Galupy
Well-Known Member
Oh dear. Willie blew out his left hind knee on a walk last night - not doing anything special other than enjoying a frolic in the woods. One trip to the doggy emergency room later, we are told he needs TPLO. It wasn't a shock - he did it to his right hind two years ago and they'd warned us that his legs were angled so badly that he would likely do his left one at some point. Plus when he went down on our walk crying (talk about tearing your heart out!) when I checked out his leg the joint was really loose - no tension there whatsoever so I already knew what was wrong before we got to the vet. He's feeling pretty miserable right now but they gave us some pain pills for him to take (he can't take NSAIDs because they caused him major stomach issues the last time) and he is mostly sleeping. As you can imagine though, it is really unstable and he can't use the leg at all. As he's not really using it though, he won't do any more damage to it and we are of course not letting him move about too much.
My question is this - the place we went to last night has offered to do the surgery quickly - this coming week. The place where he had it done before can't book him in for an appointment to see the surgeon until December 28th with surgery likely the next week or week after. This surgeon is the very best though and they gave him the best care possible last time. We were really impressed with them and trust them explicitly. The place from last night has a good enough reputation confirmed by our regular vet (who doesn't do this kind of surgery) when he called to check in with us this morning after getting the emergency room report. He said again though that the original surgeon is the best and he said that unprompted because he knew where we got the surgery done last time.
He will definitely need the surgery. We tried medical management to begin with last time and it wasn't as bad as it is this time so we're not going to bother trying at all this time. His legs are also bad enough conformation-wise that he isn't really a candidate for the one where they replace the ligament with a cord.
So what would you do? Go to a place that can do it quickly or wait a bit longer and go to the very best?
A gratuitous picture of the patient from pain-free times:
My question is this - the place we went to last night has offered to do the surgery quickly - this coming week. The place where he had it done before can't book him in for an appointment to see the surgeon until December 28th with surgery likely the next week or week after. This surgeon is the very best though and they gave him the best care possible last time. We were really impressed with them and trust them explicitly. The place from last night has a good enough reputation confirmed by our regular vet (who doesn't do this kind of surgery) when he called to check in with us this morning after getting the emergency room report. He said again though that the original surgeon is the best and he said that unprompted because he knew where we got the surgery done last time.
He will definitely need the surgery. We tried medical management to begin with last time and it wasn't as bad as it is this time so we're not going to bother trying at all this time. His legs are also bad enough conformation-wise that he isn't really a candidate for the one where they replace the ligament with a cord.
So what would you do? Go to a place that can do it quickly or wait a bit longer and go to the very best?
A gratuitous picture of the patient from pain-free times:
