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My Mom had that surgery done on both her beagles knees. She is perfect, her knees are like new. The dog had done the damage to one of her knees at a time over 5 years. She took her to Oradell Animal Hospital in Bergen County, NJ and they wanted 3,000 for the surgery. She ended up at another very nice referal vet who brings in an Ortho vet surgeon from Connecticut to do this surgery. He charged her 1,500. Half the price of the other place. And did a great job. Check around on the pricing of this surgery. Good luck!
Hey,
I was reading your post here, and since I am going through the same situation with my dog right now I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the place or the doctor that your mother used for her dog. I am in the midst of heavy research and trying to find something that I can afford at the same time, so any information can and will help a ton.
VikoMoshiko,
BLondie621 hasnt posted since mid-2012, would try emailing her privately. I must have missed the post you referred to bc I've been to the Oradell office w/ one of mine but it was for something totally different, it was also a long time ago and it was expensive then but it was a one-time visit, w/b curious also the name of the referral vet. Good luck connecting, hope you get a reply back w/ some answers. I believe there's an ortho vet in Caldwell but he was expensive. Cornell in NY might be good but I think they're on the high side too.
I haven't read all the post/too long sorry.So I hope I am not repeating what others have said.
My dog has had 2 ACL repairs , the local Vet wanted to refer me to some Otho Vet who did mostly TPLO.s.
Before I made my decision, I read all I could and came to the conclusion my dog was not going to be subjected to such an extreme procedure )cutting the top part of the leg off and then putting in a plate. Also I had read and I am sure you can find the stories too ,where after some length these plates become a problem and many dogs legs have become cancerous.
If you really go into it, the plates are supposed to be removed at a certain time to avoid the risk of Cancer but Vets don't mention this since it would be a turn off.
My dog had ACl repairs on both legs with the conventional method. I paid a Ortho Doc almost $3000 for just one leg. He certainly over charged me but at the same time my dog is almost 13 years old and he has great mobility,so it was worth it to me. So job well done.
I am sure others here might tell you,their success stories but for myself, I am happy I nixed the TPLO.I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Please read all you can, there is so much info on the web about it.
I haven't read all the post/too long sorry.So I hope I am not repeating what others have said.
My dog has had 2 ACL repairs , the local Vet wanted to refer me to some Otho Vet who did mostly TPLO.s.
Before I made my decision, I read all I could and came to the conclusion my dog was not going to be subjected to such an extreme procedure )cutting the top part of the leg off and then putting in a plate. Also I had read and I am sure you can find the stories too ,where after some length these plates become a problem and many dogs legs have become cancerous.
If you really go into it, the plates are supposed to be removed at a certain time to avoid the risk of Cancer but Vets don't mention this since it would be a turn off.
My dog had ACl repairs on both legs with the conventional method. I paid a Ortho Doc almost $3000 for just one leg. He certainly over charged me but at the same time my dog is almost 13 years old and he has great mobility,so it was worth it to me. So job well done.
I am sure others here might tell you,their success stories but for myself, I am happy I nixed the TPLO.I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Please read all you can, there is so much info on the web about it.
My bulldog mix just had her second TPLO done. She is almost 4 years old and I couldn't imagine condemning her to a life of leash walks and her crate. The TPLO surgery was fairly easy for her to recover from and I knew (less than one year later) when her 2nd knee blew. She was just being a dog running around having fun with her friends.... then she was on three legs for the following two weeks. I have had my dog on glucosamine and omega-3's since I rescued her at 8 months old. The TPLO is expensive $6,000 in California, but I have pet insurance and they pay 90% (Trupanion). There was a person who posted stating that they had a knee problem and are hobbling around so why can't their dog? Seriously? As humans we know when to take it easy, when to ice our knee or pop an advil. You're going to condemn your dog to a life of pain? I am grateful for the TPLO procedure and would tell anyone - don't hesitate. Go to the best orthopedic surgeon and just follow their advice. I don't believe that Vet's are just doing TPLO's to make money - mine are super busy - they make plenty. Plus, think about your last visit to a human hospital, have you ever read that itemized bill? $30 for an aspirin - please?! The TPLO for 6 grand is a deal, with human medical expenses as a comparison.
Years ago, I had a dog who came into the house from the back yard, not using one of his rear legs. Took him to the vet right away and an x ray showed the dog had broken the top of his thigh bone off, where it fits into the hip socket. The vet gave us a few options, we choose one where the vet took the thigh muscle and cut it, wrapped it around the top of the bone and made a "fake" joint with the muscle.
The muscle was atrophy and I spent many hours manipulating the leg and giving the dog lots of attention.
As time passed, the dog continued to not use that leg. The dog could run and get around fine on just three legs.
I thought the surgery was a failure.
Then my husband pointed out that when I was not around, the dog used all four legs just fine. He would pick that leg up when he saw me.
Has anyone out there chosen to remove the hardware for prevention of possible negative outcomes to the plates? I have seen and read the links between TPLO and osteosarcoma. It is not completely understood at this time, but there is a link either associated with the trauma or the body's response to the foreign material (plates and screws). I have a 6 yr old Boxer that is now 4 months post bilateral TPLO. She is finally acting like her old self again. I have her scheduled for hardware removal. I do not want there to be anything foreign in her body to cause osteosarcoma. I am so nervous about it- it was a long hard recovery. There is not a great deal of information out there about hardware removal- pain, time for recovery, etc. Can anyone out there give any advice? I would be so thankful....
We also went with the conservative treatment last year when this happened to our dog (slight tear in the ACL), and it worked for us!! Surgery isn't the only way!! Our dog was 10 years old at the time and we didn't want to put her through surgery. Luckily our vet gave us all of the options and didn't push the surgery down our throat..
Something you could consider is using a dog knee brace, we bought one from an online site called Ortocanis that our vet told us about to keep the knee stable while it was recovering.
I researched a lot of different knee braces online and some were crazy expensive with lots of mixed reviews.. this one was a good balance between price and quality and it seems to have really helped.
Last edited by maya10delmar; 04-20-2016 at 03:38 AM..
I had TPLO on my Big Lab who we just had to put down. He had it on both legs when he was 3 and 4, and we had no problems. The recovery the second time around was so much easier for some reason. We did not remove the plates. It seemed like a better option than the conventional ACL repair which could just get ruptured again.
He made it to 11 and we had to put him down when his back legs quit working and he couldn't get up. But the knees seemed good till then.
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