I wanted to share my story with you. This may be a little long, but I am hoping you will find a little bit of comfort or at least a kindred spirit.

About 6 years ago we adopted Rascal, a then 3-1/2 year old Black Lab/Corgi mix, from the Greater Kansas City Humane Society. Early this year, Rascal (now 9) began limping. We took him to the vet and she thought it was arthritis. We began giving him some kind of fish oil pills daily and getting him injections weekly. His limping worsened until finally he didn’t use his leg. We took him to a specialist who determined Rascal needed a TPLO. He got through the surgery without a hitch. The total cost ended up being a little bit less than estimated…$1800. His recovery period was about 12 weeks. We have a 2 story house, and since Rascal could not go up and down stairs, we moved all of our furniture upstairs (so he wouldn’t jump up on it) and moved our mattress downstairs. We ate on the floor, watched tv on the floor, and slept on a mattress on the floor. It was a looooong 12 weeks. The difference in his personality after recovery was amazing. Before surgery, we thought Rascal was just getting old and cranky. But he must have been in pain for a while. Now he’s back to his bossy, barky self.

Almost 2 years ago we adopted Lilly, a then 2-year-old Border Collie/Pointer mix from the Miami County Humane Society. She had lived her entire life on the streets. Last month she suddenly stopped using her back leg. We took her in to the vet and, you guessed it, she needed a TPLO, too. I asked the vet, "Is it something we’re doing wrong?" The vet said, "I don’t think it’s anything you’re doing. It’s just bad luck." The cost was about $2300 I think. There were complications. Apparently when she was a pup on the streets, she broke her leg (her thigh bone). She never received any medical attention for it, and when it healed, it healed twisted 30 degrees. The doc was concerned that whatever coping mechanism she had developed to deal with the twist would be interrupted by the TPLO. There was a chance that the TPLO could make her lame. She had her surgery about 4 weeks ago. This time recovery is 16 weeks. The first 4 weeks she must be as confined as possible, so she spends all day in a crate in our Great Room. (Our dogs are used to having full run of the house.) We’ve bought new furniture since Rascal’s surgery, so we couldn’t move it upstairs. But we did gate off one room, put a mattress in there, and she sleeps with me at night. She licked her would a LOT; we had to put a cone on her head. But now that the staples are out she doesn’t seem to be bothered by it as much. She is still limping a little. She is aching to be let off her leash when we go outside---she loves to run, and those bunnies in the neighbor’s yard seem to be taunting her!

You can see a few pics of my doggies at: http://www.geocities.com/ilovedogs1212/Dogs.html and http://goolds.tripod.com/dogphotos/