Guest guest Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 You say unstable but is it weight bearing? How long after last surgery? Has a surgeon been consulted? Dog needs a TPLO!! (Or other successful surgery by a boarded surgeon. If the tibial slope is extreme I think that TPLO is the best option) IMHO A 2 year old dog with an unstable knee is not going to have a good long term outcome for that knee. I have seen many cases like this and they are wasting their $ on the rehab. TPLO by an experienced surgeon and they will be very happy!!!! Jeff Bowra DVM > I have been reading the recent threads regarding walking a dog through snow > and had a related question...I have a 2 year old lab with a cruciate rupture > that had 2 surgeries to repair, came to me unstable, but owner doe not want > to put dog through another surgery...I have been working with the dog for 5 > weeks now and am looking to start exercising the dog with some resistance. > Currently I do not have an underwater treadmill and we do not have soft > fluffy snow here in Nebraska! The owner said the dog would love to go in > the lake but I am concerned about the water temperature for rehabbing! Any > other suggestions??? Thank you! > > Backlund, DVM, CCRT candidate > > -- Jeff Bowra DVM Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner Aldergrove Animal Hospital 26841 Fraser Highway Aldergrove, BC, Canada www.familypetdoc.com www.thespaw.ca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 Hey , I have a bunch of labs out in the water now at sub zero temperatures, (they hunt ducks and geese). They wear neoprene vests if the owners are worried, but they seem to do fine. My only caution with this time of year is that the muck on the marsh edges can be very stressful on a stifle. So, if an owner wants to take a dog swimming, I am ok with it, but watch the water entry part of it. Your area may be just fine though. Monitor the dog’s attitude for whether the water is too cold or not. Also, don’t forget Adequan injections! Good Luck, Pam Nichols DVM,CCRP From: VetRehab [mailto:VetRehab ] On Behalf Of drmichellek@... Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 4:07 PM To: VetRehab Subject: Re: 2 year old lab, CCLR Thank you for your input. To give you a little more information...The dog had an extracapsular suture technique done and proceeded to blow the suture because she was not restricted post op. The same occured after the second procedure. Cranial drawer is only present in stifle extension but not flexion. I completely agree that a TPLO would have been the best option for this case! I explained that to the owner in the beginning. The owner understands the TPLO surgical procedure and reasoning and does not agree with the surgery itself nor does he want to put the dog through surgery again. The dog is weight-bearing and has increased in weight-bearing and strength over the last 5 weeks. The owner is pleased with the progress and I am amazed the dog has normal range of motion with the significant amount of fibrosis! Since surgery is not in this dog's future, if you have any suggestions to apply resistance to exercise without damaging the dog's progress that would great! Thanks again... I think this group is an invaluable resource!!! Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld From: " Jeff Bowra " Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 14:41:02 -0800 To: <VetRehab > Subject: Re: 2 year old lab, CCLR You say unstable but is it weight bearing? How long after last surgery? Has a surgeon been consulted? Dog needs a TPLO!! (Or other successful surgery by a boarded surgeon. If the tibial slope is extreme I think that TPLO is the best option) IMHO A 2 year old dog with an unstable knee is not going to have a good long term outcome for that knee. I have seen many cases like this and they are wasting their $ on the rehab. TPLO by an experienced surgeon and they will be very happy!!!! Jeff Bowra DVM On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 1:11 PM, Backlund <drmichellekgmail> wrote: > I have been reading the recent threads regarding walking a dog through snow > and had a related question...I have a 2 year old lab with a cruciate rupture > that had 2 surgeries to repair, came to me unstable, but owner doe not want > to put dog through another surgery...I have been working with the dog for 5 > weeks now and am looking to start exercising the dog with some resistance. > Currently I do not have an underwater treadmill and we do not have soft > fluffy snow here in Nebraska! The owner said the dog would love to go in > the lake but I am concerned about the water temperature for rehabbing! Any > other suggestions??? Thank you! > > Backlund, DVM, CCRT candidate > > -- Jeff Bowra DVM Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner Aldergrove Animal Hospital 26841 Fraser Highway Aldergrove, BC, Canada www.familypetdoc.com www.thespaw.ca I am using the Free version of SPAMfighterWe are a community of 5.7 million users fighting spam.SPAMfighter has removed 7738 of my spam emails to date.The Professional version does not have this message Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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