Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a 6 year old lab that has a slight tear in his knee (cruciate rupture) and the ortho surgeon has recommended TPLO surgery. Has anyone on this board had this done and if so, what was your experience?
It is a very serious, expensive procedure and I would be curious to hear real-life stories...not all the wonderfully successful stories posted on vet hospital sites. At almost $3000 a pop, it is obviously in their best interest to make it look as wonderful as possible.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,768,892 times
Reputation: 7185
I'm sure someone will berate me for this, but my dogs have about ZERO chance of enduring orthopedic surgery. I would consider it if the dog would have to be destroyed as an alternative to the surgery, but otherwise the dog will probably just have to get by on a banged up knee. It isn't asking too much, I've been doing it myself for a long time (getting by on banged up knees, I mean) and there is absolutely no guarantee that your dog will be better off with a repaired knee than a healed knee.
My advice would be to find a new vet with some G** D***** ETHICS!!
If he's a show/hunter, it's more reasonable to do the surgery. Is he in pain now? How much pain? Any alternatives? I've always ben cautious about surgery on any of my pets b/c how do you explain to them that they'll hurt much worse so they can get better?
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,768,892 times
Reputation: 7185
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah
If he's a show/hunter, it's more reasonable to do the surgery. Is he in pain now? How much pain? Any alternatives? I've always ben cautious about surgery on any of my pets b/c how do you explain to them that they'll hurt much worse so they can get better?
I actually agree that the dog's career and age are valid considerations.
Apologies for the rant, years ago I had a vet recommend thoracic exploration to ascertain the nature of an illness in an 11 year old golden retriever. I loved that dog more than anything but there was no way I could justify spending a couple grand to find out that she had stomach cancer and should be put down.
I took the dog to the vet because she couldn't stand, was vomiting blood and was obviously in terrible pain. It was time to put her down.
The smarmy vet felt that we should spend some money to find out what's wrong with her before we ended it. To me, that's blatant exploitation and it has made me EXTREMELY wary of any veterinary surgical recommendation. Don't expect a vet to be of such high moral fiber that he or she will not stoop to pocket lining.
After spending some time on line researching the surgery, TPLO surgery is definitely OUT for now. Not because I don't want to put the money into it (I have pet insurance which covers a considerable amount of the cost) but that from what I can tell so far, most dogs with a partial rupture (it is not a complete blow out) respond just as well to rest and supplements. One site stated that this surgery is overly recommended because of the huge financial gain by the surgeon (if a vet can do 1000 TPLO surgeries a year, their profit is about $2 MILLION!).
So for now Hunter is on "lock down" - NO playing/running/jumping, crated when I am not home, leash walks to go the bathroom only, etc...and LOT of supplements. We'll try it for 8 weeks and see how it works. There are a lot of success stories using Conservative Management so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
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!
Last Halloween 2007 my beloved 6 year old Samoyed had TPLO surgery. It started with a slight tear but eventually fully reputured. I researched as much info as I could on my options. The chances of the tear healing on its own were slim. I found out if I waited to long arthritis could be a concern.
Because of the added stress the dog will put on the other leg there is about a 50% chance it will occur on the other knee. All this was completely nerve racking and I think it was harder on me then her.
It was an extremely stressful time. There are so many horror stories out there about this that is just adds to the stress. At her weight of about 57 pounds we decided TPLO was the best solution. Hopefully since she is a Northern Breed and ruptured ACLs are not common the chances of rupturing the other knee were slim. We found a very experienced surgeon to do the surgery. I had to plan for her recovery, a very important part of the procedure. I had to take time of from work to stay with her. She recovered with flying colors.
She is in the process on now recovering from having TPLO on her other leg at the end of this past August. Thank GOD there was some healing time between the second rupture. She is doing great and walking better than ever. It was much easier the second time around. It was almost like she knew the routine and was a model patient.
I know for me and her quality of life this was the best decision. It was not cheap believe me with surgeon fees and hospital stay charges for both procedures. But for my baby money was the least of my worries. It was more finding a very qualified, experienced surgeon to do the procedure.
For something as invasive as this to go with a less qualified less experienced doc to save money was not worth it. This dog is the world to me and in the end her quality of life was the most important issue because I know what she and that Sammy smile contributes to mine.
Just my 2 Cents.
Good luck to everyone that encounters this with their dog.
Hey samoyed1 - Did you identify the slight tear and try any treatment before the complete rupture?
I joined the Conservative Management Yahoo group and they have a lot of success stories so I was just curious if you tried rest/supplements between the tear and the rupture or if you were able to even treat the tear before the rupture occurred.
Has anyone on this board had this done and if so, what was your experience?
I have a 3 year old boxer mix that had a TPLO 2 years ago. The surgery cost about $2700 at the time. The leg has been very successful until recently, as she has developed an infection (the vet says it is caused by a reaction to the metal plate in her leg from the TPLO) The only way to keep the infection from reoccurring is yet another surgery, this time to remove the metal plate, at a cost of $1200. I just thought you should be aware of our experience, and that there could be other costs besides what you are initially quoted. In our case, nothing post-surgery is covered by the clinic. Had I known this would even be a possiblilty, I might have chosen the ligament-replacement surgery instead of the TPLO (cheaper and less likely to cause problems due to less "foreign materials" inside the body.)
Just a thought...
I met with docs that did both ligament replacement and TPLO. What I found out is that the long term success rate of ligament replacement for dogs over 30 pounds is extremely low. An extremely high percentage of those dogs that have ligament replacement end up having to have a second surgery that being TPLO.
No matter what decision anyone makes in regard to either procedure or doing nothing there will always be the uncertainities associated with it.
Like I said Good Luck to anyone that experiences this with their dog since it is a very difficult situation.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
