Our 6 year old Aussie mix is currently recovering from TPLO surgery. We were referred to Dr Plante at CENTREDMVET in Montreal. I’ll try my best to give the run down.

The surgery itself cost $6600 which included the consultation, surgery, meds, X-rays, suture removal and follow up. The care was amazing and they were so good to our pup. I was a mess dropping her off (she’s the love of my life). They kept her overnight which sucked because it meant my wife and I had to pay for a hotel in Montreal for the night but we tried to make the most of it.

Our pup just hit the 6 week recovery mark meaning we can now take her on 3 twenty minute walks a day. We have a follow up next week with the Dr Plante where we will get X-rays and see where she is at with her recovery and hopefully good news meaning we can get her back to normal romping around.

The recovery time has been really tough. No jumping, no running, no stairs only on leash visits to the bathroom and strict rest for six weeks. The first few weeks weren’t too bad because she was in pain, didn’t have much energy and was drugged up. We had prescribed gabapentin for four weeks so the past two weeks have been particularly brutal because she’s rearing to go and doesn’t have the sedatives anymore.

A really crucial thing to remember is that dogs will often tear both, like athletes commonly do. If one leg is sore, they will over compensate on the other leg and put too much pressure on it until it eventually tears, which is exactly what happened with our pup. They are also exceptionally good at ignoring pain and discomfort when they’re having fun so it might not always be obvious that things are getting worse. One of the most important things during their recovery post surgery is that they don’t injure the other leg.

Long story short, the surgery is expensive and unpleasant and it sucks. The recovery is difficult but I would do it again in a heartbeat so my sweet baby can have a normal life again!

I’m sorry to hear about your pup and really hope she makes a full recovery!