Mazey and her TPLO

[sjdavenport]

So I thought I'd start a new thread covering the process and recovery associated with Mazey's TPLO in case anyone in the future is considering the procedure and needs info. Granted, she is a non-mastiff and only weighs 50 pounds, so there are some different things that would have to be considered in a giant dog. A little history, Mazey is 10 years old, and came up mildly lame in her left hind early this month. We assumed arthritis and treated with acupuncture and supplements. This past Saturday, she came up completely leg carrying lame and was very painful. She was diagnosed with a ruptured CCL, and we elected to treat with a TPLO. After the surgery, they let me know that it had completely ruptured, but the meniscus was intact and no osteophytes/beginnings of arthritis had started. They kept her on a morphine drip overnight, and I got to pick her up this morning and bring her home. She is of course still on heavy pain medication and is a little doped up. She has to be on strict cage rest (we're using ex pens) for four weeks with only short leash walks to potty, along with putting cold packs on the site, range of motion exercises, and massage. She's also going to have to wear an e collar when I'm not sitting with her, which she of course hates. At a slow walk, she is already putting a bit of weight on it, which is allowed. The worst part of all of this is going to be not being able to exercise her at all and keeping her separated from the boys and not letting them play.

She got home and crashed.


Her incision.



Rhaegar considering an aerial attack. We have a much taller ex pen that's supposed to get delivered by the end of the day.

 

[Oscar'sMom]

Poor girl! So glad to hear surgery went well! Also great news...no arthritis! Here's to a quick and speedy recovery Mazey girl!

 

[Smokeycat]

Her incision looks really good compared to some that I've seen pictures of. Rhaeger really does look like he's going to be your problem dog.

 

[Boxergirl]

Good to hear everything went well. I agree, her incision does look good. Much better than many I've seen. Sending vibes for no hassle healing.

 

[Hector]

Yay Mazey and lol @ Rhaegar.

Have you considered a sling or a harness sling?

 

[sjdavenport]

The new ex pen got here thankfully. My other setup was questionable at best, lol. This one will definitely keep Rhaegar the troublemaker out. As for the incision, one good thing about using the teaching hospital is that they have a surplus of free labor (the students), haha. I know the doctor had them icing it very frequently, so I think that's been a big help in keeping the swelling down so far. And Hector, I did buy her a solvit lifting harness. On Saturday when she first became so painful, I did try helping her get around with a towel used as a sling, but it scared her and she just shut down into a pile on the floor. She's used to wearing things like harnesses and sweaters, so I thought maybe something I could leave on her would freak her out less, and that's when I ordered the lifting harness. I had heard that it was comfortable enough to be left on the dog, but it's actually super bulky on a dog as small as she is, and there are a million straps and buckles everywhere. Since she doesn't have any stairs to navigate here in and out of the house and between the living room and bedroom, I haven't used it yet, but have it on hand in case I feel like we need it.

Good luck getting in there Rhaegar!

 

[Hector]

That pen is huge!! lol or Mazey is pretty small. I bought a sling for Hector when he went lame. Never mind using it. He shuts down and dead weights, so I tell him you're on your own buddy. I have a gingerlead sling.

She looks very comfortable.

 

[Lisa P]

Poor,poor girl! Happy to see they didn't put a cast on it,we had that with our last Rottie Ike and had to have the cast removed cause he licked it and it smelled awful.

 

[QY10]

Awe, poor baby girl! That looks so painful. I hope she has a stress-free and speedy recovery.

lol @ Rhaegar

 

[sjdavenport]

The pen really does seem to take up half our house. It's four feet high and four feet wide by four feet deep. I figured if she's going to be stuck in there, might as well try to give her a nice space. I'm putting ice packs on the site five times a day right now, which is no fun, but especially important since we don't have her on any NSAIDs for the inflammation. I'm also doing some light massage before icing it each time. I'm also supposed to be doing range of motion exercises, but I'm having a hard time making myself doing that while she's still so painful. I didn't get any sleep last night, even though she actually did great through the night. I had her next to my side of the bed, and didn't want to put her e collar on her since I haven't actually seen her lick the incision and she has intradermal sutures rather than external that she can chew out. That didn't stop me from waking up at every single sound thinking she was whining or bothering her incision, when in reality she was snoozing peacefully the entire time. Unfortunately she didn't do quite as well when we left the house. My mom and brother are in town for my white coat ceremony, and we got up early this morning to walk Rhaegar and Atlas and my mom's great pyr. Mazey woke my brother up with her screaming, and he was asleep upstairs (and he's a heavy sleeper). Then we all had to leave the house to go to my ceremony, and I was worried about her the entire time, but she was still in the ex pen and her incision still looked good when we got back home. Thankfully other than a half day on Monday, my boyfriend is off work until Thursday, so someone will be home with her most of the time this week.

Icing the knee, which she doesn't like, but tolerates ok.



Rhaegar still trying to crack the code to get to his best friend.


The incision, thankfully the swelling and bruising are minimal.

 

[Smokeycat]

She looks good. Kryten refused either ice or heat placed on his elbow at any time so I had to forego that part of his post surgery program.
That's the size of xpen that I have for Kryten only I set it up so that it was 6x10 using 2 walls for the other sides. Jiggers wasn't too bad about trying to get in but Monkey (cat) refused to be separated from her puppy and climbed over and into it. And then 'yelled' at me when she wanted out.

 

[sjdavenport]

It's been a rough 36 hours. She hasn't had too much of an appetite since the surgery, but she had been eating just enough dry food mixed with canned food and ground turkey to appease me. Then starting Saturday night, she went off food, and I couldn't get her to eat ANYTHING at all. Then Sunday she started vomiting all day. I finally gave her some zofran, and she stopped vomiting, but I still couldn't get her to eat anything (including canned food, ground turkey, pasta, boiled chicken). I thought maybe it was the tramadol and codeine combined, so stopped the tramadol. I had to leave her alone from 8-12 (after she refused to eat any breakfast) while I went to school and Kerry was at a class for work. I came home for lunch and found everything in the ex pen thrown around. She had dumped her water and the food I left with her, had pulled blankets and toys from outside the pen into it, had scooted the pen a foot across the floor (some heavy dumbbells kept her from going any further), and she had rubbed her nose raw. Thankfully Kerry is off tomorrow and Wednesday, but I'm dreading leaving her alone again on Thursday. Just another reason to crate train your puppy!!! I got Mazey as a special needs adult, and she's never done well with crating, but things would be SO much easier if she had been accustomed to a crate from the time she was a puppy. One piece of good news, I was sitting in her pen with her eating some frozen pizza for lunch today, and she showed a little interest. I gave her a bit, and she finally ate. I thought maybe the cheese was the key, so I made her some cheese covered chicken in rice, and she ate every bit! Ok, so not exactly the healthiest meal, but I count it as a win, lol. She is still not wanting to bear any weight on that leg, but the incision still looks really good, and there's really no significant swelling at all. I just can't wait to be through with all of this! I just want my healthy girl back. I will cry if she ruptures her CCL in her other leg.

Incision still looking good.

I just bought her a thick orthopedic bed, which was turned out to be an awesome thing, not because she is using it all that much, but because it is SOOO much more comfortable when I sit in her pen with her, lol. My back is no longer killing me. If anyone was wondering if they keep you up off the hard floor, they do.


Rubbed her nose raw trying to get out of the ex pen.

 

[Smokeycat]

I remember the struggle to get Kryten to eat anything after his surgery. I was giving him anything that he would eat just so that I could give him his meds. For him it was the Tramadol that caused his lack of appetite. Hope she feels better soon.

 

[QY10]

Awe, poor little Mazey. She looks so sad.

 

[sjdavenport]

It turns out the codeine was the problem, not the tramadol. After a couple days of not eating (I was offering her literally everything, one day she ate one french toast stick and nothing else), we stopped the codeine and restarted the tramadol. Voila, she is now eating and pooping normally, and I can tell she is feeling so much better. She is also starting to toe touch a tiny bit, so I hope that means she'll start using it more soon. The swelling is pretty much gone, her incision is healing so nicely, except for one tiny spot that she was licking while her dad was supposed to be watching her (so he got in trouble, lol). I think the worst is over with (I hope).

Even though she has her pitiful face on in this picture, she has thankfully become pretty content to stay in her little world while we are home and isn't being whiny anymore.


The ever healing incision.



Doing passive range of motion with her. I normally do more repetitions than this. I'm able to flex and extend a little further each day. I think the ice pack is her least favorite part still.
[video=youtube;id5QzTKlVT4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id5QzTKlVT4[/video]

 

[QY10]

Awe, she is such a good girl! I'm glad that it is healing so well!

Her little space looks AWESOME! I'd hang out in there any day! hahaha

 

[sjdavenport]

YAY YAY YAY!!! Mazey is finally bearing weight on that leg at day 14 post op. I was beginning to think this would never happen and she'd be a tripod forever, lol.

[video=youtube;Xv5_Nlu2zw4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv5_Nlu2zw4[/video]

Incision is almost healed in a lot of spots, if she'd had external sutures or staples, they'd probably be ready to come out now.

Her little space looks AWESOME! I'd hang out in there any day! hahaha

Oh yeah, I sit in there all the time now, lol.

 

[Boxergirl]

That's marvelous!

 

[sjdavenport]

Mazey is doing SO much better and improves every day. It was impossible to not question whether or not I made the right decision when she felt so bad right after the surgery, but she has improved enough that I'm finally past that. She had a recheck with my regular vet today. Everything is coming along nicely, but we didn't take any recheck radiographs because my vet didn't want to manipulate it too much. We'll recheck the xrays in three more weeks. Only one more week of no activity, then she can have free roam of the house and leash walks for four more weeks, and then supposedly after that, she can do what she wants! Only five weeks until she can run freely again, so exciting!!! Here is the most recent video I have of her walking.

[video=youtube;8QEmM8h-cQ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QEmM8h-cQ0&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[powergc]

I missed this thread before.... poor Mazey! Glad to see that she is healing well! You've got a nice set up for her!