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Schooner always loved retrieving things. You could throw the same thing 100 times and he would happily go and get it. I really don't work my dogs for almost 1 and 1/2 to 2 years because they are giants and they grow slowly and need time to develop. We did a lot of water things because I knew that would not injure his joints. Boy, was I wrong! We were getting ready for his water test and he came in from outside with a slight limp. The boys were in the yard alone but I never heard a yelp or anything. The limp was very slight. I rested him for a few days but he never got better nor worse. I pulled him from the water test and took him to the vet. After x-rays and manipulation under sedation they said torn CCL. They wanted to do traditional surgery. My vet is not board certified so I went looking for other opinions. After seeing 3 other ortho vets they all said that because of his breed (newfoundland) and the heavy angle of his knees (36 to 37 degrees) he should have TPLO. We scheduled the surgery and after prepping him they found a rash and called me to ask what I wanted to do. Fear of infection made me stop surgery until we could get the rash cleared. It took 2 weeks but was mostly gone by then. There were a couple of spots on his skin yet but the surgeon said he could cover those during surgery. All seem to go well. He did well at home until week 4 post op. I got up in the moring and went to let the boys out and Schooner was crawling on his belly with all four legs splayed out. He looked like a crab. I immediately called the surgeon and was told to up his pain meds and bring him in on scheduled at the end of the week. I didn't like it but what could I do? I took him in for his appointment and they said after x-raying both legs that the other CCL had torn. They also said that his first surgery had not healed enough to bear the full weight on after another surgery. So we waited for 8 weeks at which time they said that he had an avulsion fracture at the surgery site but that it was not a problem and would resolve itself with time and we could go ahead with surgery number 2.
We did so and all seemed well once again but I noticed that he was walking crouched in the rear. My first vet had taken a leave of absence and I was given over to another vet for the second surgery. I really didn't like this second guy. He explained everything quite well but did not like being asked questions. His only answers were "It's fine!" or "It doesn't matter!"
After his 8 week x-rays I again asked about his crouched walking and was told that having 2 surgeries so close together caused the muscles to atrophy. I asked what I could do to help my boy. He suggested hydrotreadmill theraphy (underwater treadmill) because he second surgery wasn 't healed enough for regular activity. We signed up for 8 weeks of hydrotreadmill. Schooner liked it alot because he loves anything to do with water. It built up his muscles but I did not see any change in his stance or posture. He 2nd surgical leg also looked very awkward. He toed in and the knee bulged out and the thigh caved in. Even the lady who ran the treadmill asked if that was normal. When we went back for a 12 week check I asked why his leg looked so awkward and was told "It's just fine!" I asked about the first leg and was told that it had gone back to it's original position and was no longer working properly. I asked what could be done and was told "Three legged dogs do just fine!" I left angry and upset! I thought that maybe I could just leave him and he would be alright!
After a few months I went looking for an answer for his first messed up surgery. Every vet said the same thing. We think it can be fixed but it should be done by whoever did the first surgery. Now what? The clinic that first did him did not want to do him again. I kept searching. I found a wonderful clinic just up the road from where Schooner had his surgeries. The vet was kind and understanding! He took x-rays from Schooner's neck back through his back toes.
He explained that the first surgery had completely broken down but looked very fixable to him. He explained that 2nd surgery was doing well and functioning but that the bone had been over rotated during the surgery and that was why the strange appearance and the leg being so bowed. He explained that during surgery they cannot compare legs side by side because of the position of the dog on the table so they go by angles done before surgery and even a slight over rotation can cause this bowing. He also stated that he personnally knew the vet who did Schooner's first surgery and called him and asked him to "PLEASE" work with me on fixing his leg.
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