Comments on: TPLO Complications http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/ A Help Resource and Support Guide for Dog Owners Mon, 21 May 2012 14:08:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Sherri http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104904 Sherri Thu, 17 May 2012 17:31:10 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104904 Carol, definitely look into conservative management for your older dog, or the traditional repair known as Extracapsular Repair if you decide on surgery. It is muich less invasive and much less expensive. I have a 5 year old Rottweiler who weighs 105 pounds. He has had this procedure done on both knee's with excellent results. The first knee was 2 1/2 years ago, he just blew his left knee three weeks ago, we are now two weeks post op from having the traditional extracapsular repair done and he has healed up with no problem whatsoever. Note that this is not the TIghtrope procedure, that is yet another one. Some dogs do indeed do very well with conservative managment and that's something I'd certainly consider with an older dog. Also, in reply to the person that mentioned her dog's acl tearing "again" after having TPLO? Cathy I believe you are correct. According to what my vet told me the torn acl is removed during the surgery. Even if it isn't removed the ligament does not heal, it will only develop scar tissue around it. But I was told the torn pieces and debris are removed at surgery to clean up the joint. So lameness and loss of use after tplo would not be due to a ligament tearing "again". Something else is going on there and I would be looking for answers. A lot of nasty things can crop up years after tplo so I would really want to know what's going on in that leg. Carol, definitely look into conservative management for your older dog, or the traditional repair known as Extracapsular Repair if you decide on surgery. It is muich less invasive and much less expensive. I have a 5 year old Rottweiler who weighs 105 pounds. He has had this procedure done on both knee’s with excellent results. The first knee was 2 1/2 years ago, he just blew his left knee three weeks ago, we are now two weeks post op from having the traditional extracapsular repair done and he has healed up with no problem whatsoever. Note that this is not the TIghtrope procedure, that is yet another one.

Some dogs do indeed do very well with conservative managment and that’s something I’d certainly consider with an older dog.

Also, in reply to the person that mentioned her dog’s acl tearing “again” after having TPLO? Cathy I believe you are correct. According to what my vet told me the torn acl is removed during the surgery. Even if it isn’t removed the ligament does not heal, it will only develop scar tissue around it. But I was told the torn pieces and debris are removed at surgery to clean up the joint. So lameness and loss of use after tplo would not be due to a ligament tearing “again”. Something else is going on there and I would be looking for answers. A lot of nasty things can crop up years after tplo so I would really want to know what’s going on in that leg.

]]> By: Janice http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104884 Janice Thu, 17 May 2012 12:42:16 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104884 Hi Carol I agree with Kimber's Mom, explore all avenues. TPLO is major surgery whatever the age, not to say that it wouldn't work so well on an elderly dog, its just if there are complications it would be tough. There is so much out there now to help with mobility problems. In the darkest days of Lotties complications when I thought she might loose the leg, I found myself looking wheels for her. People have them why not dogs. One thing for sure is dogs adapt so well to their situation. Janice Hi Carol
I agree with Kimber’s Mom, explore all avenues. TPLO is major surgery whatever the age, not to say that it wouldn’t work so well on an elderly dog, its just if there are complications it would be tough. There is so much out there now to help with mobility problems. In the darkest days of Lotties complications when I thought she might loose the leg, I found myself looking wheels for her. People have them why not dogs. One thing for sure is dogs adapt so well to their situation.
Janice

]]> By: Kimber's Mom http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104837 Kimber's Mom Thu, 17 May 2012 04:56:34 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104837 Hi Carol, So sorry to read that your senior girl has a torn ccl. Sadly, I lost two of my TPLO dogs to osteosarcoma (bone cancer) after the metal implants used in their procedures corroded in them. So when my 105 lb Shiloh Shepherd tore her ACL, I refused to have this procedure done on her. We looked into conservative management and long story short, she made a complete recovery withotut surgery. You may wish to get educated on conservative management and the protocols used. Also, if my dog absolutely would have needed surgery, I would had the traditional repair done. This is less invasive. You can always have an orthopedic brace made to aid in her recovery from surgery. The TPLO is an invasive procedure with many risks including cancer.... most vets do not disclose this information. I wish you the best with whatever route you decide to take. Hi Carol,
So sorry to read that your senior girl has a torn ccl. Sadly, I lost two of my TPLO dogs to osteosarcoma (bone cancer) after the metal implants used in their procedures corroded in them. So when my 105 lb Shiloh Shepherd tore her ACL, I refused to have this procedure done on her. We looked into conservative management and long story short, she made a complete recovery withotut surgery. You may wish to get educated on conservative management and the protocols used. Also, if my dog absolutely would have needed surgery, I would had the traditional repair done. This is less invasive. You can always have an orthopedic brace made to aid in her recovery from surgery. The TPLO is an invasive procedure with many risks including cancer…. most vets do not disclose this information. I wish you the best with whatever route you decide to take.

]]> By: Carol http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104817 Carol Thu, 17 May 2012 03:43:53 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104817 hello everyone, my dog is 13 years of age and has torn ccl right stifle as the vet puts it. gave us an estimate of $3600. not sure what to do. They asked us if we wanted to put her down. What do i Do...???? what are my options with an older dog. she is not overweight hello everyone, my dog is 13 years of age and has torn ccl right stifle as the vet puts it.
gave us an estimate of $3600. not sure what to do. They asked us if we wanted to put her
down. What do i Do…???? what are my options with an older dog. she is not overweight

]]> By: Cathy http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104788 Cathy Wed, 16 May 2012 22:39:33 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104788 Well, I believe that in some cases Doctor's are to blame as I adhered to the instructions to a tee and I mean to a tee. Chief needed sedatives and he refused to give them to me. After the second surgery and with sedatives prescribed he healed with the same instructions regarding care. Nothing was different. This Doctor just refused to listen to me when I described how hyper active Chief is. Even my own vet after the fact said she would never have sent Chief home without sedatives even after a minor operation. I believe they remove the ACL when they perform a TPLO. At least that is the way it was explained to me. If this is the case I am not sure how it could get torn the second time. Perhaps this same surgeon explained it wrong. THAT WOULD BE THE SURGEON WHO SCREWED UP CHIEF'S FIRST OPERATION. Any chance you know this guy? Well, I believe that in some cases Doctor’s are to blame as I adhered to the instructions to a tee and I mean to a tee. Chief needed sedatives and he refused to give them to me. After the second surgery and with sedatives prescribed he healed with the same instructions regarding care. Nothing was different. This Doctor just refused to listen to me when I described how hyper active Chief is. Even my own vet after the fact said she would never have sent Chief home without sedatives even after a minor operation.
I believe they remove the ACL when they perform a TPLO. At least that is the way it was explained to me. If this is the case I am not sure how it could get torn the second time. Perhaps this same surgeon explained it wrong. THAT WOULD BE THE SURGEON WHO SCREWED UP CHIEF’S FIRST OPERATION. Any chance you know this guy?

]]> By: phyllis http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104782 phyllis Wed, 16 May 2012 21:16:34 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104782 Exactly....You must adhere to the Doctor's instructions to the tee. My rotti had a TPLO on his left hind leg 2 years ago which went perfectly. Two years later he had another on his right leg by the same Doctor. After five months he removed the plate and screws because Rocky was rejecting it Everything was going fine, Rocky healed and was running with enthusiasm when all of a sudden he started favoring the right leg. He has torn the ACL again. I can't afford to take him back to the doctor that performed the surgery and took him to my local vet. She had decided to treat him conservatively with pain and anti inflammatory meds, accupuncture and physical therapy in water. I really liked the doctor and all I can say is he is only human and he did the best he could. You take the same chances when you go to the hospital for surgery. So please don't blame the doctor there are a lot of variables when performing surgery on dogs or humans.. Exactly….You must adhere to the Doctor’s instructions to the tee. My rotti had a TPLO on his left hind leg 2 years ago which went perfectly. Two years later he had another on his right leg by the same Doctor. After five months he removed the plate and screws because Rocky was rejecting it Everything was going fine, Rocky healed and was running with enthusiasm when all of a sudden he started favoring the right leg. He has torn the ACL again. I can’t afford to take him back to the doctor that performed the surgery and took him to my local vet. She had decided to treat him conservatively with pain and anti inflammatory meds, accupuncture and physical therapy in water.
I really liked the doctor and all I can say is he is only human and he did the best he could. You take the same chances when you go to the hospital for surgery. So please don’t blame the doctor there are a lot of variables when performing surgery on dogs or humans..

]]> By: Janice http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104770 Janice Wed, 16 May 2012 19:27:06 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104770 Hi Cathy Thats great news, what a relief. We have two other dogs besides Lottie, one of them Lizzie has a fatty lump on her chest. It was checked by the vet in the same way and given the all clear. Hearing about what happened to Judge reminded me of an experience I had many years ago while still living at home with mum. She had a shepherd called Sheba and one day I came home from work to find my mum so upset as Sheba was scatching at her mouth which was bleeding and her paws were covered in blood. On looking into her mouth I could see a bone across the roof of her mouth, trying to scatch it out was only wedging it tighter. I calmed her and then pushing the bone back quite hard managed to free it. I felt quite chuffed with myself. I hope you feel better soon, its horrible when everything goes wrong at once. With Lotties misfortune my health has suffered, not eating or sleeping, fretting so badly. The worst time was the unexpected 2 weeks she was kept in the hospital. Thinking she must feel we've abandoned her. Recovery can be like a yoyo but we'll be happy just to get Lottie back to swimming. I'll keep you posted on Lotties progress and let me know Chief and Justice get on. I bet you can't wait till the three of them are back together and this is all a distant memory. Janice Hi Cathy

Thats great news, what a relief.
We have two other dogs besides Lottie, one of them Lizzie has a fatty lump on her chest. It was checked by the vet in the same way and given the all clear.
Hearing about what happened to Judge reminded me of an experience I had many years ago while still living at home with mum. She had a shepherd called Sheba and one day I came home from work to find my mum so upset as Sheba was scatching at her mouth which was bleeding and her paws were covered in blood. On looking into her mouth I could see a bone across the roof of her mouth, trying to scatch it out was only wedging it tighter. I calmed her and then pushing the bone back quite hard managed to free it. I felt quite chuffed with myself.
I hope you feel better soon, its horrible when everything goes wrong at once.
With Lotties misfortune my health has suffered, not eating or sleeping, fretting so badly. The worst time was the unexpected 2 weeks she was kept in the hospital. Thinking she must feel we’ve abandoned her.
Recovery can be like a yoyo but we’ll be happy just to get Lottie back to swimming.
I’ll keep you posted on Lotties progress and let me know Chief and Justice get on. I bet you can’t wait till the three of them are back together and this is all a distant memory.

Janice

]]> By: Cathy http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104754 Cathy Wed, 16 May 2012 18:38:48 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104754 Hi Janice, Chief just has a lipoma - fatty tissue. I have to monitor it but after doing a fine need aspirate and testing it on slides the vet is 98% sure it is just fatty tissue. Wow, I can breath again now. Hope Lottie heals soon. It is so hard and even more hard on us owners I am sure. Keep me posted. Cathy Hi Janice,

Chief just has a lipoma – fatty tissue. I have to monitor it but after doing a fine need aspirate and testing it on slides the vet is 98% sure it is just fatty tissue. Wow, I can breath again now.

Hope Lottie heals soon. It is so hard and even more hard on us owners I am sure.

Keep me posted.

Cathy

]]> By: Cathy http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104713 Cathy Wed, 16 May 2012 14:02:40 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104713 Hi Janice, Glad to hear Lottie is progressing in the right direction. Justice had her staples removed last Thursday and this Thursday is 3 weeks since her surgery. She got a great report and no problems to date. Chief started limping again last Sunday. This seems to happen when he is not on Metacam and after exercise. The surgeon said as long as there was no swelling or oozing of any time in the area of the operation then it is probably just muscle irritation. He said to keep him on Metacam for another month. Some dogs just take longer to heal than others. Given his lengthy infection, I personally doubt if much healing happened until the infection cleared up. I am trying to restrain him from too much exercise which is hard as Chief thinks he is still a puppy. This is unrelated but I am very nervous. Chief has to see the vet today as I found a lump - palpable, squissy, round, about the size of a prune on his right side in the rib area. It does not appear attached to anything and moves quite freely. Everything I have read says this is likely just a fatty lipoma. He is happy,active, eating, and there is no pain when I move this or push on it. With everything he has been through I have to wonder if it has something to do with all the meds he was on for so long. Chief is not fat although a big dog. I do understand that he is middle age at 7 and lipomas occur in middle aged and older dogs and not only overweight ones. If my luck could not get any worse, my ex's father who I was very close to died last week and was buried on Monday. Monday night I had to rush my 2 yr old Shepherd into emergency. He has been staying with a friend while Justice recovers. Dale said that for a day or two Judge had not been himself but was still eating. I went over Monday night to see him and knew something was wrong. He was not the Judgie that I owned. He was sleepy, sad looking, gums were darker than normal and gooey and his breath was so bad I wanted to throw up. After some research on the internet, we decided to take him into Ottawa to Alta Vista emergency hospital instead of waiting to get an appointment with my vet. Initially the vet missed the problem after examining him but agreed something was wrong. She put on a pair of gloves and stuck her hand quite far back in his mouth. Low and behold she pulled out a stick about 2 inches long that was encased in both side of his upper gums. Infection had started but not too bad. He was put on antibiotics and metacam for pain. He is now back to his normal self. Not sure how much more of this I can take before I need some drugs myself. (lol) My prayers are with Lottie. I will let you know how Chief makes out today. Cathy Hi Janice,

Glad to hear Lottie is progressing in the right direction.

Justice had her staples removed last Thursday and this Thursday is 3 weeks since her surgery. She got a great report and no problems to date.

Chief started limping again last Sunday. This seems to happen when he is not on Metacam and after exercise. The surgeon said as long as there was no swelling or oozing of any time in the area of the operation then it is probably just muscle irritation. He said to keep him on Metacam for another month. Some dogs just take longer to heal than others. Given his lengthy infection, I personally doubt if much healing happened until the infection cleared up. I am trying to restrain him from too much exercise which is hard as Chief thinks he is still a puppy. This is unrelated but I am very nervous. Chief has to see the vet today as I found a lump – palpable, squissy, round, about the size of a prune on his right side in the rib area. It does not appear attached to anything and moves quite freely. Everything I have read says this is likely just a fatty lipoma. He is happy,active, eating, and there is no pain when I move this or push on it. With everything he has been through I have to wonder if it has something to do with all the meds he was on for so long. Chief is not fat although a big dog. I do understand that he is middle age at 7 and lipomas occur in middle aged and older dogs and not only overweight ones.

If my luck could not get any worse, my ex’s father who I was very close to died last week and was buried on Monday. Monday night I had to rush my 2 yr old Shepherd into emergency. He has been staying with a friend while Justice recovers. Dale said that for a day or two Judge had not been himself but was still eating. I went over Monday night to see him and knew something was wrong. He was not the Judgie that I owned. He was sleepy, sad looking, gums were darker than normal and gooey and his breath was so bad
I wanted to throw up. After some research on the internet, we decided to take him into Ottawa to Alta Vista emergency hospital instead of waiting to get an appointment with my vet. Initially the vet missed the problem after examining him but agreed something was wrong. She put on a pair of gloves and stuck her hand quite far back in his mouth. Low and behold she pulled out a stick about 2 inches long that was encased in both side of his upper gums. Infection had started but not too bad. He was put on antibiotics and metacam for pain. He is now back to his normal self.

Not sure how much more of this I can take before I need some drugs myself. (lol)

My prayers are with Lottie. I will let you know how Chief makes out today.

Cathy

]]> By: Janice http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-complications/#comment-104710 Janice Wed, 16 May 2012 13:41:22 +0000 http://dogkneeinjury.com/2008/tplo-complications/#comment-104710 Hi Cathy, Lottie went for a check up on Monday. Although we feel positive about her leg at the moment as its in the right position, she is putting weight on it and the infection has cleared up, Charlie is still cautious about the bone healing. He says that if the bone has trouble healing once sometimes it stops trying. He wants to keep an eye on her and she has another check up in 2 weeks. The only medication she is taking now is the end of the antibiotics and rimadyl. How are Chief and Justice now. Hi Cathy,
Lottie went for a check up on Monday. Although we feel positive about her leg at the moment as its in the right position, she is putting weight on it and the infection has cleared up, Charlie is still cautious about the bone healing. He says that if the bone has trouble healing once sometimes it stops trying. He wants to keep an eye on her and she has another check up in 2 weeks. The only medication she is taking now is the end of the antibiotics and rimadyl. How are Chief and Justice now.

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