Lucy's Knee Surgery

Poor Lucy! We took our two year old yellow lab in for a TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) surgery yesterday on her knee. Similar to what humans do for ACL tears, Lucy had a tear in her tissue around her right knee that required her to receive a plate and six bolts. She is shaved all over in awkward places for different applications during surgery. Not to mention very loopy still from the surgery yesterday. She is sitting next to me in the office for the week until she is off the pain medications and able to hang out in our backyard alone. The worst part is the long, long, long, recovery. It can be anywhere from 1-2 weeks before she puts weight on her right knee again. She has too be on a leash for 2 months. We are building ramps around our house so she can get in and out as needed, and no swimming (AGH! her favorite) until she is completely healed. (3-6 months)

Maybe your thinking it's something we did to over work our dog or that it's genetic for labs, well guess again. It turns out the surgery is VERY common for all dogs- age, genetics, nor exercise are reasons for it happening. We found this site to help explain the injury and surgery very helpful for a dog named Kodi. The good news is the success rate is really high and she will be a fully recovered pooch in 3-6 months! Until then Zach and I will be the poor poor owners of an expensive knee replacement for our little girl. We love you Lucy!