A friend of mine has two golden retrievers and one of them have a torn ACL. She decided to to a tightrope instead of TPLO. Is tightrope a better surgery or? I heard it's newer and less invasive. Has anyone done it? I am worried that one of my dogs will eventually tear ACL. I wanted to be prepared in advance.
With the larger more active breeds such as Labs, Golden's, Bernese etc... I would recommend a TPLO. It also depends on age, the younger the more likely I would go with a TPLO. Above 10 and I'd probably go with a tightrope.
The reason being, as per my dogs orthopedic surgeon, the TPLO will last a lifetime where as the tight rope has a shorter lifespan. Dodger had a TPLO 3 years ago and is doing extremely well. He was only 2.5 when he tore his ligament so I went with the TPLO.
monsterpup (05-27-2014)
Her golden is only 2yrs old. so tighrope isn't a better surgery for labs and goldens?Originally Posted by krosen
IMO, they may not last the lifetime of the dog. TPLO's are much stronger than tightrope's.
It depends. Depends on age, activity level, what you plan on doing with the dog afterwards ("normal pet" vs hunt, agility, something super active). I have a dog that I did a tplo on at 4yrs and a tightrope on the other leg at 7yrs. Initial down time is less with the tplo, but in the end they both end up about the same. Though I will say that today at 9yrs, she has significantly more muscling on the tightrope side than the tplo.
I know many people who've done both and they're pretty much all happy with their choice. Talk to the drs you're working with and ultimately, you'll want to do what they're most comfortable with.... or travel to someone who's comfortable doing the surgery of your choice.
my friend is a hard core dog owner. She takes her dogs at least twice for hiking in trails(about a few hours each time) a day. No she doesn't hunt or do any agility. She is also a long time vet tech. Her dogs and my dogs are best friends and she walks my dogs during the day. So her dogs and my dogs are super active. luckily my dogs haven't had any CCL issues yet.
Personally, I wouldn't do a tightrope, or a traditional, repair on a 2-year-old active dog. I have heard others say that the tightrope in particular has its issues, but I'm not sure exactly what they are. Maybe Gina can elaborate. When Lily tore her CCL at 9 months old, her surgeon didn't even present tightrope as an option to me, so that's why I know very little about it. Lily had a TTA. I'd do that surgery again in a heartbeat if another dog of mine needed it. I hope your friend is using a surgeon that is board certified and has a good reputation. The single most important thing you can do is find the best surgeon in your area and follow their recommendation. Your friend is clearly not the average pet owner, so I'm sure she's making the decision she feels is best for her dog. The above is only my opinion and what I would do, having been through it before.
Cookie had the traditional surgery when he was 4. Now he will be 8 in a month, and still very active. That knee hasn't bothered him since.
Cookie Black Snowflake
July 12th, 2006. - May 25th, 2023.
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Tightrope has issues with the clips dislodging and floating around freely in the joint (obviously causing issues) as well as the bone tunnel widening and causing a surgical failure as far out as 18 months post op.
We have done 2 TPLOs....tightrope would never be an option for us. I would consider traditional in an older dog or TTA if the angle was right, but tightrope is not a surgery I would consider for CCL repair.
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