Cooper's story

Owner: Lori Date posted: January 9, 2001 Our Golden, Cooper, tore his cruciate at age 8 playing ball with the neighborhood kids. Our vet counseled us about the different procedures and we decided on TPLO. Cooper is a very active boy and we were very worried about the long period of confinement. We were sure he would need sedatives but we managed OK without them. In fact, he was more agitated on the sedative than not and probably healed faster without them. We had house challenges too with a tri-level house. Like Kodi, Cooper is most stressed when he's separated from us, so we decided to move downstairs with Cooper until he got the green light for stairs. We slept on the mattress on the dining room floor for 10 weeks. We were glad to have our bedroom back but I think this really helped us all get through the recovery period with less stress. We were also worried abou the pen because Cooper had never been in one before. Again he surprised us and did just fine. We were lucky and were able to borrow a wire cage that was big enough for him to get up and turn around, but not move too much. Another thing that worked well was baby gates attached (pipe straps) to the stair railing with spring hinges that closed behind you. We got some free, used low-pile carpeting that we taped down to the vinyl and wood floors. So, if you're as worried as we were about getting through TPLO recovery, I think you can trust yourself and your dog to get through it. Seeing your dog run and play again with no pain is really worth it!