Dog Surgery Advice

Hi – this is a bit random, but i found out that my dog, Daisy, needs surgery for a torn ACL. A few months ago I recall reading some posts that you made about Nancy, and I think she had surgery for the same thing. I was curious if you had any tips or advice? The vet recommended TTA surgery for Daisy. She’s a canoe dog like Nancy so we want her to be able to be active after recovery

Oh that sucks. Yeah, Nancy tore here cranial cruciate ligament, which is the ACL in humans. There was two surgical options, but I went with the tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) surgery.

It was pretty expensive but she was heavy enough for it to be the best option for getting her back to 100%.

It’s also a long recovery period, that we just finished. If you decide on the procedure, I’d start working out the plan to get it done as soon as you can because we had to wait a week or so just to get a spot for surgery.

But she’s doing great now, almost as if nothing was every wrong. They tell me that the trick was to make sure to do all the physio and work to get the muscles back to shape.

So I just reviewed my notes and apparently the TTA wasn’t offered to us because our surgeon felt it has fallen out of practice. I was suggested the tightrope surgery or the TPLO. The first is less expensive and depends on the dog and how bad things are as to whether or not it works. The TPLO also requires much more “compliance” – i.e. recovery exercises and physio plus limiting activity and all that.

Our surgeon was Dr. Kim Murphy, who apparently had an amazing reputation, which considering how well Nancy is doing, it appears warranted.

ok, interesting. the TTA was the only option that I got. I’m in Huntsville, so maybe it’s all that they offer? That’s a bit concerning though. Glad that nancy is doing so much better

Thanks for the advice

Daisy had her knee surgery this morning and they said it went well. Here’s to hoping her recovery goes as well as Nancy’s did. Thanks again for sharing your experience – it was super helpful to hear from someone who has been through this

🙂 That’s great to hear. I hope it all goes just as well for Daisy too!

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