Traditional Repair – Maggie

traditional repair

I am writing to share Maggie’s story because when I found out about her injury I scoured the internet for stories relating to cruciate injuries and this website was my saving grace! We adopted Maggie at 8 weeks old as a rescue pup from New Mexico. We are avid hikers so Maggie was always hiking with us. At about 4 years old after a hike up a local mountain, Maggie would not get up from her doggie bed. I picked her up and instead of putting weight on her back legs they kind of slid out from under her. The next day she was completely normal and so I just figured she was tired. This was the most frustrating part of this ordeal for us. Because Maggie would be slow to get up after a longer than normal walk, but be completely fine the next day, it was hard to believe the vet when he said she would need a $3,500 TPLO surgery.

Once we realized that Maggie did indeed have a torn CCL (after more than 4 vet visits with just as many diagnoses) I researched and researched alternatives to TPLO surgeries. I just couldn’t see spending our life savings on two surgeries (both of Maggie’s knees needed to be repaired). I eventually came across Buck’s story on this website. As we are from Fort Collins I made an appointment with the vet from this article and I am so thankful that I did! Maggie had the traditional repair on both knees by Dr. Mike at the Pet Wellness Clinic. So far to date I can report that Maggie has exceeded my expectations from the surgery. We are about 1.5 years away from her last knee surgery. We don’t take her on long hikes up mountains anymore, mostly because we have a growing family and we don’t go on big backpacking trips like we used to. But we do take her on shorter hikes and she handles them very well. Maggie has had other issues, including a rare disease called Myasthenia Gravis and Megaesophagus, and the staff at PWC has gone above and beyond to help Maggie through her various illnesses.

I wanted to share Maggie’s story because I think it’s crazy to ask pet owners to spend so much on TPLO surgeries when the traditional repair can be effective in larger breed dogs and also less invasive to your pup! My advice would be to try to find a vet who still performs the traditional surgery in your area!

3 thoughts on “Traditional Repair – Maggie

  1. I have a question.. my girl had the traditional surgery almost 4 weeks ago. She is not using her leg yet, I am wondering how long it took before your dog used her leg again. . We have been doing our own small sets of PT and she still baby’s her leg. We are taking her on short 1/2 block walks. We are just unsure if it’s normal for her to take this long and if there’s something we should be doing to help her. There are no swimming pools in our area for her to swim and being in Colorado winter it’s too cold to take her swimming outside. Can you please help us? Unfortunately our vet gave us no direction after surgery except to keep her leashed and no jumping, playing or running. Thank you.

    1. My beagle has a torn left knee ligament. The vet will repair soon(24 Sept.) by adding something to hold the knee in place, and deal with the torn ligament so it doesn’t hurt. for $1500.00. What will his recovery be like?

  2. My 3 yr old Poodle Mix has been diagnosed with a partial tear of the CCL. We have been trying Conservative management,but seeing no real improvement. Our local vet recommends Extracapsular surgery which I think is the same as traditional surgery. I am struggling with the idea of her having any surgery. I have had dogs all my life but have never dealt with this before. How did you decide which surgery for your dog? It is cold where we are too. Walking him in ice and snow is difficult for both of us. Thank you.

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