TPLO surgery for Fur Babies

[NewfieGirl]

Has anyone ever gone through this surgery with their dogs? Huggs tore his ACL and had this surgery on Monday - he is walking so much better today and it is only Day 5, wondering how I am going to confine him to 6 WEEKS of leash only limited activity while his bone heals.

I am so please he is doing so well, but I had no idea he would be up and around so much already. He only gets up 3 times a day now but is putting weight on it already. Just looking for any advice from anyone that may have been through this on what to expect during recovery process.

I had two injured at once and it has been really hard the last several weeks (missed SoWalling). Turns out Kisses just had a sprain but Huggs' ACLwas 90% torn when they went in for surgery (he is the Landseer Newfie... black and white). He is a trooper, it has been slowly tearing over a long time. I had never heard of this but apparently it is the #1 injury in large and giant breed dogs, just hope we can keep his other knee good or I might be homeless!!!:shock:

He looks so sad with his shaved leg all stapled up and a cone head on top of that - Kisses is afraid of him and won't get near him. I think I'll put the e.collar on her after he gets his stiches out...wench!

 

[Jdarg]

This recovery is such a PIA- but you will get through it and not let that dog off a leash for 6 weeks for 2 reasons- you want him to get well in 6 weeks (instead of longer if he re-injures), and you don't want to pay for more surgery/treatment!

Seriously- 6 weeks is nothing if he heals well. Dogs are not good patients and when they start feeling just a little better, they will take off after something, and there you are back at square one. Wouldn't you hate to get to 5 weeks and have him start galloping around off leash and mess it all up? Your full time job the next 6 weeks is sitting on him, but you will be glad you did.

 

[NewfieGirl]

Thanks, I think I needed to hear that. It has been so amazing watching him recover these past couple days. It is phenominal - he just looks at me with those sweet eyes saying "I am ready to get out of this den now." I think his knee must be sturdier now than it was over the past three weeks when it finally tore enough for the vet to feel it. I have been watching that leg for a year and he has been x-rayed twice.

It will be hard, but I will follow his doctor's instructions to a tee then and wait for his 6 week x-rays. He is doing good with his PT. Do I need to worry about his white skin sunburning - can you put sunscreen on dogs?

 

[Will B]

I have a friend in Darien, CT who had a black male and a female Landseer...Kona and Hana.

Kona was a big boy...approaching 185 pounds. He blew out one ACL and had the TPLO surgery. They went ahead and did the other a few months later as a preventative measure. They said it was the best thing they ever did for him.

We have a Lab - Rotty mix who got a little heavy. She blew out one side even after we took 35 pounds off of her. She healed very fast. Despite keeping her from jumping and blasting up stairs her other one went, too, about a year later. Both were successful, but she is a little stiffer after it all.

Our other two are Bullmastiffs. Given the lessons learned we are extremely careful with them...no furniture, easy on the steps, and they use a ramp to get in and out of our SUV. If you don't have one, I highly advise it.

Yours will heal fast. That's the easy part. The hard part is making the behavior modifications to your boy...and to yourselves for that matter...in order to keep him from damaging the repair and / or hurting his other side.

In two months time, you'll never know he had it done save for the shaved hair...

BTW...Handsome couple you have!

Here's a shot of ours from last Christmas sitting in the door of our house in Santa Rosa...

 

[NewfieGirl]

Your babies are so cute! Thanks for the info. The doctor said his tibula slope was pretty low already which means the other knee is built the same and has a better chance. I sure hope that is the case. I might look into pet insurance anyways to be prepared. With two of them, it is hard to keep them from rough housing in the yard. I will keep them off the couch from now on though. They do have a ramp to get in/out of Tahoe - best money ever spent!

He is at a good weight now at 110, but I worry about 6 weeks of limited activity and he has already been pretty limited the 4-6 weeks prior when we were trying to figure out the problem. I was trying to cut his food back but he seems so hungry.

 

[seacrestkristi]

I bet baby sunscreen would be safe. Or just zinc. Does he like those chicken jerky treats? Probably the extra protein for healing wouldn't hurt as long as it was low-fat. Do ya'll prefer one chondroiton brand over another

 

[iwishiwasthere]

Lots of tummy rubs sent to Hugs!!! My sister's dog, a Bichon, tore his ACL. The surgery and healing went well. He was not a calm patient and did fine. I think dogs pay more attention to things than humans. Keep us updated.

 

[NewfieGirl]

He is resting quietly today He did really well on his morning walk. I have put them both on Osteo-3 for joint supplement but it doesn't have chondroitin in it. I feed them Eukanuba Large Breed but plan to switch them over to Eukanuba Joint Nutrition. It has chondroitin, I just hate taking them off a large breed formula since it helps control growth/weight but from what I can tell the protein/fat/fiber/etc. is similar and it has a lot of extras for joint nutrition and my vet wants him to get sme Fatty Acids as well which it has. He does like chicken jerky treats and duck jerky treats. Grayt idea to keep him occupied for a few minutes, add protein and it is lean. I'll keep you posted!

 

[Will B]

I have put them both on Osteo-3 for joint supplement but it doesn't have chondroitin in it. I feed them Eukanuba Large Breed but plan to switch them over to Eukanuba Joint Nutrition.

We use Synovi MSM granules and sprinkle it on their food. We can really tell when our Lab is not on it. There is a significant change when it gets in her system. I get it from Amazon...
Amazon.com: Synovi Synovi-MSM Granules (720 grams): Everything Else

Giant breeds are tricky beasts when it comes to weight. Ours have always been on Eukanuba Maintenance food to manage their weight. Works great...

 

[Cil]

Hang in there with the recovery, Newfiegirl. It is *so hard* to keep them quiet, but so important. Your furbabies are gorgeous.
I've had three English Mastiffs and never had to deal with that surgery, but have heard some horror stories. It really is important to keep the weight down.
I may ruin my back dealing with that ramp, but at least Elwood won't have any troubles.;-)
We feed Canidae; supposedly the chelated minerals are good.
Love your bullmastiffs, singinchicken. Here's my two English Mastiffs, but we lost our old girl Rosie (the fawn) last summer.