There will be some aspects of your dog's life that will need to change permanently; any activity that may cause the dog to slip or make sudden sloppy turns on the knee (e.g. : often dogs injure their knees playing fetch, so after the surgery, fetch can no longer be played).
plebayo wrote:First off I think it's crazy your vet only does dogs UP to 30lbs... I don't think my vet does dogs under 30lbs because most small dogs usually heal just fine without surgery.
I agree with everything Maberi said. The surgery especially the TPLO or TTA are pretty much designed for your dog to return to normal activity. The TTA is less invasive and has a quicker healing time, and according to what I have read has a smaller chance of failure than the TPLO. However the TTA is a newer surgery so you'd have to find a vet who knows how to do it.
As far as payment I know a lot of clinics accept care credit and you don't have to make payments for like 3-6 months on it... you could always try applying for that.
maberi wrote:There will be some aspects of your dog's life that will need to change permanently; any activity that may cause the dog to slip or make sudden sloppy turns on the knee (e.g. : often dogs injure their knees playing fetch, so after the surgery, fetch can no longer be played).
I'll have to disagree with that statement. Obviously every dog is going to recover differently with some recovering better than others, but if a dog has a TPLO or TTA there is very little chance of the dog ever injuring that same knee again once it is healed. There is a slight chance of the meniscus tearing but many vets will do a medial meniscus release to prevent any possibility of tearing the meniscus in the future and tearing of the meniscus on a knee that has had a TPLO is not common.
The TPLO and TTA actually change the angle of the knee so the CCL (note that dogs do not have an ACL) is no longer needed. Most of the dogs that have the TPLO or TTA return to normal activities which include things like fetch and dog sports. This is well documented and through personal experience I've seen many dogs return to agility, flyball, fetch, etc.... As you stated before, the bigger issue is the possibility that the dog could injure the other knee down the road but keeping your dogs weight down and building up muscle in the rear (especially in the leg that was injured) helps to prevent this.
Malli wrote:Right, but if the dog only has one knee done... There is a substantial chance that dogs that blow one knee will blow the other(I used to know a percentage but I've forgotten)
The Vet (who is a surgical specialist and does 100's Knee surgeries each year) that did TPLO surgery on my manager's dog gave him strict instructions to discontinue fetch with her permanently, as this is when she slips and turns etc. I just texted him and he was given two reasons for this : reinjuring the same leg, or injuring the other.
If the OP is having difficulty getting together funds for this surgery, do you think any of us should be encouraging them to let the dog behave in a manner that will give any chance for avoidable injury?
Malli wrote:I can't recall hearing about the TTA but I know the TPLO is a much more solid (and, more expensive ) option...
call2arms wrote:While the dogs can go back to normal activity after 4-6 months slow recovery, there's still the fact that the knees 1) have plates and screws in them, which can cause issues, even if perfectly adjusted and placed and
2) they can tear their meniscus or fracture parts of the tibial crest.
That's uncommon but may still happen, I know many dogs take up flyball and agility and hunting after surgeries like this, but if it were mine... I'd always try to protect the knees.
call2arms wrote:Well... There was a dog who underwent a TPLO a while long ago, the owners did not respect the restrictions for resting, the plate and screws literally busted and he had to go under again. And died of anesthetic complications on the table. First surgery went fine.
Obviously as with any surgery, the risk is there but being on the table for 1.5 - 3 hours makes it a bit worse, even with all the super-close monitoring. My point is that, had he not had complications from the TPLO, he would still be alive.
Again, it's one in how may surgeries - they do orthopedic surgeries day in day out, and I'd never heard of such a case, but it happens.
Oh and from another clinic we saw a modified FLO that failed - different technique implying implants and other hardware - the knee was just dangling. Still done by a certified surgeon. Complications happen.
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