Chicago Pup Needs Knees (Champaign, Northbrook: schools, college, camper)

[Tensne1]

My 3-y-o pup has partial ACL tears in both hind legs. In the last week or so, she's hopped on three legs more often than she's walked on four...

Can anyone recommend a conscientious surgeon whose success rate speaks for itself? I was hoping I could forego surgery for her -- stopped letting her chase frisbees more than a year ago, careful with her weight, massages, etc. -- but surgery is unavoidable at this point, I think.

Putting her down is not an option. Thanks for any input.

[Gemini1963]

This is a VERY roundabout way to find an answer but it might help: We are currently in Austin, TX and had a dog who needed the ACL surgery (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy, or TPLO) on both knees, about 3 years apart.

We had both surgeries done at this place:

Central Texas Veterinary Specialty Hospital

They were excellent. If all else fails, I would call them and try to get through to Dr. Kerpsack or Dr. Runk and ask them how to locate an excellent, experienced surgeon for the TPLO surgery in the Chicago area.

Good luck. It's expensive and it's a long recovery but it really does work. Here's a bit of info about the surgery:

Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy - TPLO A Good Choice

[Tensne1]

Hi there. This is the first bit of positive feedback I've encountered about TPLO since the procedure was first recommended for my dog in Las Vegas about two years ago. I met with several vets in Phoenix and one more in Las Vegas -- all gave either completely negative or somewhat mixed reviews of the TPLO. At the time, I opted instead for low-impact exercise + massage + hope...

About a year ago, a vet here in Chicago said the TPLO procedure was the brainchild of a large-animal vet somewhere in the plains states who marketed the surgery as the fix-all for ruptured/torn/damaged ACLs. He recommended avoiding it at all costs.

Super hard to know what's best. I'm going to dig in -- call some vet schools -- will follow up on your lead, too. Thank you very much!

[linicx]

The veterinary college at Univ of IL in Champaign should be able to answer you questions.

[Gemini1963]

Well, I don't know what to say about the TPLO, other than it seemed to work very well, twice, for our dog. Also, when the ACL actually goes, you basically have a 3-legged dog and no amount of massage and low-impact anything will help, so (I think) you will eventually need to choose some sort of surgery if/when your dog's ACL finally goes. Our dog was quite stoic and when the ACL snapped, he yelped unbelievably, and then would do so again whenever he forgot and put weight on that leg again.

I will say, the TPLO surgery SOUNDS so drastic that I am pretty positive I'd never have gone ahead with it, if it weren't obvious that we absolutely NEEDED to do something in order for our dog to walk again.

Preventatively, I can see how low-impact will help, for a while (though we were NOT doing non-low-impact stuff with ours). I am not sure how massage will help an ACL that is fraying but maybe it will.

I did forget to mention yesterday that you would not be able to have surgery on both knees at once, anyway. (Not that we, at least, could have afforded such a thing....) Although the dog is able to be up and about amazingly soon after TPLO, they need to be kept quiet and they do need to rely on their 3 good legs for (if I recall correctly) about 2 full months after the surgery.

Anyway - more info than you probably wanted. Good luck to you and your dog.

[Tensne1]

Originally Posted by linicx

The veterinary college at Univ of IL in Champaign should be able to answer you questions.

Thanks! I'll follow up on your suggestion.

[Tensne1]

Originally Posted by Gemini1963

Preventatively, I can see how low-impact will help, for a while (though we were NOT doing non-low-impact stuff with ours). I am not sure how massage will help an ACL that is fraying but maybe it will.

I did forget to mention yesterday that you would not be able to have surgery on both knees at once, anyway. (Not that we, at least, could have afforded such a thing....) Although the dog is able to be up and about amazingly soon after TPLO, they need to be kept quiet and they do need to rely on their 3 good legs for (if I recall correctly) about 2 full months after the surgery.

Anyway - more info than you probably wanted. Good luck to you and your dog.

Rather than have her cut into and risk greater problems, I took the holistic approach and tried low-impact exercise and massage -- info gleaned from web sites...

The vet we saw about a year ago here (Chicago) uses a specialist, Dr. Ionovitch, who discounts the cost of two surgeries by roughly $1K if the surgeries are done concurrently or back to back. She's just such an unhappy camper at the moment -- she was such a little athlete, too, for about three months in her later puppyhood. I'm really in a rush suddenly to get them done. I'll decide by Dec. 9. If the job/s is/are botched and she has to suffer through additional surgeries, she'll *eventually* be much better off.

[Tensne1]

I'm going to get answers from a dozen (? -- good number?) veterinary schools next week and go with whatever the prevailing opinion is. What else can be done? Nothing.

[chicagoRE]

My 2 springers have had this surgery one dog has had both knees repaired and the other has had one. Dr Scott Averill in Northbrook is amazing and is a board certified surgeon. He performed all 3 surgeries. They did cost between $2-$3 k for each procedure but worth it. Highly, highly recommend him!

[Tensne1]

Thank you for the recommendation. I'll follow up.

The dog with two surgeries -- different legs? If so, two separate surgeries or one? I'm trying to weigh what's best for recovery -- my dog is super active/busy.