Java's story

Owner: Julia Date posted: November 14, 2000 Java is a five year old "doggy primeval" (meaning: nobody knows what she is -- husky, akita, shepherd, coyote? Basically your basic primitive dog type) who has had problems with her knee for a long time. Until she had her surgery, I thought the trouble arose when she was 2, and secretly developed a limp. She hid it until she could no longer. The vet in San Francisco diagnosed a partial ACL tear, and said that if it became complete we should consider a TPLO. I took her to another vet in Marin who (incorrectly) told me that a TPLO would necessitate 6 months of extreme activity restriction, with at least 2 months of crate rest. That, along with an estimated cost of $3,000 or more, led me to try activity restriction and diet changes, without the surgery. Java did better after two months of only on-lead walks, and began to eat a bones and raw food diet as well. With a few months of "rehab" walking up Bernal Hill every day she was back to her usual pursuits. Still, she would favor the leg in the evening if she had been a bit too frenetic that day, and over the next two years she slowly began to get worse. We moved to Wisconsin and I made her an appointment at the University Vet school, just to see what might be new or useful for her. The appointment wasn't for two months, and in the meantime we bought a German Shepherd puppy. By the time she had her appointment, her lameness was much more frequent. The x-rays showed the previously diagnosed partial ACL tear, a fair amount of arthritic bony changes in the joint (irreversible and thus a major bummer) and a surprise: Java had broken her lower leg badly, apparently some time before I picked her out at the North Hollywood pound as a puppy. It had healed without being splinted, leaving the tibia and the fibula fused together about three inches below the knee. The vet at UW recommended surgery, but could only offer the traditional ACL repair. She said she had heard nothing but good things about the TPLO. Since I knew that Java's knee was "set up" to fail, given the old fracture which had bent her lower leg, I decided that a TPLO was the best option. After some searching, we got an appointment for Java with Dr. Lipowitz at the University of Minnesota vet school. Java had her TPLO on November 4th, and we had our second surprise. The vet discovered damage from osteochondrosis dissecans in the knee as well, and did some curettage, removing stray and damaged cartilage. OCD is generally thought to be a disease of puppies or young dogs, so this seems to complicate the story for Java. We picked her up from the hospital on the 5th. She was alert and hobbling easily on three legs. They told us that she hadn't required any pain meds all night (good 'ole stoic Java -- this is how she got into trouble in the first place!). Her leg was well wrapped in a soft dressing, which we were to leave on for two more days, as long as it stayed relatively clean and dry. We were told to give her Rimadyl twice a day as needed. There were no problems with the bandage, and Java hasn't been too bad about bothering with her staples or wound, so, no Elizabethan collar for her. The main problem has been keeping the puppy, who is now 4 1/2 months old, from jumping on her. Java spends most of her time inside an exercise pen in the living room. (We wrapped a clothes line around the metal on the bottom, so that it doesn't scratch our wooden floors--this has worked very well.) Java was very fragile the first couple of days, not wanting to try much, and only lying with the hurt leg up. After a few days she was lying on either side and seemed more comfortable overall, although she is not using her right rear leg at all. She had a couple of "toe touches" on a leashed walk on the fifth day but none since. I asked the vet about it and he says since she had the curettage as well as the TPLO it will probably take her longer to recover. There's nothing to do now but watchful waiting.