# TPLO SURGERY



## Toonhunter (Apr 12, 2009)

Hey guys my 5 year old yelow lab/golden cross blew out his canine equivalent of his acl around Christmas. He is only five and still has a lot of good years left in him, so like a lot of you would i had some tough decisions to make. There was the regualar knee surgery which was alot less money then the TPLO, but on larger breeds seems to have some mixed results.We went to the College of veterinary medicine here in Saskatoon, and had the two procedures explained to us in detail. After some discussion we decided that the TPLO was the best option. It is now 2 weeks after surgery and our Lab seems to be doing really well. I am just posting this here because when i was looking for information to try to come to a decision there was lot's of Medical journal type stuff but no practical first hand accounts. The TPLO surgery is a very complicated involved surgery. They basicallly are altering the angle that the knee joint sits at. My dog had a knee angle of 28 degrees before surgery and only 8 degrees after. They cut a section of the leg bone modify the angle and attach a steel plate for support to allow the bone time to knit. It's not an easy process for the dog. It usually involves a 3 to 4 day stay at the hospital. While put under for the surgery, our dog regurgitated some fluid from him stomach. This can cause Pneumonia and does happen in a small percentage of dogs. In our case the vets prescribed 3 different Meds just to try to minimize the chance that we would have throat/stomach or pneumonia issues. Yet another added expense. The reovery is fairly long process with limited mobility allowed within the first 12 weeks. Range of motion exercises and limited duration walks are allowed, increasing with the time healed. Our dog has to be put the range of motion exercise 3 to 4 times daily. and will have about a 6 month time period (of rehab) before he is back to where he was before he tore the ligament. In roughly 90% of cases the dog recovers to pre tear functionality. FYI any tear in the knee is EXTREMELY painfull for your animal. In 30% of all cases the is a chance of the opposite knee also tearing and that should be kept in the back of your mind. Our dog had his tear in the right rear leg. From a very young age he would intermitently show signs of lameness. Hope this helps any who run into same issues :beer:


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## BUFFALO (May 2, 2010)

My Hunting Partner "Cuda" tore his TPLO chasing a deer in Sept 2009. It was a tough decision financially $2800 for the surgery here in Winnipeg. The Surgeon was awesome, DR. Babchuk (sp) It's been a long-road as training had to take a back seat for his recovery. We are now May 2, 2010 and he is almost 100%.

Now that the ice is off we are working on water training to strengthen up his rear legs. The non-injured leg (left) is limping due to the over use. We are working on getting him to put more weight on the right.

I pushed the recovery too soon, letting him off leash last month with other dogs. NOT A GOOD IDEA.

Hope to be in the field goose hunting with him in 2010.

Wish us luck.


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