tplo cruciate surgery

nala2012

Hey so my boyfriend's 5 year old south African mastiff has been referred to a specialist for tplo cruciate surgery.
He had a limp on and off for a few weeks so about 2 weeks ago we brought him to our vet who took X-rays and said he needed surgery. She referred us to a specialist because of his size she said the best surgery was the tplo.
It costs €1600. Was wondering if anyone's dogs had this surgery or are there any other alternatives? Thanks

lastlaugh

People spend far to much money on dogs at the vets, what's wrong with him having a limp?

After you spend that much I garantee you will have bigger bills and ongoing trouble would you consider giving it to the Dogs trust to be rehomed?

nala2012

lastlaugh wrote: »

People spend far to much money on dogs at the vets, what's wrong with him having a limp?

After you spend that much I garantee you will have bigger bills and ongoing trouble would you consider giving it to the Dogs trust to be rehomed?

Because he's so big he'll develop arthritis if he's limping all the time. And he's obviously in pain if he has a limp.
What difference would it make if I rehomed him?

Hellrazer

lastlaugh wrote: »

People spend far to much money on dogs at the vets, what's wrong with him having a limp?

After you spend that much I garantee you will have bigger bills and ongoing trouble would you consider giving it to the Dogs trust to be rehomed?

Thats a ridiculous statement to make--get rid of the dog because it has health issues??


Be thankful Im not banning you for trolling like the people that reported your post think you are.

lastlaugh

nala2012 wrote: »

Because he's so big he'll develop arthritis if he's limping all the time. And he's obviously in pain if he has a limp.
What difference would it make if I rehomed him?

If you're boyfriend has money to burn then go for it but be prepared to spend more and more.
If he was given away it would be someone elses problem but he may be attached to it by now?

lastlaugh

Hellrazer wrote: »

Thats a ridiculous statement to make--get rid of the dog because it has health issues??


Be thankful Im not banning you for trolling like the people that reported your post think you are.

Im just suggesting not paying thousands and thousands I wonder if all the people who reported me are loaded.

tk123

What specialist have you (well the dog lol) seen OP? Gilabbey? UCD? Billy Mc? somebody else? The reason I ask is that UCD told us to leave my puppy develop arthritis but Gilabbey said surgery was the best option. My own vet even agreed that UCD were wrong and surgery was the best thing for him.

ANYHOOS a few of us (well our dogs lol!) have been thru ops like this. My dog had both his back legs straightened and the surgery was pretty similar to a tplo - he had a wedge of bone cut out then the bones were aligned and held in place with pins and a plate until the gap filled in. Was it easy NO but was it worth it 100% yes.
Is the dog insured?

andreac

I have first hand experience of Cruciate Ligament surgery as my female Rottweiler had it last November.
She didnt have the TPLO though, she had the more advanced one than the TPLO, its the TTA.
She had it done in UCD. Thankfully she is insured so all i had to pay was the excess that was €90. Im guessing your boyfriends dog isnt insured?

The recovery process for this operation is very long and slow so be prepared.

It can take up to 6 months to be fully healed and its absolutely vital that you follow the strict guidlines after the operation as it can determine how well they recover and heal from it.

Most of not nearly all will make 100% recovery once this is all followed properly and carefully.

Your dog will be on strict cage rest for at least 2-3 months and its literally, crate to toilet and back in again, every day. Its hard but it has to be done.

I got a big crate for my dog so she had a bit more room than usual as she was in 24/7.

The op that my dog had is more advanced so recovery is a little quicker with less chance of complications and she had her op on the 1st November and shes back to full health now and full, normal exercise and out playing as normal with my other dog. I actually cant believe how quick and how well she recovered from it as i had thought it would take longer, but shes still young and very fit and healthy which probably helped this.

If you have any other queries please shout and ill try and help.:)

LucyBliss

Cruciate ligament issues happen. We have a terrier cross who injured her cruciate ligament by landing wrong when she jumped off a chair. It can actually be quite sore on the dog and as is my understanding, the dog starts to favour the uninjured leg and that can lead to muscle wastage on the leg they're protecting.

Our dog was given crate rest for six weeks. She was not impressed but there it was. I let her out in the garden to do her business but she had to be on the lead so she wouldn't be running around and that was all she got for the six weeks. It took more eight weeks before she was completely healed.

From what I read at the time, vets are more prone to doing surgery on bigger dogs because they're not as quick to heal naturally because of their size. You could suggest crate rest to your vet, I suppose, but they've probably discounted it because of the size.

Pet insurance is a huge advantage when it comes to the more costly procedures but I think you'd have to have it by now.

I'm not sure why someone would think it's good advice to re-home a five year old dog in a case like this. If you're committed to dog ownership at all, you'd do whatever you could or work out a way to get them back to full health.

Best of luck, OP!

nala2012

No he's not insured. We are in galway and the specialist is called James dunne and works in ark vets.
We are calling him tomorrow to make appointment but he's looked at the X-ray and said he needs the surgery.
It's not really the money that's the issue, not that we're rich, but I'm just wondering about alternatives because the vet only spoke about surgery.
Also he's not crate trained! After surgery us it ok to have him in the utility? It's pretty small but he can be kinda hyper when we go out to him and jump around!

andreac

Im afraid there is no other option other than surgery with large dogs, they have to have the repair as their weight needs the support from the joint and if its not repaired then they will just get worse and worse.

With smaller dogs they dont bear as much weight on the leg so they can sometimes get away with not having surgery but large dogs have to have it im afraid.

No, he will have to be in a cage, he cant move around bar going to the toilet, i cant stress this enough. You can get some calmers or relaxers from the vet to help with this but you cannot have this dog moving around or potentially jumping as it will just undo the repair when he has the operation.

nala2012

andreac wrote: »

Im afraid there is no other option other than surgery with large dogs, they have to have the repair as their weight needs the support from the joint and if its not repaired then they will just get worse and worse.

With smaller dogs they dont bear as much weight on the leg so they can sometimes get away with not having surgery but large dogs have to have it im afraid.

No, he will have to be in a cage, he cant move around bar going to the toilet, i cant stress this enough. You can get some calmers or relaxers from the vet to help with this but you cannot have this dog moving around or potentially jumping as it will just undo the repair when he has the operation.

That's what I was thinking about the crate. Is it normal that he doesn't seem to be in pain like he is limping but when he wees he stands on the bad leg and lifts the other one?!
Should I ask the vet about the surgery your dog had like if he does it? And what other questions should I ask... I just want to know everything. I've never had experience of anything like this. I found it hard when I had Nala spayed and that was only ten days rest!
Thanks for all the advise x

andreac

Yes, you could ask to be referred to UCD and enquire to have the TTA operation. Its a fairly new operation but they have found it more successful than the TPLO.

The thing is, they arent actually in too much pain when the Cruciate ruptures, its just the joint is totally unstable as its not being held together with the Cruciate Ligament.

It seems a whole lot worse at the start and i thought id never get through it, but surprisingly it wasnt as hard as i thought it would be but i was very, very strict and made sure i followed guidelines by the book and it paid off.

tk123

andreac wrote: »

I actually cant believe how quick and how well she recovered from it as i had thought it would take longer, but shes still young and very fit and healthy which probably helped this.

If you have any other queries please shout and ill try and help.:)

+1 for both It's CRAZY how fast they bounce back - my guy had his op a week before Andrea's Flo and he's back to full exercise the last few weeks. Fit as a fiddle too - when we started back at hydro 2 months ago he did 2 mins and was exhausted (before the op he was doing 2 x 12 mins with a break between them) - he swam for 16 mins without a break earlier this evening- 16 mins and I'd be carried out on a stretcher! :pac:

You HAVE to be strict with the recovery and instructions you're given so the dog heals up properly. If the dog isn't crate trained get a crate asap and start training him - take a look at http://www.jebbtools.ie/
My guy was crated for 4 weeks full time, then a week of just being let out for loo and 10 min walks then after that I built up the time he was allowed out. At first the crate rest seems like it's never going to end but as the weeks go on you realize the crate keeps them safe and out of harms way!! This was our second time around so I was a lot more relaxed - in control but not stressing out and tbh I think it helped him relax and settle in to it. We have 2 crates so had one in the kitchen and one in the tv room so he was always with us - once we were there with him he was settled and snoozing. I started by giving my guy his meals in kongs in the crate - at first with the door open, then door closed and built up the time he was in there. This time around I used a DAP plugin and also Kalm Aid to keep him chilled out but tbh as I said earlier - once we were relaxed he was lol.

Anyhoo here's my guy when he was recovering lol!! (Sorry I went mad with the bubbles - once I added one I couldn't stop lol)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D0bhkFoYv0

nala2012

We are going to Spain in 2 weeks which doesn't help things but will have a good chat with the vet tomorrow. Thanks for all the comments

andreac

Oh thats not good. How long are you going for?

This operation really needs a lot of aftercare so i would think very carefully about this as it needs to be done carefully and consistantly so just be aware of this. You cant take any chances with recovery or you risk undoing the whole thing.

nala2012

Nice video ill have to upload some pics of my guys!
Nala is crate trained and its the best thing I've bought since I got her. I'll have to start getting nelson in there.. he loves food so hopefully won't be to hard.
I feel so bad for him not being able to run around

nala2012

Going for a week so won't be having surgery till we're back its hard enough to find someone to mind him never mind after surgery!

andreac

You will prob have to crate him until his operation now too. Thats what i had to do with my dog.

Hellrazer

lastlaugh wrote: »

Im just suggesting not paying thousands and thousands I wonder if all the people who reported me are loaded.

No you suggested rehoming a dog instead of doing what any loving dog owner would do and that is look after their dog regardless of the cost.