Cruciate Ligament Surgery.

[matt101 115]

Hello,

 

unfortunately my young bitch is booked in for cruciate ligament surgery in a few weeks time due to a partial cruciate ligament tear. The surgeon is planning on performing a TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) which basically renders the cruciate ligament redundant and stabilises the knee joint. He said that this is a very sucessful method and he would expect around 85% of normal function to return which sound good to me.

 

Just wondering if anyone else has had this surgery (or other cruciate surgery) carried out on their working lurcher and what the results were once the dog had recovered from surgery? how much did it effect the dogs ability to turn, jump, catch etc.

 

It will be six weeks of lead walking after the surgery and then a gradual build up of excerise after that.

 

Im hoping that after she has recovered i will be able to get her fitness back on track and hopefully get her ready for next season as this one is well out of the window.

 

thanks

matt

[socks 32,253]

Dam shame that matt I hope its a complete success and the young bitch is raring to go for next season .......

[slip lead 862]

Ligaments are very tricky things, to get fixed 100%, and need plenty of time and dedication.

 

Good luck

[matt101 115]

Cheers mate, he seems very confident in the results so fingers crossed ill have her out with me soon enough. Apparently the beauty of this surgery is that the ligament itself becomes completely useless as they change the angle of the knee by cutting the tibia and inserting a metal plate or something like that, which means the cruciate is not used and doesnt really need to be there, let alone get healed to a good level.

 

Would be good though to hear some real life experiences from people with working dogs which have had the same surgery.

 

Chatting to the vet has given me some hope though as i feared that she would be useless.

 

good website with video of tplo surgery if anyone is interested

 

http://www.fitzpatrickreferrals.co.uk/our-services/surgery/conditions/hind-limb/cranial-cruciate-ligament-injury

 

cheers

Edited December 2, 2014 by matt101

[the big chief 3,099]

not on any of my dogs but on my knee i was out months so not sure how long your dog will be out of action for but i hope it all goes well

[matt101 115]

yeah 6 weeks on the lead is going to be a pain but worth it if shes gets back to somewhere near normal.

[nothernlite 18,027]

Good luck mate my dog out the game they reckoned it was the same thing i wish my vet was as confident as yours mate going to another to get a second opinion good luck mate hope it works out for you

Edited December 2, 2014 by nothernlite

[oddser 79]

bad injury not many come back more than likely be a pet good luck

[bracken boy 584]

85% dosnt sound enough as the pressures of twisting and turning at high speed . But as in a human the physio and patience will be the key thing here, best of luck and keep us updated yeah.

[shaaark 10,133]

Matt101, I had a 5 month old pup with same injury last year and as northernlite and oddser have said, it's a badun. I saw 3 different vets and after x-rays etc they all said same thing, 4 - 6 weeks total kennel rest and only out garden on lead for toilet, and then the physio and gradual exercise etc, and then if everything went right he'd still probably not make an athlete ( their words) or working dog. Poor f***ker was going downhill mentally, not nice. And as bracken boy just said, there's a tremendous amount of pressure when twisting etc at speed on all the joints, ligaments etc. Anyway good luck, hope the result is as good as the vet is confident

[terryd 8,043]

Some shite luck going about for sure. But at least your vets diagnosis sounds precise which is reassuring. Hopefully a full recovery will be had. Also depends how hard you plan to work the dog in the future too I guess for me pottering around with the ferrets would suffice rather than hard nights lamping

[nothernlite 18,027]

My vet told me anything up to £3000 for the operation and it probally wouldn't work again but aye personally dont think that is the problem with mine because he can put a good bit of weight on it so need to get to a better vets are you insured ?

Edited December 3, 2014 by nothernlite

[paulsmithy83 567]

When ever a ligimant is surgically altered ive never seen a dog the same again . Did you explain shes a working dog. I bet that percentage he gave is for the normal dog not under any stress well real stress a running dog will endure. Admire you trying

[bird 9,594]

bad injury not many come back more than likely be a pet good luck

yeh, that how my bitch ended up a pet, she done it at 4 year old had op ,that's called a tie/over, the ligament pulled across the knee . it a quite common op for this injury , she never ran again she was lurcher x lurcher bred , was good in the lamp took rabbits,fox, and not bad on daytime hare. I kept her for 14 years till she died , the longest ive kept a lurcher, as most of my dogs never made old bones , they got hurt very bad in the field or killed . hope your dog makes it mate, but this injury a bad'un

[bunnys 1,228]

it hink whats been said his generally the outcome had this injurywith a hound ,neva the same , good luck what eva thy decision .atb bunnys.