A little history

Tiko is a tall, lanky, long-legged 3 year old, 80#, slender, active chocolate labrador who partially tore his ACL in February of 2014, probably playing tennis ball catch with my husband, a man with a good baseball arm. We tried conservative management, and it worked for a while, but then in October 2014, he reinjured his knee once and for all. He became a three-legged dog.  If he were older, he may just have been the dog in the backyard with a sore leg, but because of his age, and the fact that I will be retiring this year after a career teaching high school and need a hiking companion again, I decided on surgical repair.

While I was trying to make the decision, I spent a LOT of time reading other people's experiences. So, having gone through the fairly new procedure of Tightrope, I thought I would add our very good experience to the mix - in case it helps anyone else.

During our try at conservative management, which included Physical Therapy, Tiko was put on two supplements, for life: Standard Process Ligaplex I, and Dusequin. I am not hyping those products, but Tiko did well for a long while under conservative management (which bought 9 months of maturity - not a small thing in a huge, young dog that will be confined).  I kept him on those products, and perhaps they contributed to his successful progress so far!

After considering TPLO and TR surgery, I decided on the tightrope repair, mostly because  - well - if Tiko were a car, he could legitimately be recalled under the lemon law. In his three short years he has acquired a pharmacy of meds and problems. I decided that the least invasive the better. In my own mind, I decided that keeping both knees as similar as possible would be a good thing since his original problem was a traumatic injury. I did a lot of research on the pros and cons of all the types of surgery. TPLO woke me up at night. Tightrope did not. I decided on Tightrope.

Living near UC Davis, there are lots of Davis trained veterinary surgeons around, and I selected Vista Vet in Sacramento, CA. They have lots of experience and very good reviews. Our surgeon discussed all the options and agreed to do the TR on Tiko. The cost was right around $4000.00 with everything.

So on Monday, November 10, 2014 I left a sad, frightened, three-legged dog at the hospital to begin his journey back to health.