to take off the knee brace while your pooch is sleeping to make sure it can sleep comfortably. And your pup should put a knee brace on whenever it is awake. Your vet can provide proper guidance for an individualized care plan for your pup. Talk to him.
Final Thoughts
Okay, I hope by now you have a comprehensive idea of the 7 best dog knee brace for torn ACL. If you want to know my opinion regarding the best option, I would say you can buy any one of them with your eyes wide open.
Well, if price is not an issue and if your pup’s suffering from severe knee injuries or a torn ACL and you don’t want to walk through the surgical route, I strongly suggest you consider this one Labra Dog Canine Knee Brace as a last resort. Hopefully, you will be able to get your dog moving again.
If you have issues with price and need a budget-friendly mid-range option, then you can go for Walkabout Canine Knee Brace or Walkabout Harnesses Camouflage Knee Brace.
Or, if you’re looking for a hock or ankle brace instead of a knee brace, then NeoAlly Dog Rear Leg Braces will do just fun.