Gun Dog Forum

I have a 1 1/2 year old GSP that was just diagnosed with a torn ACL. She slipped on wet pavement about a month ago and came up lame. Limped on her hind leg for a month and took her in for an exam when they diagnosed her. The vet gave 2 options. An extracapsular procedure or TPLO surgery. He recommended the TPLO surgery based on the age of the dog and the success of it. Iam seeing a specialist Thursday to talk about this. I know the TPLO surgery is more expensive but if it gives her the best chance to hunt normally again I want to do it. Iam wondering if there is anyone else out there that has a dog that underwent either procedure and how effective it was. Any info would be helpful. thanks

My 6 year old had TPLO surgery this fall.

She's almost as good as new now - see avatar.

Will limp for a couple hours after a hard run. I give her some Meta cam for the pain.

Rehab takes a long time ( 4 months?) and is boring.
Step 1 . " Walk the dog for 5 minutes a day for 2 weeks."

I'll send you some notes I have.

Cost: $3800. doing my own rehab.

Went through it not once but almost a year to the date my Gsp had to do other knee. We did the tta procedure on the first knee and tightrope on second. Both good fixes but would likely spend the extra $ and do tta over tightrope. She still runs and hunts but will have arthritis issues down the road, and has slowed down quite a bit. Rehab is slow tedious and hard on the dog. I did my own rehab each time and did ok. Good luck and just hope the second knee holds in there.

Have done both. TPLO for sure. Do a search for torn CCLs. Lots of info.

I also done both knees with my Griff. Its a long road to recovery but worth it in the end. Both knees were done using TPLO. It does cost more but I hear for more active dogs its worth it. Also read up on recovery . I did my own and everything worked out. Read, read and read..... good luck and let me knwo fi you have any questions.

Tightrope. Best in my opinion. Very quick recovery. Had my pointing labs done at mizzou vet school by the inventor of procedure. Very good. Was only $2000. She is back to hunting now with only a slight difference from her younger years.

we did a tplo and wouldn't consider anything other than that or the TTA - once the bones heal @ 8 wks its nearly impossible to destroy the knee
Other surgeries have a longer rehab/restricted period and can and do fail at any point after surgery - that is not to say that there aren't successful traditional and tightrope surgeries
FWIW I only paid about $2200 for the TPLO so $2k for the tightrope sounds high but each area varies

I'd say go with the vet's recommendation. I too, went to the vet school, they recommended for an active dog - that I do the TPLO instead of the tightrope. It was about $300-500 more expensive.

I have experience with both. The TPLO was done to correct the extracapsular that didn't work. If you want your dog to be able to run again, the TPLO is a must. Because it has been a month, arthritis is going to be inevitable. Also, I caution you to be very diligent with your rehab. Many dogs learn to compensate quickly and end up damaging the other leg. Mine did. One extracapsular and two TPLO's later, she could run again. Never quite as well as before though. Sorry to hear, and good luck.

I ended up doing the TPLO surgery. It is 9 weeks post op and she seems to be doing well. I have progressed through rehab to where Iam letting her off leash and she is running in the back yard. The next step is to start throwing her bumpers and making her run. Doesnt seem to have any favoring although sometimes when she squats to go to the bathroom she will hold up the bad leg??? I also am doing hydrotherapy once a week. The surgeon said that really speeds recovery. I can tell I will always be very nervous taking her running. Thanks for all the info.