I have not dealt with TPLO, torn cruciates, leg surgery before. I am looking for some advice on whats normal, and whats not.

Without going into too much detail (please ask any questions you like for additional info) -

Boy tore his cruciate several months ago.
Co owners chose a surgeon and elected to have TPLO repair, with my consent.
Said all went well according to surgeon however dog not "right" for several months.

Aqua therapy was done at vets 8 weeks.

Next I hear that he fractured his femur, same leg, near the repair.
Major set back. Lame again.

Last week I then hear he is limping again, more, and vet thinks meniscus is torn. Same leg.
More surgery done yesterday.
Report is that meniscus was "mush" and they removed most of it
Also removed TPLO plate.
Dog is home, barely toe touching to walk.

I am wondering if all this sounds normal or does something sound fishy to you?

For more info on this check out the Othodogs group on YahooGroups.com: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodogs/

Lots of relevant info from people who have been there, done that & often have gone thru it more than once with the same dog. So sorry to hear about this dog though - it's hard on them & their owners.

Well, I know a lot of people have gone the TPLO route for cruciate repairs, but my ortho surgeon and I both opted for the standard with modifications to suit what my dog needed to repair her knee. He was not satisfied with the first two operations(in a 2 week succession)and he finally used a screw to hold the repair and did some loosening on one side and tightening on the other. He made a deeper groove for the patella too. She has bowed femurs which made the repair a little tricky. He X-rayed her hips to see what we were dealing with there and they are excellent and she was well muscled, so she had a lot going for her before the surgery. She was 1 1/2 when the repair was done and she is now 6 1/2. I went beyond anal with her recovery period because I did not want to go through all that and have it fail. She had the screw removed 6 weeks post-op and he was very pleased with her progress. After many months of careful leash walking and gradual return to easy exercise(no throwing balls anymore for this girl)she was reintroduced to the quiet dogs that I could trust would not hurt her with rough play. I had to "let it go" and allow her to be a dog again within reason. I am amazed at how she's done and had a couple of scarey things happen which I thought were going to re-injure the fixed knee or the good one, but so far so good and I thank that vet every time I think of how lame she was and his persistence to get it right. It sounds like either the TPLO didn't get done properly, or the recoup time wasn't as carefully done as could be, but not having a crystal ball makes it all speculation. The surgery is only half of the success. The poor guy must be hurting. Another thought is could it be possible he has bone cancer which may have caused his initial injury. The fracture makes me wonder about that possibility. I hope it is not that. Good luck and let us know how he's doing.

It also makes me wonder if there wasn't an underlying infection. Several years ago I had 3 patients that had had Total hip replacements all done by the same VA Hospital and they all had they most horrific MRSA infections that literally caused the areas to turn to mush, all the replacements and surrounding bone had to be removed and many months of IV antibiotics then returned to hospital for more repair.
Have they done a culture of any of the bone/joint area ? I would look there as well.

I had a boy who ended up with bilateral TPLO's...
He was a big boy, 120lbs...
I researched and went to 3 ortho vets before settling on the one who did the surg. I really think the vet who did this surg was not exp. enough with the technique..could it be he screwed the plate on too tight and that caused the complications-that would be my guess from watching diff. ortho surg. Also, did he examine the meniscus when he did the first repair-he should have. My other question is, if all was done right from a surgical perspective did the owners follow the strict post op instructions? My surg told me straight out that if I was not willing to follow the post op instructions to the "T" than don't do the surg., he said the surg is only going to be as good and the follow up care. I did not do water therapy, just the 3, 5-10 min leash walks gradually building up to 15 mins, no inclines, stairs etc., and the dog was in a confined area thru all the healing. That was 7 years ago and he is as sound as ever, can jump on and off a bed like a cat. The surgeon by the way was doing at least 2 repairs a day for years when I used him-exp. is the key to this surg. being a success.