Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

Otis came into rescue on June 18th. We noticed that something wasn't quite right with his knee and immediately took him to the vet for x-rays. The films revealed a blown cruciate ligament as well as a floating bone and lot of fluid build up, which all were causing him a great deal of pain. Surgery was scheduled and he was sent home on Rimadyl for the inflammation and to help with the pain. He has handled his handicap like a champ, but we have all been anxious to get him fixed so that he can run and play like a normal Dane!

Tuesday, July 24

Today was the big day for Otis' Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) surgery! Dr. Rooney, a board certified orthopedic surgeon, teamed up with our own Dr. Landry at TLC Animal Hospital to repair his knee. There were some degenerative changes and his knee was in very bad shape.

The first part of the surgery involved removing the torn ends of the cruciate ligament and examining the medial and lateral meniscus cartilages.

Next, they found a tear in the meniscus and the damaged part of the meniscus was removed.

Then they made a curved cut in the top of the tibia bone to include the tibial plateau. The tibial plateau was then rotated along the curved osteotomy in order to level the slope. A plate and screws were used to hold the tibial plateau in place so that the bone can heal well.

Overall, the procedure went very smoothly and they are confident in a full recovery.

Wednesday, July 25th

Otis is recovering nicely from surgery and doing very well today. His incision site looks really good and there is no sign of infection. He is leaving it alone and in good spirits considering! They are keeping him nice and comfortable on pain meds. Dr. Landry feels he will be ready to go home by tomorrow.

Otis' recovery hasn't exactly gone as smoothly as we would have liked, but it is never easy dealing with such a big dog after a major sugery like he went through. It has been very challenging for his foster mom to keep him contained and limit his activity since he is still a young adolescent. He has been confined to the bedroom while he is alone and restrained in the main area when supervised, but he is easily excitable when people come and go and when the other dogs start barking.

Unfortunately, he recently became non-weight baring on his leg, so we took him back to see Dr. Landry. He said the incision site looks great, but his knee is very swollen. He sedated him and took x-rays because he was a little concerned that there was possibly some structural damage to the plates or screws. We were all relieved to learn that everything looks fine inside.

He may possibly be suffering from some soft tissue damage, so he is going to remain in the hospital boarding where he will have constant supervision in order to make sure he stays as quiet as possible. Dr. Landry will continue him on aggressive pain management and sedate him as needed to make sure that he heals properly.

Otis has a forever family awaiting him, so we want to make sure to take all the necessary precautions and get him home as soon as we can! He is in good hands and we'll keep everyone posted.