Help with crate size for TPLO recovery.

[Drew71041]

Hello,

Our 5.5 year old choco Jolene is scheduled for TPLO surgery the week after next. We need to get her a new crate to recover in.

We are close to a TSC and they sell Pet Lodge brand crates. I am wondering what size would be recommended.

The X-large model is 42lx27wx30h. It says good for a dog up to 100lb. It's on sale for 69.99
Miller-mfg.com X Large Double Door Wire Crate

The Giant model is 48lx30wx33h. It says good for a dog up to 130lb. It's on sale for 99.99
Miller-mfg.com Giant Double Door Wire Crate

Jolene is +/- 70lb. I would think the X-large model is fine. Would she benifit from an extra few inches? We want her to be comfortable.


Opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[3ChocMom]

I foster for rescue, so I have several crates, of all different sizes. When my Lily had her TTA, I didn't use any of them. I found that her knee would get stiff if she was in a 42" or 48" crate for several hours, like when I was at work, and her limp would worsen. And Lily is only 54 pounds. She needed more room than a regular crate could provide, but obviously still needed to be restricted. I would recommend an ex-pen for your dog. I didn't use one for Lily because she was only 11 months old at the time of her surgery and I was afraid she would try to climb it, or push it around the room. Instead, I borrowed a huge Great Dane-sized crate from the rescue I volunteer for and it worked great. But those super large crates are about $300, so for a 5 year old dog, I'd recommend an ex-pen. Good luck with the surgery!

[Drew71041]

Thanks. My only worry is how "energetic" she is..... She may be 5.5 but she's still nuts. She still door crashes and jumps up on the couch to look out the window to see who's there. The surgeon even noted how much fun I'm going to have keeping her quiet. I fear she'd do something dumb and set her recovery back. I actually do have a Bily Superyard installed around our woodstove to keep our young son away. This could be easily be moved to a spot in the house that would provide about 3.5' x 4.5' of space. That may be another option.

[DuryLane]

I was thinking an x-pen would be a better idea also. The nice thing about an x-pen is you can fold up the panels to make the size smaller or larger, depending on what she needs. Spending long periods of time in a crate can lead to a very unhappy doggie and may make the situation more difficult to maintain for a longer period of time, whereas an x-pen will give her a bit more room to move around comfortably without cramping her into such a small area.

The x-pen is very easy to move from room to room, which is great.... the dog can be moved from room to room so she is not isolated, yet she can still be confined to control her activity.

My experience has been that dogs seem to be much more content to chill out if they are in an x-pen rather than when they are in a crate.....don't ask me why, maybe they feel less confined...who knows.

I've never had a dog try and jump over an x-pen. If your dog respects barriers such as baby gates or other barriers, then you shouldn't have any trouble with her wanting to jump over an x-pen. You can get x-pens in various heights....36", 48".....depends what you want.

[JenC]

I would do an xpen. When Hudler was recovering (he was 4 at the time), he was pretty mellow. We blocked him into the living room and laid a sheet on the floor.

[csblabmom]

We used the crate for the first 2 weeks. We have the giant model. Coast was trying to get at his incision even with the cone on in the crate- if he had been in an xpen, he would have been able to maneuver himself to get at it.
Good luck! We're at week 10 post surgery...

[shelly]

We are in week 7 of TPLO recovery with our 100 pound 5 yr old male Lab. We didn't use a crate but a small confinement area that holds enough space for his bed and for him to stand off his bed. We have a camping soft sided crate which we tried once outside and it was too small and he couldn't stretch out. When your dog first comes out of surgery she will be in pain and medicated and hopefully not jumping around too much. As she feels better she will move about more. We didn't think our dog would take to confinement well either but he has done fine. He adjusted as did we. He never moves out of his space without one of us and a leash! At first we were icing (frozen peas) his knee multiple times daily and the extra space to maneuver for us was helpful. We would actually sit with our dog in the confinement space. You also need to figure out whether your dog will tolerate a plastic cone or whether you need some other kind. We found the "help em up" harness very helpful in getting in and out of the car to get to the vet and rehab appointments. We also adjusted his food so he wouldn't gain weight with the confinement.