I decided to create this blog to track the surgery and rehab of Sophie, my American Bulldog. On May 9, 2008 Sophie tore the cruciate in her right knee.
I would like to preface this blog by saying that this is a personal account of cruciate surgery with my dog. Most things stated in this blog are a matter of opinion. If you have any questions or are experiencing this same injury with your dog, please contact a (few) board-certified orthopedic surgeons for consultations. All dogs are different and may require different procedures.
I will start with some background.
Sophie is a 60lb. American Bulldog. She was born December 4, 2002; that makes her 5 at the time
she ruptured her cruciate. She was purchased from a backyard breeder (BYB) in February of 2003 at 9 weeks of age. She is registered with the UKC as Shanghi's Sophie L'Oren.
Sophie has been active in obedience since she came home. Right after joining our family, Sophie and I started to train with the Schenectady Dog Training Club in Glenville, NY. We worked up the ranks to the Open level of AKC-style obedience. We also trained in Agility. Sophie liked to learn new things, but never seemed to show any spunk or real joy in obedience. I had been reading about Schutzhund for some time and decided to check out the sport. I e-mailed several local clubs, but only one responded to my interest. It seems serendipitous that they were the only ones to welcome us and I would not have it any other way. Liberty Schutzhund Club has given us a beautiful relationship and I have made some wonderful friends. They always supported me and my "unconventional" breed. I tried to list all of Sophie's vocabulary once, she knows over 60 commands.
After some investigation, we have deduced that Sophie partially tore her cruciate ligament over a year ago. She was being a bulldog and hunting for some critters behind the shed. I speculate that she snagged the leg on a branch or in a hole in the ground. She screamed, came up lame, and wouldn't let my mother touch her (I was not home). In true bulldog fashion, after maybe a day or two of limping, she seemed to recover. There were times when she came inside limping occasionally, but I always attributed it to a pulled muscle. I even took her to the vet who checked her over and determined that her hips and knees were sound and that whatever she was doing was just from being a crazy young dog playing too hard. I asked if I could get x-rays taken of her hips since she was a working dog so that I know that I am not taxing a weakened structure, but he told me that if she was not symptomatic, it was just a waste of money (more on this later).
May 9, 2008 Sophie was chomping on some grass (she was a goat in another life) under a berry bush in the yard, screamed and came up lame. After that, she was completely lame on her rear right leg. She would not put any weight on it.
On May 13, 2008 I took her to the vet who diagnosed her with a ruptured cruciate. Dr. Brennan confirmed this diagnosis by performing a drawer slide test and tibial thrust/compression test. She also had a medial buttress, which suggests that there is inflammation in the joint and arthritis was already setting in. The medial buttress is a swelling on the inside of the knee.
I was tormented about this diagnosis. Which surgery do I choose? Will it be the right one? Will it provide long-term stability in her knee and as sound a gait as possible? What about complications?
I asked my fellow dog-friends about their experiences and began my hunt for Sophie's surgeon.
A group that has helped me tremendously is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodogs
Some links that have helped me during this process are:
http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/ortho_TTA.htm
http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/tplo.htm
http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/cruciatelrt.htm
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=339306
http://www.veterinaryspecialty.com/TPLO.aspx
http://www.veterinaryspecialty.com/TTA.aspx
I called Cornell, Tufts, and Veterinary Specialties in Pattersonville, NY for information about our options. Price for a TPLO ranged from $2000-$2800 at Cornell, to $3100-$3300 at Veterinary Specialities. Tufts quoted up to $3500.
A friend referred me to a local veterinary clinic where she always brings her dogs. I called them and decided to schedule a consult for a second opinion. Dr. Hernas confirmed the initial diagnosis. Dr. Conrad, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon visits their clinic regularly to perform orthopedic surgery for the area.
We decided to have Dr. Conrad perform the "traditional" Securors cruciate repair surgery on Sophie. The possible complications with the TPLO just scared me too much. If I did not feel confident in the procedure, I wouldn't settle with having it performed. A good question to ask yourself is, "would I have this surgery?" I felt that I wouldn't have the TPLO surgery performed on my knee, so I didn't choose it for my dog.
I would like to add that I in no way mean that the TPLO is an inferior procedure. It has had much success. It is especially recommended for large dogs, but Sophie is a shrimp of a bulldog and so the "traditional" repair was an option for us. TPLO stands for "Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy." In essence, it works by changing the mechanics of the knee and eliminating the need for the CCL. The "Osteotomy" part of the procedure means cutting bone. It is a much more invasive procedure and so carries more risk. All surgeries have possible complications, but the ones for this surgery were not ones I was willing to risk. If something goes wrong with the TPLO, it is often catastrophic and you have little to no options afterward. Some "minor" complications may be screws coming loose, rejection of the implant, etc. The "traditional" repair leaves me with many more options if anything were to possibly go wrong.
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