Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy


One of the hardest things for me to have to deal with is watching someone I love go through a very painful ordeal. About a month ago my pup tore her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) while playing with a neighborhood dog. Today we dropped her off for knee surgery.

We have opted for the Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy - TPLO is a procedure where when they go in and change the knee joint to not need the ACL. http://vetsurgerycentral.com/tplo.htm

In traditional surgeries they repair the ACL and hope that it holds. With younger dogs they often re-injure their leg later on in life. The ACL will never regenerate on its own and traditional surgery helps to create scar tissue that holds the knee together.

We are hoping that with her new knee she will be just as active as she was before. It take 6 to 8 weeks for recovery and for the bone to heal.


So for today there is an empty space on the couch, waiting for its owner to return.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

She does look sad. She will be fine when she heals. And I will help her.