This is just a quick blog to document the post-surgery recovery experiences of our pet Labrador (Basil).
He is 6 years and 4 months old right now and weighs around 40Kg – and ruptured one of the cruciate ligaments in his right hind leg on Fathers Day.
We’ve initially gone for a traditional (CCL Lateral Suture) rather than TPLO, TTA or Tightrope.
I’m sure there will be highs and lows, tips and experience, products and methods that work and don’t work etc that could hopefully be useful to any other dog owners going through this long and arduous experience.
So here goes…
Hello! I stumbled upon your blog while researching options for my own dog’s CCL tear. She is a lab mix, but much older than your dog was at the time of his surgeries (she’s 13) and I’m leaning toward the lateral suture method rather than the TPLO. She isn’t very active any longer and mostly just enjoys walks to the park and back. I was curious however how well your dog recovered from his second surgery. Did the TPLO have a longer recovery time than the lateral suture surgery? The reason I am considering the more conservative approach is due to her age. I want the quickest recovery time possible so that she can get back to walking again which she enjoys so much. Also, my dog is having terrible side effects from the NSAIDs (she is on metacam) and was curious if your dog experienced similar problems with nausea/vomiting while on these drugs. Anyway, thanks so much for the detailed posts on the recovery process! I hope your baby is running and playing again now, pain-free!
-Jessica
Hi Jessica, sorry to hear about your companion’s leg. I hope she is on the mend very soon.
So we went with the vet’s initial recommendation of a lateral suture as it is less invasive – so less traumatic and distressing for an older dog. Unfortunately Basil stretched the mono-filament sutures before it had any effect so we had to go the TPLO route.
But we hear that many even larger dogs (maybe of a less bouncy disposition… mind you) have had success with Lateral Suture so maybe we were just unlucky.
I think the recovery time was about the same for us – but we need to balance that with the fact that he hadn’t really healed from the original surgery – and muscle wastage was more extreme etc – all in all my guess would be that they would be similar in recovery time.
Metacam – Awgh that’s awful – no we were lucky with Basil as he had no side-effects to the NSAIDS – and he was on those for a couple or three weeks.
The only drug he’s on now is Seraquin (Controitin etc) and while we tend to discourage jumping, tug or catch – he’s happily trotting, walking and stair climbing etc.
I’m glad that you found this useful – it impacted our lives so massively for something I’d never heard of that I thought it may help to know that others have been through and come out the other side.
Best Wishes
Darren