First day home (1 day post op)

YAY!! Zeus is home and seems to be doing just fine! A lot better then I was anticipating. I had to wait around for about an hour before they brought him out, went over all the recovery schedule and medication. Of course I get home and there are workers all over the outside of the house FINALLY working on finishing the stone work on the exterior.....couldn't have picked a better day!! But thankfully Zeus doesn't seem to be too interested and just wants to lay in his bed. Hopefully it stays that way cause there is a lot of banging and stuff going on...argh!

I took him out once so far for a bathroom break. He does seem to be really out of it and after going pee I waited a bit to see if he had any more buisness to do and he started to sit down and so I just took him in the house. As soon as we get in he leads me straight to his bed and just wants to lay down.

He's just really laid back and calm, not interested in much other then giving me kisses and sleeping!

The workers haven't finished the stone today so will be back tomorrow and should be done by the end of the day. Hopefully Zeus will still be in this same sort of mood and not care at all. A few times the workers have knocked on the door and he would just lift his head and look.

I guess he wouldn't eat for them this morning when he was at the clinic, but I just fed him his dinner and he gobbled it up nicely!

Here are is what his Chart says that I got from the vet:

Clinical and Laboratory Findings:
Findings are consistent with bilateral partial deterioration of the cranial cruciate ligaments.

Surgery:
Arthoscopy of the left. Stifle was performed. Findings included:
Cranial cruciate ligament: mild partial tear; debrided using arhrex wand.
Osteophytes: minimal
Meniscal injury: intact; no release performed.
Cartilage injury: grade 1 to 2 cartilage wear of troclear groove and weight bearing surfaces.
TPLO was performed using a 24mm radial osteotomy, 13mmmm rotation, and stabilized using a 3.5mm New Generation Devices TPLO plate.
Preoperative tibial plateau angle: 31 degrees.
Postoperative tibial plateau angle: 9 degrees.

Medications that he is on:

• Tramadol - Pain Medication
  
• Metacam - Anti- infalmatory
  
• Novolexin - Antibiotic
  

Charles & Scruffy taking advantage of the fact that Zeus isn't home...not for long boys!

My big goober is home!!! YAY He doesn't look too happy :(

Physical Therapy Week One:

• Very slow, controlled leash walks for 5 minutes 2-3 times daily. Encourage very controlled use of the leg.
• Ice pack the knee and inside of the leg for 5-10 minutes 2-3 times daily. This will help to reduce inflammation and pain.
• Massage the muscles of the upper leg for 5 minutes 3 times daily.
• Avoid activity that causes any discomfort or increasing amounts of lameness.

****** 7:00pm

Ya...I'm thinking the 5 minute walks 2-3 times a day aren't going to be happening for a long while. He's just barely toe touching and I can't see me taking him for a 5 minute walk! I think maybe that recovery plan is made more for the lighter dogs?

I just took him outside for a pee break and he peed for about...hmm....3 minutes I swear! It was the longest pee ever. He also went poop, which I am so glad! I wasn't sure how he was going to fair when having to poop but he did wonderfully! He's laying in his crate right now chewing on a RMB. Once he's done I'm going to put the ice pack on his knee again for a while and snuggle for a bit before bed :)

Cold compresses, massages and cuddles with Mum!

Just after I left him in his crate I heard him snoring and couldn't resist taking video....he only snores when he's REALLY tired. I hope he sleeps through the night! (fingers crossed)

Recovery Check List...

I had a heck of a time trying to remember or think of anything and everything I might need tomorrow when I bring home Zeus. Thanks so much to two great groups on yahoo. The Ortho Dogs yahoo group and the Mastiff Health Yahoo Group! They have been a great source of information and also support and understanding!

Zeus checking out his new crate

So here is what I have gotten so far in preparation for this recovery:

- 54" wire crate
- 4" Memory foam crate liner to ensure he's as comfy as possible
- 6 white over sized towels
- plastic to cover his crate liner in case of accidents
- Bags full of frozen RMB to keep him busy
- His A-maze-a-ball to keep his mind working
- Gel hot and cold packs for compresses
- Anti Septic wash
- EVO canned dog food just in case his raw food doesn't interest him (Although I can't see him refusing his raw food!)
- Ramp for the front stairs outside
- Sling
- Ecollar for just incase
- Halti head collar so he doesn't pull

Thank you to many of the members on both those Yahoo Groups I mentioned above for helping me make my checklist!

TPLO Surgery Day

Today our 18 month old Mastiff boy Zeus went in for his first TPLO surgery. He partially torn his cruciate ligaments in both his knees. I took him in to the clinic today at 7:00am and came home anxious, nervous, and sad. Thankfully at 11:30am I got a call from the vet tech assisting the surgeon during the surgery and she said that Zeus was doing really good. He had some damage done to his cartilage which they cleaned up with the Arthoscope as much as they could.

I was told that Zeus will have his right knee done 6-8 weeks after this operation, so roughly mid or end of July.

The saddest part about all of this is that Jason and I are going away for two weeks, June 14th - 30th and I will not be here for that part of his recovery, which really scares me. I was thinking of waiting until after we got back from our trip but I saw him get worse every day, even with kennel resting and so I decided to go with the operation before. The pet sitter who we use works in a vet clinic and so I feel comfortable (as much as I can possibly) about leaving him in someone else's care. I don't know what I'm going to do. I almost want to cancel our trip, but our friends in Germany have planned this trip for months and I don't think I could do that :( My fear is that it's holding back his recovery. But I know that our pet sitter is great and she is a vet tech who works with dogs who are post op all the time.

Just got off the phone with the vet tech, it's been roughly 8 hours since he got out of surgery and she said that he's waking up now, he's a bit groggy and they did try to get him to stand up but he couldn't, so they are going to try and get him to go outside in a while again. He did eat the food they gave him. My poor boy!

I can't wait to get him tomorrow morning :)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.....

After finding out that it was Zeus' ACL and that he'd need an operation called a TPLO on both knees, I went home right after the visit and did some research online. I was completely surprised to find sites telling me NOT to do the TPLO. But was confused once searching on other sites with Mastiff owners who had great experience with the TPLO and would have done it again. Basically it was half and half. I had a bunch of information telling me this could go wrong and to do the traditional or just rest him and let it heal itself. I also had a lot of information telling me to go ahead and do the TPLO, Zeus will be his normal self after he's recovered.

I had made up a list of questions for my surgeon and phoned him up the next day and got all the answers I needed. I also was lucky enough to know of a family in my area that has a Neopolitan Mastiff who just had this operation in January at the same clinic, only a different surgeon. They were very kind and talked to me on the phone for an hour or so and answered all my questions.

So after sifting through all of this information I decided that the best thing for Zeus and I would be to get the TPLO's done.

When we first got Zeus I read a bunch of information on Mastiffs and the best way to raise them to ensure they are healthy adults with out any issues with joints. I didn't over exercise, he didn't use stairs for the first 6 months, and even after that he rarely did, he ate excellent dog food to ensure slow growth, we didn't over feed him.....I know once I found out about Zeus' Elbow Dysplasia I was wondering what I did wrong. Unfortunately our breeders were not supportive at all and had told me that this was OUR FAULT.

I think my biggest pet peeve about Veterinarians is that they never give you any information on what your dealing with! You would think they would have some reading material for you to take home and read what your options are. But no, the just tell you what your dog has, and that he needs this operation. Both times, with Zeus' Elbow Dysplasia and now with the torn cruciates, I had to go home and look up what my dog actually had. The Vets did try to explain it, and they did a good job to help me understand the jist of it, but I really learned the most on my own. I just think that is wrong!

Zeus

Some background on Zeus.....he was diagnosed with Elbow Dysplasia at 11 months of age. He went in for his operation on his first birthday, November 21st. We had gotten insurance for him a week before he started to limp. Two days after he started to limp I took him into the vet, thinking it was an injury, a few weeks of giving him anti inflamatories and lots of rest, it wasn't working. So we took some x-rays and found he had a type of Elbow Dysplasia called Fragmented Coronoid Process (FCP), on his left elbow, and thankfully his right was looking great. Insurance didn't cover it because it was not 30 days or more after we got his insurance. The recovery for Zeus' ED was very easy I think compared to the road we've got a head of us with his TPLO operations. It was 6 weeks of kennel rest and short leash walks. We also took Zeus to the underwater treadmill for some sessions of hydro for about 6 weeks, twice a week, and it greatly improved his limp and now it is almost not noticeable. That operation cost us $2500 not including the cost before the diagnosis.



Then 5 months later I started to notice Zeus' back legs looked awful. Thinking it was his hips, I took him in to see our regular vet who then told me he thought it was just the way he walked. I wasn't satisfied with that answer so I went to the surgeon who operated on Zeus and he took a look at him walk and told me he thought it was his knees and he had felt something with his left knee. He did x-rays and sure enough saw signs that he had partially torn ligaments.


Thankfully both these operations are being covered by his vet insurance. Each TPLO operation is going to cost $4000 and we are only required to pay 10% of that. So roughly $800 for both surgeries. You've got to love pet insurance! Especially with these big guys, it's pretty much a must have.

Here is some video of Zeus before his TPLO surgery.

Zeus & his big brother Cheech
(8 months old)

Young Zeus
(6 months old)

Zeus
(8 weeks old)