CrCL tear and TPLO
Hello everyone! I am brand new to MyCorgi.com! What prompted me to visit was my corgi's unfortunate full CrCL tear. In early August 2011, she was out playing frisbee and came home lame on her back right leg. We took her to the vet, gave it a week, she showed almost no improvement, and went to see an orthopedic specialist.
The orthopedist gave us several options. One was conservative management, but with her activity levels, a full tear, and her younger age, we didn't feel this was completely right. Next, he discussed extrascapular repair (using material, ie fishing line in the "old" days, to hold the joint in place while scar tissue develops). He went more deeply into TPLO and TTA. Corki had a more "severe" tibial angle, and TPLO was his favored option. We did not make a decision at the office, that would have been too high pressure and uninformed. We went home and did a ton of research (ignoring the websites and postings highly favoring or highly disfavoring one form or the other) and also spoke to other people who have been through this. Mostly we found larger dogs had this problem, but the orthopedist says he does see corgis fairly regularly. I felt much better to hear a story of a hunting dog going back to work without issue following TPLO.
An interesting note, the orthopedist said that newer beliefs are that the CrCL tears are degenerative rather than traumatic. I'm pretty sure ours was set off by trauma, but cannot argue against it being primarily degenerative, especially with her tibial angle. I'm glad it happened when she was younger and very fit and healthy for a better recovery. It also was reassuring to know that we didn't cause it, that is was going to happen at some point, no matter what.
We opted for the TPLO, because of research and instinct. She had the surgery on Sep 7, about 4 weeks after her injury. She spent the night at the doggie hospital where they said she was a fantastic and sweet patient (of course! She's a corgi!). Her surgery was routine.
After we got home, her bruising astonished me. It seemed so severe, but the vet techs reassured me that it gets worse before it gets better and to ice it more frequently. Since she has no others problems (she uses the bathroom regularly, still has her appetite, no exceptional swelling, etc), the bruising is not a concern. Last night, she had very little clear seeping from her wound, and of course I called the vet's office and the vet tech said it is "dehiscing" and may be from too much activity. We have severely limited her activity, but sometimes she takes a few extra minutes to find the right potty place and position. They said slinging her isn't really necessary, but to do it if she tries to use the leg A LOT when outside for potty breaks (her only permitted activity).
She so far is doing amazing, and wants to really use her "new" leg. Controlling her activity is tough. She wants to play, so we play games like "Which Hand" (point to the hand hiding the treat), and I'm thinking of teaching her to speak. Such as "What does the BIG dog say?" "WOOF!" "What does the little dog say?" "Humph, whine, whisper noises." She clearly wants to get out and play or do SOMETHING so hopefully learning new tricks helps.
Our biggest issues:
1) keeping her quiet. She stays in her pen or snuggles with us only. But she is high activity, making this tough for her smart and busy brain.
2) pottying at night. This is only because the sprinklers suddenly turn on when we are in the middle of the grass. It's an HOA, so we can't control them. I thought I figured out what time they turn on, but nope, we got caught in them again. Last night, we resorted to driving around the block to an area she isn't used to so she would have an excited pee. It worked like a charm, but hopefully we don't get into this habit.
I have so much more to tell! I guess I'm not really looking for advice at this point, but I know other people on here have been through this too, so it makes me feel better to share and discuss.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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My big dog had a TPLO. It was REALLY difficult to keep him quiet and he was a relatively mellow 7 year old dog to begin with. The recovery is awful just because they feel so good right after surgery. He was wanting to walk on the leg and would push through any barrier we put in place to block the stairs or lock him in a small room. The bruising for him was awful as well. Some vets actually bandage the leg after the surgery. I think the first 2 or 3 weeks were the hardest but he started to regain some strength and the draining and bruising went away. It took almost a year for his hair to grow back. I would do the surgery again in a hearbeat though. His recovery went so well. He never had arthritic problems or anything with that leg after the surgery until we had to put him to sleep at age 11 1/2. Its such an amazing surgery. We had it done when it was still fairly new and only a handful of vets were certified to do it, so I'm sure its only gotten better since. Good luck with your pups recovery! And I know many people don't want to do this, but sedation is always an option to help with recovery. When Franklin was restricted from activity for 8 weeks because of a broken foot I ended up sedating him most days. The vet assured me there were no long term health affects and to me I'd rather have him in his own sleepy world than freaking out because he can't run and play and ready to burst from too much energy. Some dogs even get really depressed when you start restricting their activity and begin to quit eating and lose weight etc, so sedation was a good way to keep him from really being aware that he wasn't getting to play. He wasn't totally zonked out, but just enough to take the edge off and to make playing with interactive toys or learning tricks fun again.
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Permalink Reply by Ellen Andersen on
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Annie had a TPLO (at the age of 4 1/2) and the bruising was quite frightening, but she did really really well. It's been almost a year and not a hint of a limp or her slowing down. The hardest part was keeping her from running around and going up and down stairs! Hang in there......everything will turn out great.The hair grew back fairly quickly and she healed quickly, too, perhaps because of her young age.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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I did the extracapsular technique with Seanna over a year ago. She has done very, very well--and I'm happy with the decisions we made at the time. She too was a candidate for the TPLO, but the thought of cutting and breaking her bones just disturbed me too much. Plus there was quite a price difference...and I have a husband...
I'm glad your pumpkin is doing so well!
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Permalink Reply by Laurie on
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George who is three had surgery on August 3rd and he is doing very well. He spent two days at the specialist and then two days at home with his left rear leg bandaged. We were instructed to keep him quiet for ten days and then he went twice a week for physical water therapy. We were given gentle exercises to do at home. George was stapled and not stitched. When we brought George home he was wearing a Elizabethian collar and absolutely refused to move when we took him outside to potty so we had to remove it so he would go. We found that we could leave the collar off and the few times he tried to bother his leg we just reminded him not to and he was very good about it. It has now been over a month and he is George with zero defects. He will still limp a little if he over does it. But it is getting better everyday.
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