Please please help am I right?

[kazzaroth]

I've booked Kiki (2yrs old) in to have a TPLO operation on 25th Sept. She's had a cruciate ligament prob for about 1yr and I've finally decided she need the op. after 12 months of deliberations BUT.........

OH is really 50:50 about it and I have to respect his opinion.

I also feel like this really as she's not really in any pain but limps and is very stiff every evening, often walking on 3 legs. All my research tells me that she's definately going to get arthritis in the knee which will stiffen and immobilise the joint eventually anyway! At the mo. she still runs like mad on walks and can easily catch rabbits etc, so it's no limiting her walks.

Now I've convinced myself that she needs the TPLO op. & have booked her in & I've talked to OH & re-researched it, I'm unsure again.

Please help I'm going mad. What should I do. I'm getting quite stressed about it now (12mths of worrying whats right & once I decide I regress yet again ).

What would you do? What should I do? Whats the right thing to do?

[Nettie]

A neighbour's staffie has had a TPLO and is completely recovered and walking and running, back to normal. Hope that helps.

[Lisa]

I think the whole fact is she is going to need in at somepoint in the future cruciate is a pain in the arse to heel or she could end up needing a bilateral. I would go ahead and get it done whilst she is young enough to cope and bounce back. Its just a case of watching her and resting.

[dominique]

If the cruciate has completely ruptured then there is no chance that it will repair it's self. It's true that quite often if there is a problem with one leg then then it will be repeated in the other. I assume that your specialist has talked through the procedure and the recovery period with you. I have been through this particular operation with one of my dogs and it was mostly successful, but he would still limp after exercise and ended up walking like John Wayne, but it did prolong his life. My advice to you would be to ask your vet to show you some of his previous patients and to see how they are now, and make sure that he is the best man for the job as it is an operation that requires skill.

Milothemonster has also had experience of this type of operation so it may be worth you asking her how she feels about it.

Good luck