My DOG is getting some suspension work done

[efhughes3]

My big 'ol 109lb ball of love blew out his RH knee. Apparently, this is pretty common, especially in large breed dogs. At the knees, the joints are slanted, which puts a lot of tension on the ligaments. So, they tear. The fix is to saw the top of the tibia, rotate it to make the joint more parallel to the ground, and then a titanium plate and screws to tie the bone together. Hey, dogs can benefit from lowering unsprung weight too! THe bummer is, 25% of dogs that get this injury get it in the other leg also. This is called a TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy).

At any rate, this was found after $500 of X-rays done under anesthesia, and the surgery will come in at $2600. When the Dr. said we could call him back and let me know what we decide, my response was: How soon can you do it? So, Wednesday, I take my buddy in for his operation, and he'll need to stay over night, so I'm sure it will be a long one for me. Wish him luck.

Here's a link to more info on this.

http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/tplo.htm

[ZLP]

Hell, "while your in there" you might as well put in some poly bronze bushings!

[john walker's workshop]

i just had that done to my 110# chocolate lab. they said his other side was bad too, and offered a reduced rate if both were done at the same time. we chose to do just the real bad one for now and do the other next spring. it was a good decision, because it would have been very hard to get him in and out of the house to do his thing three times a day, and the wife would have had to quit her job to stay home and take care of him. the surgery went well and he's healed up fine now. just had the last checkup xray yesterday. now i can take down the long ramp i built over the porch steps so he wouldn't have to use stairs. ours was about $3200. looking forward to the next time, yeah.

[efhughes3]

Thanks for the good news/bad news John. They're pretty sure that he'll have problems with the other one, but at least it's only one for now. I'm getting more confident about his recovery prospects by the minute. Now, if I can get my wife settled down. She broke down when we were setting it up with the vet yesterday. Good luck to your dog on the next one.

[john walker's workshop]

he was holding the RR leg up a lot, so that was the clue. even though they said the other one was torn, he hasn't shown any sign of injury yet. just had cat #3, a stray the wife found outside, neuterized, shots and disease checked for $270 today. crikey!

[stomachmonkey]

GET PET INSURANCE NOW! My Mastiff blew one knee and we had a TPLO done and got an insurance policy right afterwards.

Sure enough a year to the day that she blew the first knee the second one went. We paid a $500 deductable and insurance picked up the rest.

On the second knee they did the procedure slightly differently, they used an orthoscope to go in and do some initial clean up which meant the TPLO was less invasive. Did not make sense to me based on what a TPLO is but it did result in a signifcantly smaller incision the second time around.

Dakota is 9 yrs old now, she had the first done at 5 and the second at 6 and you'd never know the difference. It has not impaired her one bit.

It's a great procedure from my personal experience. Saved my dogs life twice. The other options to TPLO's do not work for dogs her size and we would have had to put her down.

Good luck. Tell your wife it'll be fine.

Scott

[Rick V]

I hope all goes well for your 4legged family member. My wife's boss had to have that done to his dog when she was 11 and all turned out well.
Have you concidered installing some Bilstiens while you are there?

[efhughes3]

This is all encouraging-thanks!

[Ronbo]

Our first Great Dane had this, and yes, both eventually needed to be done. The good news is that they seem to recover fairly quickly, but be careful that you restrict his movements at first. Good luck!

[lendaddy]

That looks just like my dog, Sammi Bones Hope all goes well.

[efhughes3]

Originally posted by lendaddy
That looks just like my dog, Sammi Bones Hope all goes well.

No kidding-bookends!

[lendaddy]

A couple more with better clarity

[Don Plumley]

Looks like black version what we call a Chippy-dog:



Is Sammy a Black Lab/Pit-Terrier Mix? Ours is the best dog ever.

Good luck with the surgery - and add my vote for Pet Insurance.

Don

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
Looks like black version what we call a Chippy-dog:


Is Sammy a Black Lab/Pit-Terrier Mix? Ours is the best dog ever.

Good luck with the surgery - and add my vote for Pet Insurance.

Don

My vet said "American Bull" whatever that means. She was stray and she is the best.

Sammi says get well soon

[Par911]

Hide the women and lock the kids up , Len it looks like you you have a American Pitbull Terrier or Staffordshire Terrier, it might be a mix. But it looks like a bully breed. Nice looking dog BTW!

[Par911]

Glad to hear that your dogs are doing well Ed and John, I also recently got pet insurance. You can't put a price on family IMO.

[Tim Hancock]

My wife and I grew up in farming communities, so forgive me for what I am about to say.

I do not think I could spend $3000 + to have my dog fixed ($300 maybe, but my wife would probably fight me on spending that much). But hey, it is not my money and putting down a good family dog is an awful thing to go thru (BTDT a couple times it sucks pulling the trigger).

Good luck you and I hope this surgery is all that is needed.

[MikeWinDC]

I had this done to my 100lb lab... worked like a charm. No complaints, no issues, just a $3K vet bill. 3 months and he was running around like nothing happened.

[Rikao4]

You guy's/ladies are awesome..
I know it's $$ , ditto on the insurance..
but Pari wrapped it up..they are family. Been there and spent that...
they've been there for me and the end of a sh***y day, and I am there for them when they need help or care.
Rika

[efhughes3]

Yep, you coulda added another Zero to the $ total, and we would have done it. Besides, I've got no kids to spend any money on, and only one Porsche to dump money into.