Hi all,

I have a 4 year old bull mastiff, at 1 year old he had tplo surgery on his left leg, exactly a year after this he had to have tplo on his right leg. Recovery is slow but all seemed great and more or less back to normal until last week. We were out for a walk and something spooked him and he turned very quickly. since then he is very lame on his rear left leg, I have reduced his exercise to just a few minutes on lead as I was hoping it was muscular but there is no change. Also been giving him metacam. I have a vets appointment for the end of the week but dreading the outcome because we were unable to insure his rear legs after all his problems and worried we will not be able to afford surgery again. Any thoughts or experiences of tplo would be appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear about your  boy, I don't have any experience with tplo but from what I have read it seems once dogs have had the surgery there is more chance of needing it again.  I am sure there are a few people on the forum who will be able to give you more advice and hopefully they will be along soon.

Keeping everything crossed for your boy for a positive outcome.

I had the pleasure 2 years ago, one of my mastiffs had a tplo.  She recovered as expected-but a year down the line a sercoma (looked like a large boil) appeared on her leg above the wound, it was decided to remove the tplo-(at the time I didnt realize this could be done). A screw was the problem!  Recovery was a shorter time, and cost approx half of what the tplo op was.  Sorry I cant give you any great suggestions only the experience I had with it.  Should add she is fine now, you would never no she had had it in and then out. lol

Hope you get on ok

my boys been fine since his but he's kept on light excersise. he's been great since going on glucosamine, have you tried it?

This is the same situation I had with one of my Chows.  As with your boy he had first had one leg go and a year or so later the second had to be done.  Everything was fine for 7 months after the 2nd op but then very suddenly he was unable to use the leg.  I think the naughty boy had jumped on the sofa when I popped out for an hour.

He was diagnosed with a meniscal tear which the specialist said was a complication that occurs in about 2% of dogs following TPLO surgery. It does require another operation but as Christine said the cost is about half that of the original surgery.

I really feel for you, it is so stressful (for you, the dogs cope so much better).

Sending healing thoughts
Mel

Thankyou for your experiences and well wishes, as suggested after the visit to the vet it sounds like meniscal injury so we will be going back to The Willows in the near future to see the incredible Malcolm McKee! He has seemed better over the last couple of days but still obviously not able to exercise. Will keep you all posted and thanks again. Can anyone tell me how effective hydrotherapy is for weight lose as conventional exercise is not appropriate at the moment?

Good luck with your boy whatever the outcome with the consultant.

Hydrotherapy is brilliant for exercising dogs with problem limbs and joints in fact some of the time it is the only exercise they can do without harming themselves.  As for weight loss, yes it can help but their food intake will also need to be reduced.