Cindy- My Berner girl, Toga, suffered a partial tear of her left ACL in February of 2001 at the age of 3 1/2. It was a very minor tear and wasn't diagnosed until May (everyone thought her mildly dysplastic hip was bothering her). She had a TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) the first week of June '01. Four hours after surgery she was standing on all four legs and wagging her tail. By the time she had her stitches removed two weeks later, she was full weight-bearing on the leg and I was already going crazy trying to figure out how I was going to keep her on complete bed rest for six more weeks! Needless to say, it was a very long summer for both of us. She got the final okay from the orthopedic surgeon to go back to being a dog the first week of October and was finally allowed to do the running, jumping and playing she had been doing for a month anyway! :o) Now, a year and a half post-op, she does have some arthritis in that knee joint (most likely from waiting so long to do the surgery), but she runs around like a maniac on it with no problems at all.
Her knee angle was 30* prior to the surgery and the surgeon said they see tears and ruptures most often with angles greater than 22*. So, she has almost a 70% chance of tearing the other one at some point in life. Knock on wood, but so far, so good! I assisted on a traditional repair on a Golden Retriever that was about the same size as Toga (85 pounds back then) and six MONTHS after surgery he was still favoring that leg. I've heard similar experiences from numerous other owners. The traditional repair is almost half the price of the TPLO, but in my opinion the TPLO is the only way to go. The extra money spent at the outset repays itself tenfold in the faster and more complete recovery time. Best of luck to you and Paws!! Regards, Jessi Braga and Toga Anchorage, AK
