Lucy's TPLO Story

We got Lucy from an area rescue group. She's a Shar-Pei and pit bull terrier mix, about three or four years old. Lucy is a wonderful dog with a great temperament and we love her to death. She came to us with an injured back right leg that turned out to be a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. We had a lateral suture surgery done on her right leg. The surgery itself went well, but the recovery time was pretty rough. At week 12 postoperative she was still not able to go on a full walk.

The day she injured the left leg, I had her out on a walk, playing with a neighbor's dog and no more than maybe two minutes into playing she pulled up lame. The next day we scheduled an appointment at the vet where they confirmed that she either had a partial or full rupture of the cruciate ligament.

We ultimately decided that we wanted to go forward with the TPLO procedure. We knew that with the TPLO procedure, versus the lateral suture, she could bear weight on the leg quickly and get off the leg that had recently undergone surgery.

Lucy hasn't had the setbacks she had with the first procedure. The initial recovery time was comparable since they're both pretty invasive procedures. But with the TPLO, we had to restrict her more because the bone needed to heal, even though she felt great and wanted to use it. With lateral suture, we had to go through physical therapy to force activity to help promote the healing of the joint and muscle strength around the joint.

I would recommend TPLO. To be where we are today - ten weeks postoperative - and have her be able to run around a play a little bit, it's awesome. We're thrilled with the outcome. ​​