TPLO Help

[imported_emmasmom]

Good Afternoon everyone, I have been away for a while. I started a new job that required me to stay in CT during the week while the company prepared to move up to Mass. It was an exciting time but did not leave me with much free time.

Emma our 2.5 year old lab started limping around the 4th of July. We took her to our regular vet who told us that she had just stained her leg and to rest her for a week. We did rest her for a few days but we could tell that something was just not right. She would limp when she woke up. Support most of her weight on her other leg and instead of following us around all the time she would just sit and wait for us to come back.

We scheduled an appointment with the Ortho vet at Tufts ( we are Lucky to live within an hours drive) We did not want to mess around. Emma has been diagnosed with a partial tear in her CCL. Based on her weight ( she is just about 90 lbs) age, the angle of her knee joint ( over 30 degrees), the fact that she is a very athletic dog and that she is already showing some evidence of arthritis in that joint, we have decided to have them perform a TPLO. As scary as the prospect of surgery is I think the task of keeping her quiet for 8 weeks is scaring us even more. Just keeping her quiet for the last couple of weeks has been hard on her and us.

I would love to hear from anyone who has gone through this with their dog. Your experiences and challenges. Any tricks that you used to keep them quiet but content would be greatly appreciated. They have offered us some medication to help keep her quiet if needed and we are willing to use them if we have to but we would like to keep that to a minimum.

Thanks in advance for all your input! This is such a great place for advice.

Take care!

The Kelly's

[lcspt]

To keep her quiet use a crate. Before she has surgery get her used to staying in a crate. Leash her at the crate to take her out for potty breaks. You can also make a sling out of a tote bag slit open along the sides (I used a leather log carrier). I also used carpet runners so he didn't walk on tile floors.

Check out Labby's site for Darby's diary and Texas tank's site. Also orthodogs (yahoo group) has alot of good information and support on it.

It is very important to follow the surgeon's rehab schedule to the T. Kona was on confined rest with leash walks and swimming for ~ 10 weeks. He fully recovered and is back to performance competition.

[Canyon Labradors]

Hudler had 2 TPLOs done in 2005 and keeping him still was actually pretty easy. We still had to walk him a bit because he won't potty in his own yard, but we took it easy. We also confined him too a room, not a crate, because he likes to move around when he's lying down. It's scary, but they dogs actually seem to do OK.

[blackjack]

No lab experience but the middle beagle, Buster, just had his second one this year. We set up a portable pen in the living room for him rather than a crate and put in one of the big dog beds. I also put a water bowl and he got his meals in there (to prevent being jostled). After his first surgery he showed a couple weird behaviors like burying his food bowl if he didn't want to eat right then, either by flipping it over or covering it in stuffed toys. This time, no weirdness.

Be prepared for Emma to think she is better before the vet does. She will be ready to run and play and you will have to be ready to slow her down. Also, Buster developed a real sloppy sit and down after surgery. He can still do it the normal way, but prefers the other.

Hope that helps.


Buster post-surgery:



Sloppy sit:


Sloppy down:

[MSUlady]

Also, Buster developed a real sloppy sit and down after surgery. He can still do it the normal way, but prefers the other.

Good advice from Blackjack.

The sloppy sit and down are due to the fact that the TPLO surgery doesn't actually reconstruct the CrCL (cranial cruciate ligament - ACL in humans), it just transfers the joint stabilization forces to the CaCL (caudal cruciate ligament - PCL in humans). So while the stifle is stable during weight-bearing, at rest (in the sit or down) there is still joint instability. That's normal for the procedure, so don't be worried if the stifle looks "floppy" when your dog isn't standing on that limb.