Lab Needs knee Surgery

[panhead]

Anyone have to have there dogs hind knee surgically repaired? Just wondering if the results were good and that the dog was able to put weight on it again.My 9 yr old came up lame recently. the vet took xrays and is sure from the xrays that he has ligament damage.They did blood work for the planned surgery at a different vet as vet here in chetek doesnt perform that surgery, and found a high creatine level which indicates that his kidneys not functioning 100%. He had tested positive for lyme disease last fall, but was told by the vet that his system seemed to be fighting the lyme disease. Hes on high dose of amoxicillin now and in 2weeks and then again 2 weeks after that will get his blood retested. If blood counts stay the same, as its only slightly above the normal range, they would then operate. Looking for any info on the rehab. been told its 3 or more months. Thanks

[herm]

Ken, I feel for you. My lab is 4 and has had the TPLO surgery on both knees. My short answer: The surgery is expensive and recovery is intense. That said, my pup will never be the same hunter she was prior to them. (But we're gonna do our best, have fun together and make sure she's not suffering.)

Overall, if my dog had to have it at age 9, I probably would skip it. (If you do have surgery, do research before picking a vet/surgeon.) You can PM me for more details if desired. Also, search this forum, as there have been multiple threads on this the past few years.

Good luck to you and your dog.

[bottomdweller]

Hi

I am going through my second tta with my dog. Both knees, she is seven and yes its expensive. The tta is less recoup time then the tplo. Both are great, but I like the tta for the less invasive surgery.

Had it done in inver grove heights in the cities with Dr. Levine

Awesome job. Sassy is an agility dog and is seven pts from her masters title. She tore her first one over two years ago. Her knee is better than it ever was. We will be back at agility in a couple months.

Before surgery I would go to a well known vet. The xrays alone do not mean a tear. Could any of her problems be the result of the lymes?

Maybe even a partial tear

Good luck with you pal

ps I know at westgate ve hospital in eau claire they have a guy from the cities that comes up and will do surgery, well known guy, but only performs the tplo. I am from the bloomer area. If you want to see resutls, give me a shout, sassy is five weeks out and you could see how well she is doing. we are at thirty minute walks right now and will be doing some swimming in a week.

[mainbutter]

Wow, story sounds too familiar.

Our half black lab mutt tore something in his knee while slipping on ice, surgery to repair it cost about 3 grand.

That was two and a half years ago, and we are extremely happy with the results. Recovery was the hardest part, but the dog is still young and fully capable. I'd say he has recovered to 90% his original ability in his left knee, which doesn't impact any of our recreation at all. We don't run him hard, but we do a bit of doggy agility course work.

A year and a half ago (if I have my timeline correct) he was treated for lyme's.

This past January, our dog was diagnosed with Addison's disease, his kidneys do not produce steroids correctly. Addison's is not easy to diagnose, isn't cheap to treat, but is very treatable with steroid supplements (daily pills and once every 3 week shots). We almost lost our dog and are glad that our vet's suspicions of Addison's were able to be confirmed.

[panhead]

Thanks for your replies. The vet that would do the surgery is from the cities.I found a person in the chetek area that used the same traveling surgical vet and the results were very good. A follow up blood test showed lower creatine levels. The vet I am seeing for pre-surgical work believes that the drug Previcox 227mg. which had been prescribed by the vet I see in chetek might have been the cause of the elevated creatine levels. She took Jake off the drug as soon as she found out he was on it. I wrote that to give all a heads up on the possible problems caused by that drug? Jake will have another blood test on 6/4 and if results are good, surgery to follow as soon as possible. I moved to the chetek area last year, am retired so I will have the time to help jake recover. I believe the most difficult part of the recovery will be keeping my 2 dogs from interacting, have a 3 yr. old lab also. Actually I would guess their rough-housing is how the injury occurred.I am not a hunter so Jake doesnt need to even get back to where he was physically. If he is able to take walks,play fetch and not have the pain he obviously has now the surgery will have been a success. Again thanks to all.

[bottomdweller]

Ken,

good luck to your pal. What I do to keep my dogs separated, I just put up a baby gate in the laundry room so sassy is separated and doesnt have a lot of room to roam.

I think you will be happy with the outcome.

[jeff127]

I have a 3.5 year old chessie that had one knee done at just before 2 years old ($2600)and she truly is back to 100%. I did the rehab exactly as was recommended and am extremely happy with the results.

[anyfishwilldo]

I just had my french brittanys back knee repaired. The vet in litchfield did the job. Something went wrong and a wire broke and two weeks after surgery he did it again, free of charge. The second surgery was 3 weeks ago and she is doing great. The main problem I had was keeping a 5 month Britt from jumping and running. Dr Dan gave her a seditive to help.