Dog's Meniscus tear after TPLO

[1doghead1]

My dog has had TPLO surgery in both of her knees--in April of 2006 and Feb 2007. Last September, she went lame in one of her knees and the surgeon said it was most likely a meniscus tear. He said it would be find to give her rest and therapy (swimming in local streams and progressively longer walks with massage and not a lot of jumping) and see how that progressed. She had been doing great but you could still hear a click now and then.
This week (a year later) she went lame again after she had an active day at the park.

I'm wondering what the options are, why the meniscus wasn't taken care of during the initial tplo surgeries, and what to do with a depressed dog who knows she is in for more pain.

[jooliea]

We're having kind of a similar issue with our 65lb pup after a TTA surgery back in February. He recovered beautifully for the 8 weeks post op and we did everything that was recommended including PT in those weeks. Since then his recovery has been terrible and I've been so upset that we ever decided to do the surgery. He only had a partial ligament tear and could still use the leg, but would get a little sore after running. Now, 10 months after surgery he has gone through the cycle of getting better in very slow increments to the point that we let him outside off leash at which point it seems that running at all brings him to severe limping for several days/weeks afterwards. I think he may have a meniscal tear, but I'm hesitant to do anymore surgery because he had a meniscal release with the surgery that was supposed to reduce the risk of a tear (but I've since found out through research is quite bad for the dog in the long run.) Since your post was a couple of years ago, I'm wondering what route you ended up going with your dog and if it's been successful. I'm so hesitant to do anymore surgery after this first one because I feel like instead of improving his quality of life, we've severely downgraded it! Thanks!

[LL212]

Hi ne55,

Glad to hear your dog is doing well! What is the name of your veterinary office? I would love to contact them and hear more about this surgery.

Thanks!

[ne55]

hi

My dog had cruciate ligament surgery about 6wks ago but it wasnt TPLO our vet did  intracapsular or extrascapsular using dogs own tissue fascia lata and synthentic material also..She is doing really well now but it was so hard to see her go through this it can be pretty stressful for the dog but it was our only option and so far she is recovering well still limps abit but is on all fours ...she is happier now and is full of beans and hard to control ..running and jumping on furniture ...found her asleep on lounge this morning..really worried she will destroy all the work that has been done...
I spoke to my vet about concerns I had with her getting to active and possibly causing damage again ,,,he said with confidence that with the work he did on her knee it is perfectly stable now and will not fail . he did say some vets will cut corners and do sloppy work and that is the reason you hear alot of stories of dogs ccl surgeries failing and dogs going lame again...
Do the research and find a good surgeon also with tplo this should only be done by specialists not by your local vet...
Sorry to hear you and your dog have to go through this again it is such stressful and long recovery process as you know...and expensive...My husband had a week off work and I had 2 weeks off work to stay home and care for her..the first week was the hardest she had to be carried out to the grass area for potty etc..and even thought she was on painkillers you could see she was still in abit of pain and discomfort (heartbreaking)...
goodluck and take care I hope it works out for  the both you and your dogs
..
ne55

[ambulldogfamily]

OOPS-I didn't proof read, hope you can read through that comment OK.....(I'm tired)

[ambulldogfamily]

We are right there with you, having the SAMES questions.  We are actually w/ dog #2 (same problems)...for use it's a breed issue-American Bulldogs.  Our current dog has had 3 ACL surgery's and this last one in result in a lame leg after what we thought was a beautiful recovery.  She went lame 4 days ago and now we are hearing the popping/clicking sound.  We have been down this road with our older dog, resulting in a 3rd surgery for him (3 years later and he's PERFECT!).  However, we have over $3,000 invested into our current issue...we are at our financial breaking point, wondering when do we stop-do we do surgery?  Are there any suggestions and or thoughts out there?