Orthopedic problem- knee injury

[mamabear]

Please let us know how it goes.

OMG what a purty pooch!!!

[momPaws]

That is a beautiful dog. Wanda, I lived in Pittsburgh years ago..how far are you from there? (And my husband was from Somerset.)

[StarfishSaving]

That is a beautiful dog. Wanda, I lived in Pittsburgh years ago..how far are you from there? (And my husband was from Somerset.)

I'm not Wanda but I think you're talking to me, mompaws? ;D

I live near Indiana, PA, about an hour to an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh, about the same distance from Somerset. My vet is in Ebensburg, your husband might be familiar with that...

Sally update: no news from the vet yet. He hasn't called. I'll call back Thursday if I don't hear from him again.

[momPaws]

I don't know where I got Wanda from...I was wondering as it says Crystal on your website..sorry for the mix-up. Hope all goes well with Sally...she looks like a love puppy.

[StarfishSaving]

LOL it's okay. I don't mind!

AND new update- my vet is faxing the referral tomorrow to the clinic with the board certified ortho surgeon in Pittsburgh. They actually have three orthopedic specialists, all are certified by the company who developed TPLO as qualified, trained surgeons, and one is board certified so I feel very good about this decision. And my vet was actually really sweet and amenable to the whole thing which made me feel better. :p

Sally and I took a short off leash walk yesterday for the first time in months because I've been over protective of her leg. She really did well about not running and was just happy to walk through the fields again. She's been in such a good mood ever since! Today she was playing with a ball in the house like a puppy, which she never does. It was so great seeing her have so much fun without hurting herself. I really hope we can straighten this out for her!

[davet]

back briefly...did not inject something into AMs dogs knees to make it a solid mass....I injected Na. Morhuate into the fibrouse tissue round the knees to tighten up the cartilage so the joint wouuld not be so loose....works pretty well on all but huge dogs....should have injected it into AM's talking muscles at the same time

[StarfishSaving]

Update:

Sally is recovering from TPLO surgery right now. It took forever to get the referral faxed down, but making the appointment was a breeze. Both her legs have tears, the right leg is a partial and likely caused recently due to the stress she's put on it from compensating for the left leg. We'll have the surgery done for that leg later.

Dr. Payne at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialists is a board accredited ortho surgeon, who has done over 3000 of these surgeries- usually at least 4 a day, I was told. Recovery is long but she's doing really well with the post-op PT and confinement and I think that trend will continue as long as we make some compromises for her (like no e-collar unless I absolutely have to leave her unattended, etc)

We're using the set up we made for Sammy when he was restricted after his disc/back problem. She's comfortable for now. Meds, a small meal and PT every 8 to 12 hours for the first 2 weeks, then just restricted activity for 2 wks, then we can start walking her around a bit more and after week 8 we start rehab.

[Amandasmom]

Great to hear she is doing well. I always found the recovery to be the hardest part on me. I'm sure my dogs just weren't as stressed. My bernese mountain dog now has a partial tear. She only has a slight limp, currently I'm trying to get her to lose weight. I can see her waste now. I'm hoping the weight lose will be enough. She has bad hips so surgery may end up destroying her hips... those darn puppy mills. Oh and she also has a bad elbow.... I would like to shoot the puppy millers.

I knew if I rescued a dog from a puppy mill that she would have problems, I was just hoping that I would get lucky. Right now she is outside laying in the snow just as happy as a dog can be.