Timber’s TTA Surgery
Timber is a 6 year old female shepard mix; she is my baby. In August 2006, Timber tore her left ACL and she underwent TPLO. She recovered beautifully from TPLO surgery. Nearly 4 years later, she developed an abscess over her TPLO scar. I took Tim to my local vet, and she said that it looks like it could have been a suture from her surgery that did not dissolve. In for surgery to remove the abscess she went.
After two weeks the abscess started to grow back, so I took her to the surgeons office (who did the surgery 4 years ago), to find out that the stainless steel plate she had, had become infected. He recommended to remove the plate left in after the TPLO surgery. On Feb 7, 2010, Timber went in for plate removal, and on that same day she was also diagnosed with a torn ACL in her right knee. I was told I needed to wait 1 month until she had her right knee operated on because she had 2 types of bacteria growing on the plate in her left leg; she needed a course of antibiotics.
So we waited, and mommy did her research. After plenty of reading I chose the TTA (Tibial Tuberosity Advancement) surgery, which uses a titanium plate. I felt that she was at a greater risk of rejecting the stainless steel plate with the TPLO surgery. I did my research on the two type of metals, and titanium seems to be the better of the two, so we went with TTA.
I’m so glad to read your account of Timbers TTA operation. I just found out today that my pit bull terrier female is going to need this surgury. She is like a child to us and the idea of her going though this and trying to keep her slowed down was really scaring me! It helps to be able to see what it will look like and hear your report on what to expect. Thanks for sharing! Wish Bella luck!
I hope Bellas surgery went well and she is recovering as expected. I am soo happy with the TTA surgery, Timber is 100%, like she never even had surgery. She had a great summer…swimming, playing…having FUN!! Hugs to Bella!!
Thank you for writing this story. You helped me tremendously when I was going through a rough patch right after my dog had the TTA surgery. I now highly recommend the TTA surgery and will be posting my own story soon for others to read.
thank you for writing all of your stories i have been wondering if i should get the surgery for my dog. she is 7 we think got her from the pound 4 years ago. now she tore her left acl and want to do tta surgery on her. i just wounder if she will be able to run again.