My labrador ruptured her left hind leg cruciate ligament and yesterday had TPLO surgery.  Has anybody else's dog on the forum had this surgery done? How do you cope with the 8 week recuperation period and then the 8 weeks of rehab?  We have been told to keep her in her crate and not to exercise her apart from toileting on the lead.  The problem is that as we live in a flat she will not go to toilet on the balcony and wants to go to the gardens or outside.  I am frighted to walk her that far as it means going to the lift, walking through the car park, up a step and into the garden and I think it is too far and am afraid it will pop her stitches or some such.  What can I do to convince her to use the balcony?  We have already put turf down to make it more gardeny but it isn't working?
I would be so grateful to hear from anybody who has been through TPLO with their dog and how they deal with it and any advice would truly be welcome.
Many thanks

We had a dog that wouldnn't go on the patio. She was fully house trained so we just kept lettiing her out and if she didn't go she didn't go. Eventually she put it all behind her and a huge puddle was formed.
Key is to  be stronger willed than she is.
Donot give in and she will go.
Plus buy some biological washing powder so that you can rince the balcony down otherwise it really starts to smell. excpecially in this whether.
Be strong.

You could buy some puppy pads for her to pee on .... better I would imagine than having to carry her outside & then back in again - would think lifting etc would be more detrimental to her recovery.

Margot

Hi Goat

My Dobe had TPLO surgery 3 years ago, vet wanted him caged in the house -  I refused, he was not allowed upstairs for a few months - I blocked the stairs off and slept on the sitting room floor with him.

I kept him calm in the house by giving him painkillers for 40kg - he was 50kg (vet agreed this was ok as I would not cage him) also gave him arnica/ruta/rhus tox mix 200c - 2 tablets morning and night. 3 weeks later he was standing on his bad leg to P. I was then allowed to take him for a 5 minute walk once a day gradually building it up. It took him about 12 - 18 months to recover fully from this op.

I was lucky we had a garden for him to go in but he would not go in the garden - i just left it and he had to go eventually, I would say leave the turf down and the dog will go when it needs to, and will get into the habit of using the turf.

Speedy recovery to the pup

I just had an idea about the turf on the balcony. Could you try to get a piece under her with a trip out to the garden then bag it and bring it back upstairs to the balcony. The smell might encourage her (pleasant thought walking through the halls of the building with toilet turf ;-))

We had TPLO last november. Have a look on www.girruf.com - click on 'My animals' -> 'Mishka' -> 'Recovery Page' for detailed info on her recovery and pics.

Excercise must be kept to a minimum. Problem with TPLO is they effectively do away with the cruciate ligament altogether and the leg needs to build strength - not to mention the problems that can happen should the dog fall or slip with the pins etc.

The difficulty with TPLO is they think they recover much quicker as it doesnt hurt as much. We had to take Mishka of pain killers early as she was feeling fine and fed up of being confined. Just remember - its for their own good no matter how awful you feel.

I'm still doing hydro but for general fitness rather than recovery - we're lucky in that our kennels have a pool and only charge £12.50 to swim 2 dogs!