TPLO Surgery

Buddy Bear was playing outside and slipped on the ice. Now he has to have extracapsular repair. Does any one have any experience with this? Will his recovery be hard? He is only two and a half.

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Permalink Reply by Edward and Gemima on February 2, 2010 at 6:47pm

OH NO!!!!I am sorry to hear about Buddy bear...I only have experience with Corgis in casts as Ed hurt his foot in September and was in a leg cast for a only a week. I can tell you that they adapt to their situation very well and very quickly and the difficult part was keeping him quiet!!! Best of luck to you guys!!!

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Permalink Reply by Buddy Bear on February 2, 2010 at 7:42pm

Thanks so much for your well wishes. We will keep you posted.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on February 2, 2010 at 6:47pm

My parents' Chessie had one of the ligament restructuring surgeries; not sure if it's identical to the one you will be having for your dog or not. The vet used a filament to repair the rupture and over time scar tissue forms around the filament and stabilizes the joint.

She is probably about 85% sound; functionally she is fine but if you were to judge her gait you could see she sometimes moves a little short in that leg (it's a rear leg).

She is sound enough to hunt and hike regularly, and she also swims a lot. She runs through the woods and has no problem except occasional stiffness in the joint which does not seem to bother her. Recovery was surprisingly fast and it's vitally important to follow the exact instructions of the vet for reintroduction of exercise and the gradual build-up of activity level. You need the movement to rebuild the tissue, but if you go too fast you can rupture it again. Their experience was very good with the surgery. The first few days there was a lot of soreness and the dog refused to pee. They were ready to take her back when she finally capitulated; I don't know how she held it for two days but she did. Other than that things went very smoothly, but as I said the rehab needs to be diligently followed for a successful outcome.

Good luck!