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  1. #1
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    Blacklabs, about Toby

    Did Toby have his TPLO surgery? If so, how is he doing?

  2. #2
    Real Retriever blacklabs's Avatar
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    Thanks for asking but no he didn't as I rescheduled it as I was concerned about some itchiness he still has on left side, which is the same side of his ruptured CCL so he uses that leg to scratch himself and I needed to give him another week for the itchiness to abate. He has been on an elimination diet for a few months to find the food/combos that work best for his allergies and since the diagnosis of his ruptured CCL, I have put him back on the Hills prescription Z/D with Kangaroo meat which so far seems to work the best for him in dramatically reducing his skin irritations and level of itchiness.

    However just to exacerbate things, we have been having some awful humidity for months on end which is highly unusual as whilst we normally get some humid days in our warmer months, this spring and summer has been the worst ever for constant high levels of humidity (80-95%) day in day out for the last couple of months and it is not helping his allergies. He had chronic ear infections, which after months of treatment under the care of the veterinary dermatologist specialist, thankfully these ear infections have now cleared up but for these warmer months he needs regular ongoing maintenance (every 2nd day) of a special ear solution the dermatologist mixes up for him to help keep these infections at bay. This is really important as after the TPLO surgery he will have a cone on and would not be able to scratch his ears if they were itchy, so thankfully this will no longer be a concern, but I will be monitoring his ears very carefully anyway as I apply the solution every 2nd day. I have brought a soft cone/collar for him to wear after the surgery that I can fold back the collar to get to his ears and hopefully this cone should be less stressful for him than a plastic cone. Will see how he goes with the soft cone as I have heard some dogs have been able to manipulate these soft collars and get at their stitches, but I will be home with him apart from running quick errands and taking my other Lab boy out for walks etc, so will have the plastic cone as a backup if needed.

    Anyway I rescheduled the surgery to this Tuesday (27th) but still concerned about his itchiness so rang the orthopaedic surgeon on Friday about my concerns and was assured that the operated leg will be strong enough for him to use to scratch himself and the scratching action will not do any damage to the leg, so will be proceeding with the surgery on Tuesday. The level of itchiness under normal circumstances is minor, but I was concerned that having to deal with the TPLO recovery in itself would be enough for him to deal with without having issues of itchiness that he may not be able to scratch or may be able to scratch, but possibly cause issues with his operated leg .

    This poor boy has had a rough trot and when I adopted him in April last year, he came to me with bad allergies and anxiety issues from being bounced around a few homes after his family separated and didn't want him or their other dog and just as we were turning a corner on both the allergies and anxiety issues, he ruptures his CCL .

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    Dallas dawg (01-25-2015)

  4. #3
    Senior Dog Halcyon's Avatar
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    Oh, poor Toby! Humidity has been unusually high over here too (40-60%). We're more used to dry, hot summers. Sending good thoughts.
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  6. #4
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Poor Toby! He has had a rough time. Sending mojo that the itchies will abate so he can get his needed surgery.

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  8. #5
    Senior Dog MikeLynn's Avatar
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    Toby seems to have been through a lot, poor guy Fingers crossed for the itchiness to go away soon, and sending good thoughts for a successful surgery. M&M
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  10. #6
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    That's the worst. Having an itch that you can't scratch. Let us know how it goes please.

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  12. #7
    Real Retriever blacklabs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dallas dawg View Post
    That's the worst. Having an itch that you can't scratch. Let us know how it goes please.
    Yeah that is what I am worried about, but less so once surgeon assured that his operated leg will be strong enough to use for scratching, but with cone on I am sure there may be other itchy areas he wont be able to get to. As I will be home with him I can monitor him and remove cone and see how he goes with licking/not licking his stitches and if cone needs to stay on, then I will will give him frequent, brisk body rub downs to help alleviate any itching.

    I will give updates on how things go. I am no longer concerned about the actual surgery as he is in the best hands possible with David Lidbetter, who is a specialist neuro-orthopaedic surgeon who will be doing his TPLO as he is very highly qualified (triple qualified across 3 continents) and vastly experienced and performs the most TPLO's in the southern hemisphere and owners from all over Australia bring their dogs and cats to Sydney for a consult/surgery with him. I am very fortunate that his purpose built Orthopaedic Specialist Centre is only 15mins away from where I live so I don't have the added stress of long distance travel.

    My concern is with the recovery phase and whilst I discussed at length the recovery process with David at the consult and obtained a copy of his TPLO Recovery Exercise Plan and a sample discharge instruction letter, so I know what the recovery process entails and what is required and how important it is to follow the recovery protocol to ensure the best possible outcome for my boy, I just hope and pray that the recovery process goes as planned. I have done research on the TPLO recovery process and read various owners experiences with their dogs recoveries both good and bad so I am aware of some of the potential pitfalls and issues and I have prepared the house, his crate etc and am lucky I don't have to deal with stairs as my house is single level and I have a backyard easily accessible for onleash toileting/outside time etc, but still worried about how we will cope as I am sure, like the many owners who have been through this before.

    Anyway will post updates on hopefully, a smooth recovery process and I appreciate you asking after him

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  14. #8
    Real Retriever blacklabs's Avatar
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    Toby had his TPLO surgery yesterday and surgeon called me around 1:30pm to advise the surgery went very well and unfortunately he did have a meniscal tear (this happends to 40-60% of dogs with a torn/ruptured CCL) so he had to do a meniscectomy to remove the torn meniscus.

    I picked up Toby this morning and met with surgeon first to discuss the discharge instructions and go through all the important stuff. He advised that with the meniscectomy, the recovery will be a bit slower, but he expects Toby to have an excellent long term outcome and he was already doing very well.

    When they brought him out he was already putting some weight on his repaired leg and they helped me get him in the car and unfortunately very wet as much needed rain started bucketing down a couple of days ago and was very wet when I took him in on Tuesday morning. I was concerned about the rain when I picked him up and trying to toilet him in the rain and keep his bandage dry. Within approx an hour of coming home after getting him settled in the crate and letting him have a rest and time to recover, I put a large plastic bag around on his foot and leg and took him outside to toilet and poor bugger did a very long pee, so probably hadn't peed since I dropped him there yesterday morning.

    He loves the crate, it is actually Tana's crate, but Toby essentially claimed it as his from his first day home and I have always left the crate door open, so they can come and go as they please and Toby often snoozes away in there and Tana ducks in the odd time it is free. For Toby's recovery, I brought some vetbed to put both underneath the Snooza futon (a padded mat) that is in the crate to stop it sliding around on the plastic tray as the vetbed is rubber backed and then I placed another vetbed on top of the Snooza futon to make him extra comfortable and the rain has cooled things down a lot, so the vetbed gives him extra warmth.

    Took him out about an hour later for another pee and a drink and he settled down for a snooze for a couple of hours. When he woke up, took him out to toilet again for another pee, then he dozed off for another couple of hours until dinner time. Scoffed his dinner with his medication (antibiotic, carprofen & tramadol) along with 1tblsn of Olive Oil added to help with any constipation from anaesthesia and about 10 minutes later, he pooped normally (yippee). He had a snooze for a couple of hours and took him out for another pee. Thankfully the rain stopped a few hours ago, but grass is saturated so still need to put his foot in a plastic bag to keep bandage dry.

    Tana has been so good with him, he has been very calm around him and quite often lies on the large mat next to the crate Toby is in. Toby has been such a trooper through all of this, such a stoic boy, he is being such a wonderful and co-operative, non complaining patient. I am very proud of both my boys in the way they are handling this ordeal.

    I will be sleeping on the couch for a couple of nights to be close to Toby as crate is in the family room. Here are some pics of Toby I took today on his first day home after surgery yesterday:






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  16. #9
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Good thoughts for a smooth recovery.
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  17. #10
    Senior Dog MikeLynn's Avatar
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    Thank you for the great update, and fingers crossed for a speedy, uneventful recovery. M&M
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