|
I have an 8-year-old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (giant breed) who's been diagnosed with the need for a cruciate ligament replacement. Last winter, my dog was reluctant for a few weeks to go up the stairs; a visit to a local vet diagnosed this as arthritis. After the few weeks and some glucosamine supplements (which probably didn't even have time to kick in, in retrospect), this reluctance disappeared. About a few weeks from the present time, however, she began to have slight trouble getting up on her hind end and a bit of occasional stumbling on one of her rear legs . She went to a specialty vet and got some X-rays, and the ultimate diagnosis was that there were some "joint mice" in one of her knees and that it would be best to remove the joint mice surgically, smooth down some surfaces, and replace her cruciate ligament (with synthetic material). (The vet says he performs this procedure frequently and has about a 2% complication rate.) Has anyone had any experiences with their own dogs with this type of surgery, and if so, what was the recovery period like? (I realize it's long.) How was your dog after the surgery, long-term? (Replacing a ligament just freaks me out a bit, though I know I can't let the situation go.) Also: Would delaying the surgery a week make a big difference in outcome? Cruciate surgery is, as you probably know if you're reading this, hugely expensive, and it's coming after a very costly April. I have two financing options, but the better one will take a bit longer to come through. (I asked the vet about how long what would be a cutoff for waiting, but he kind of wouldn't put a timeline on it.) Thank you for any help.
|
#
?
May 5, 2015 01:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 10:08 |
|
|
I've not had any experience with this, but good luck!
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2015 21:22
|
|
|
Honestly, doing a synthetic cruciate ligament to repair a cruciate injury is pretty advanced, even in the world of specialty veterinary surgery. I haven't had experiences with it as all the hospitals I've been at do TPLOs to fix cruciate ruptures. I doubt delaying the surgery for a week would really affect anything, but I can't tell you much about recovery because it's not a common method for repair.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 00:54
|
|
|
The surgeon who's doing it (the extracapsular technique) specializes in the procedure and has a strong history with it, so, thankfully, my dog will be in good surgical hands. To ask another question: does any one procedure offer a quicker recovery than another? They all seem to be listing the same recovery time, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks for the input and support offered.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 02:04
|
|
|
Just to clarify: making a synthetic cruciate ligament would be an intracapsular technique. An extracapsular technique would most likely be referring to a lateral suture, where they tie in a suture to kind of act like a cruciate until everything kinda fibroses over.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 02:27
|
|
|
Hmmm. I was doing some extra research into the procedure, and I've discovered several vets voicing the opinion that lateral sutures aren't optimal for larger breeds & active dogs; mine is both. Any experience with this?
Blenheim fucked around with this message at 03:54 on May 6, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 03:49
|
|
|
Honestly, the literature doesn't really seem to support TPLOs over lateral sutures for larger-breed dogs. Most of the studies don't find any significant difference between the two, although there is one study from JAVMA in 2013 that said owner satisfaction seemed to be better in dogs that had a TPLO. A lot of surgeons do tend to prefer TPLOs or TTAs for larger breed dogs, and using lateral sutures on smaller breed dogs.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 07:30
|
|
|
Braki posted:A lot of surgeons do tend to prefer TPLOs or TTAs for larger breed dogs, and using lateral sutures on smaller breed dogs. This has been my experience with the surgeons I've worked with as well.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2015 23:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 26, 2024 10:08 |
|
|
Just got to deal with this in January with my 7 y/o pitbull who basically tore her rear left ligament while playing in the yard with our other dog. The whole procedure clocked in around $2k when everything was said and done, and the thing that my vet didn't do a great job of communicating to me is that the operation won't even put the dog back at 100% capacity; the operation will simply allow the dog to use that leg ever again. Even after following all of the bed-rest and medicine instructions, my dog still gimps around probably a 40% of the time. She'll walk on all four legs if we go on a walk or she's really interested in something, but even 5 months later, she is super tender and protective of the leg that was operated on. It's a very hard choice to make with large breeds, because they don't tend to have a super long lifespan in the first place, and having an expensive and invasive operation towards the tail end of their life has its own risks associated. My wife and I had some hard conversations about the procedure before we bit the bullet and went thru with it, but ultimately no one else can make the decision for you. In the end for us, it came down to the fact that she is an older dog and a pitbull as well, so the chances of finding someone to adopt her out to were near zero, and any shelter we could have taken her to would likely have euthanized her after no one adopted her for whatever amount of time dogs are given. At this point we basically made our peace with the idea that we're just helping her to enjoy her golden years, but I really wish that decision didn't cost as much as it did.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 06:11
|
|
