TPLO Surgery

[SpinningLikeAGirlInABrandNewDress]

Hi, my poor DDog has to go for TPLO surgery next week after a CCL injury and I’m just looking for some advice/reassurance from other dog parents who’ve been through this. Recovery looks long and any hints and tips on how to manage it would be great thank you!

Also need to get her a more supportive bed (she just has the fluffy donut type ones just now), I see Silent Night do an orthopaedic one for dogs but any recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks in advance xx

Get a really good canine physio at the earliest opportunity, and follow their advice.

One of our dogs had TPLO surgery on one knee and a tightrope procedure on the other (both for ruptured cruciates). She also dislocated one kneecap, which is a known, but very rare complication of cruciate surgery.

In all, she was on cage rest or gradually rehabilitating for about a year - 9 weeks cage rest after the first op, then a few weeks of gradually increasing walks, then the second op, and another 6 weeks cage rest, and finally the dislocation, which also required surgery, and longer cage rest - 9 weeks plus, if I recall.

She was on a programme of gradually increasing walks - initially only 10 minutes, twice a day - we barely got to the end of the road, but she did get back to almost 100% of her previous activity levels. We weren’t offered physio for her, and I wish now we had pushed for it, because she did develop arthritis in later life, which might have been delayed if she had had the physio after the surgeries. She did have hydrotherapy later in life, and I wish we had got her that earlier.

She was a large breed dog - a lab-pointer cross - so we couldn’t carry her out to the garden to do her business, in the cage rest periods, so the vet hospital advised using a sling under her tummy to support her back end, so she wasn’t putting too much weight on the knees, or risking slipping. We found she really didn’t want to do her business on the lead, and we were told she mustn’t be left off lead in case she decided to run or jump. In the end, we used plastic netting and stakes to make her a small enclosure on the lawn that we could let her into, off lead, but wasn’t big enough to run in.

The vets did offer to sell us a sling for taking her to the garden - but it cost something ludicrous, so I wrapped a towel round a spare lead and tacked it in place, and used that.

I was worried that she would fret, when she was on cage rest, because she was a very active dog, but she settled with no problems - I think she understood it was for her benefit. We put the cage in the front room, so she could see us for a lot of the day.

Wow that must have been a stressful time for you all!! I’m glad they are doing well now. The vet did say her kneecap is overextending and that her other leg will more than likely need done eventually.

She is 6, 20kg and very bouncy! She isn’t crated anymore but we have an open plan kitchen diner so she can be confined to that with easy access to the garden and I wfh so can watch her constantly. We put a baby gate up this week for the stairs and she howls every time I go upstairs so I’ll be sleeping down with her too.

Do they have to wear the cone in recovery? I’ve seen a leg sleeve but not sure if that would make the wound sweaty?

Poor thing is spaced out on gabapentin just now, hate seeing her like this.

Any tips for keeping them entertained? She lives to chase her ball and run which is how we have gotten here.

Thanks for the physio tip, I’m speaking to the Vet tomorrow so will ask about that.

Sorry for the disjointed reply, Im a bit stressed out about it all, we have had a couple of big family losses recently and need this to go well.

Thanks xx

You might need to rethink the kitchen idea, @SpinningLikeAGirlInABrandNewDress - if the floor is slippery, that’s risky, post-op. The vet hospital told us that cage rest was essential, because it stopped her moving about much, and prevented the risk of her slipping and ruining the surgery.

The vet said she didn’t need to be caged so we though that would be ok 😱 the whole of downstairs has the same flooring, I think it’s Amtico and like a textured fake wood so not slippy unless wet, I’ll chat to the vet about it tomorrow too. Thank u xx

Just been through this recently, cage rest not advised anymore , in fact 10 min walks starting the day after surgery are ! We got round the slippery floors by buying thin non slip runners from Amazon .

i would be ever so careful about letting her have free range of your kitchen it’s not the walking around it’s the unexpected knock at the door and the sudden shooting forward that does the damage.
It is hard but better to be over cautious for the first few weeks.
I agree about the physio it really helped.
good luck.

My dog had TPLO surgery on Friday. I found some non-slip grip mats in Home Bargains for £1.99 and put a load of them down. They’re a decent size at 80x140 cm. I also bought a licki mat and that’s proving helpful when she gets bored.

I bought one of those sleeves and it was useless. I’ve opted for an inflatable collar as she wouldn’t tolerate the cone. You’ve got to be careful as on some dogs it doesn’t always prevent them from getting to the wound. I also bought a soft ramp for when she’s allowed to start getting on the sofa. That’s a long way off though!

I hope the surgery goes well x