Mans best friend

[thebicman]

Either I'm losing my mind or I forgot to hit submit.

So I'll type this out again. I have an 8 year old Australian shepherd and he recently severed his acl on his back right leg. Took him to our vet and a different vet for a second opinion for how to proceed. Both vets are in agreement that TPLO surgery is the best option. I've done a ton of reading and would like to hear from any members who have gone through this. My biggest concern is making sure it's the right decision. Thank you all in advance.
PS the dog in my avatar was our Collie that has now passed.

[lance corsi]

Those Australian Shepherds are really great dogs. I’m a chihuahua man myself, so can’t offer any help. Just hope your buddy ends up well.

[Jetfuel]

A mid aged dog that's strong and healthy will have no problem with the procedure, post surgery complications are rare but it is the time that you will need to expend with that member of the family for a great come back.
Your vet will give you a care sheet, remember that dogs are creatures of habit and if he is a happy go lucky dog he will be restricted in many ways, bandages will need to be changed, ice packs will need to be applied and even the diet will change for a little while until he makes a full recovery, as I said, he will require lots of attention.

Jetfuel...I know what you are going through

[SSNK4US]

One of our golden retrievers had the surgery.... twice :( First time he had a really hard time walking. I think he was 4 or 5?
Worst part was we had to keep him in a cage for 30 days. Only took him out to go to the bathroom with a hand held sling under him. After that he was himself again. Running, playing, jumping off our waterfall into the pool.... would do it again in a heartbeat!!! Oh wait we did... couple years later he tore the other one :( Same process and again brand new dog afterwords. He sat really stupid and funny looking after the second one but it didn’t seem to bother him. Happy and carefree until cancer took him away from us. Very sad day.
Procedures weren’t cheap, was close to 10k for both. No kids, just dogs so there was no question on doing them.
Couple of friends had it done on their respective Labs with 100% recovery too.

Would do it again in a heartbeat... feel free to pm me if you want

Kurt

[thebicman]

Have talked to the vet and we do have the instructions for after care. We know it's going to be a lot of different work to get our boy back to being active. Been told there is a very high chance he will do the same to his left leg and we'll deal with it if it happens. I spoke to another vet that deals with custom knee braces. May go that route if we start to see trouble with his left leg. Thank you all for replying. Having a hard time absorbing everything.

[thebicman]

Finn had his surgery and everything went well. He is well on his way to a full recovery and except for being leash bound he is still the same happy boy. Been spending so much time with him taking gradually longer walks each week. Now with all the covid 19 going on I'm off work until ?. Don't want to start a discussion but our government is plain stupid. Allow everyone to go for march break trips and don't expect to have any more cases. BS.

[lance corsi]

I love my dog too!

[Jetfuel]

Bicman. I needed a feel good story and you just made my day.
Glad to hear abut Finn, hope he gets to his old self soon...but no rush

Jet

[thebicman]

I hear you. With everything going on right now it's so peaceful to just take him for a walk. We are staying safe and live in the country, neighbors are relatives and everyone is keeping there distance.

[Real time recon]

126297 And she's one heck of a driver :)