TPLO Surgery Set Back

[CraneBoysMysteries]

Hi all

Has anyone else's pooch had this surgery to repair torn cruciate ligament?

Our lovely dog had it last September and had recovered very nicely. Been taking a ball with us since the new year and doing gentle throws so encourage a bit of exercise (vet encouraged).

Yesterday we got back from the walk and he was fine for 3/4 hours afterwards but appeared in the evening holding that leg up and unable to bare weight on it.

It's no better this morning. I'm going to ring the vets when they open but wondered if anyone had anything similar happen after this surgery and what was the outcome?

The vet recommended this type of surgery as this would apparently give him great mobility and he should get back to running around and the same level of exercise he had pre injury.

Your vet encouraged ball throwing???

Never throw a ball for a dog. My DH is a vet and this is what he tells all clients.

I'm practice Manager of our practice and DH asks me to publicise this information frequently.

My 5 year old dog had TPLO. What breed is your dog and who did the surgery? (As in vet or specialist). It’s a very tricky op on large breeds I believe.

Very happy with the surgery.

Ours was done by a specialist orthopaedic surgeon and exercise was limited to zero initially, then ten mins for a week, then 15 for a week. It was a long recovery.

He had arthritis set in almost immediately afterwards. Mobility did return to pre torn cruciate levels after about 9 months.

My dog wasn’t interested in a ball.

I agree, I’ve also read vets say never throw a ball. Literally bouncing on their joints and flying through the air.

Returned to our normal surgery after the TPLO and one of the vets was telling me a dog had recently been brought in three times as they had ruined the surgery by overdoing it and the op was repeated twice more.

One of our dogs had TPL on both hind legs many years ago . She then damaged the cartilage in her knee and had to have further surgery the orthopaedic surgeon said it was a common complication.
Hope this is just a minor setback for your DDog

Please don’t throw the ball, it puts massive pressure on their joints when they stop to get the ball. My vet tells everyone at the puppy stage

I just wanted to come back and update.

Firstly, thanks so much for all the well wishes and advice. It seems lots of vets don't approve of ball throwing which I completely understand.

Our lovely dog has had a very gentle return to exercise since the operation 5/6 months ago. Lots of rest followed by short lead walks, longer walks etc. Vet was keen that he returns to 'normal' activity which for him did involve ball throwing. It's never been excessive, high jumps or long throws. But I appreciate this is probably now not on the cards for him.

So we took him to the vets Saturday and they xrayed the leg. Good news is that everything from the surgery is healed nicely and no damage to the titanium cage. No fractures etc

BUT the joint now has arthritis that has got a lot worse in a short space of time. When they initially did a set of X-rays when he first did the ligament they said he had the beginnings of arthritis. It looks like the surgery has accelerated this.

So the limping is an arthritic flair up 😔. And the advice going forwards is now much more moderate exercise and in the short term, lots of rest. I've got painkillers and anti inflammatory and am looking at liberella injections, k laser therapy and various other things that the vet has suggested.

Poor boy is not that old and I fear his days of having happy, smiley walks with a ball in his mouth are numbered 😢

Thanks for the update.
Sorry it's not the news you were hoping for . Please don't be discouraged. As I said one of my DDogs had both hind legs done 😢 she was very young , had a setback by damaging her cartilage too .
She did develop arthritis ,but did live a very active and happy life . Sad to say we had to have her Pts when her legs eventually gave way. She at this point was older than most of her breed live and had a full and active life .
Hopefully the drugs and therapy will have your DDog back to enjoying life .

I'm another that's shocked that your vet recommended ball throwing for a dog recovering from surgery, even months down the line.

I know lots of dog owners have visions of their dogs chasing balls along beaches and through fields but they encourage such rapid and swift movement that damage is almost inevitable. The twisting and turning that comes with ball chasing puts a huge amount of pressure on their joints.

If your dog loves balls why not hide them in long grass for him to sniff out instead, or let him swim for them in water? Both should be just as tiring as ball throwing and the swimming should help his arthritis too.