Torn ACL *3/6/10 8wk Check Up*

[chocolatepuppy]

I'll keep Eli in my prayers that things go smoothly. It's so hard to leave them at the vets. My Lacey had surgery three times, I know, only two back legs Keeping them quiet is the hardest. For me, counting how many days down, how many to go helped.

[kokopup]

Seravieve I'm sorry I did not see your post asking about why TPLO was risky. I researched both tplo and the old tried and proven fishing line approach and the fishing line had the least risk. With TPLO they are cutting bone and pinning it back together. If there are complications to the pin splice the only thing to do for correction is amputation. I had the Vetarinary School at Auburn Univ. do Koko's since they train the Vet's that do the Surgeries. One of my best friends is a Equine vet and he advised me to go with the old procedure since it was successful for years before TPLO and TTA came along.

I had the same feedback from my local Vet and the traveling ortho Vet advising TPLO saying the fishing line would not work. My friend who had been involved with the outcomes of both procedures adviced me to go with the old tried and proven. There is no reason why it will not work. Is there a Vet school near you. If so you might give them a call. I had to drive 70 mile and leave Koko overnight but it was well worth the distance.

It has been three years since her surguries and she runs like a dear. She had both kNEES DONE
6 WEEKS APART.

[chocolatepuppy]

koko, I don't like the TPLO either. Too scary for me. My local vet actually did the surgeries. I called it rubberband, but am sure it was fishline, like you're saying.

[kokopup]

You ask a surgeon advice on what to do and they will always advice the more
involved surgery. They don''t have to live with the outcome if things go wrong.
It just puts more money in their pocket if things do go wrong. With TPLO
they cut through the bone above and below the knee and then put it back
together with pins. I did not like the Risk that gave no better outcome.

[chocolatepuppy]

You ask a surgeon advice on what to do and they will always advice the more
involved surgery. They don''t have to live with the outcome if things go wrong.
It just puts more money in their pocket if things do go wrong. With TPLO
they cut through the bone above and below the knee and then put it back
together with pins. I did not like the Risk that gave no better outcome.

I was thinking that same thing.

[Seravieve]

We went and picked up our Eli at ~1 this afternoon. He did very well through the whole ordeal. We got to see the after Xrays and it looks like Dr V did a great job with the bone cut! When he realigned the bone before attaching the plate, the bone is actually touching along the whole cut, so it should fuse well.

He is confined to the living room now, resting comfortably in his soft LIME GREEN cast on his favorite doggie bed... Although he'd rather be following us around of course. This will be a LONG 8 weeks of confinement.. sleeping on the couch and all.

Once he has recovered from the surgery, we will be looking into his abnormal EKG and determine if he does have cardiomyopathy. He had several irregular heartbeats during the surgery, not back to back - just intermittent, so Dr V wants to use some monitor thing on him and record his heartbeat for a few days.

[chocolatepuppy]

I'll bet it's good to have Eli home. Good luck with the confinement.

[kokopup]

I''m glad that Eli's surgery went well. I have a hard time believing that the Vet can make a diagnosis of Cardiomyopathy, just from irregular heart beat. That can be caused by many things other than Cardiomyopathy. Surely you would have seen other symptoms before surgery that would have red flagged a serious problem. I'm hoping your vet is wrong and Eli was just reaction to anesthesia.