Torn knee ligament - Page 1

I have a 2 1/2 year old male GSD who was diagnosed with mild HD in his left hip at 9 months.  His symptoms at that age were extreme difficulty getting up off of the ground and bunny hopping.   He eventually built up enough scar tissue to cusion his joint as has pretty much been symptom free ever since, other then every once in a while when it is extremely cold outside he might have a little difficulty getting up.   Anyways, about 5 days ago he started having difficulty walking.  No idea if he happened to get hurt some how earlier playing with one of my other dogs or what happend but he could barely walk.  We gave him a baby aspirin for the pain that night and in the morning he was moving better.  He always seems better in the morning when he first comes out of his crate and then as the day progresses his walking worsens.  When outside if he runs you can tell that his movement is retsricted.  2 days ago I noticed that sometimes when he stands he will put all of his weight onto his left hip and his right leg will just be touching the ground or even once in a while he will lift the led an inch or so off of the ground and just hold it there.  I wanted to give him a few days to see if he would heal before I took him into the vet.  I took him in today to see what was wrong with him.  I thought that maybe he was starting to get HD in his other hip.  I didn't see my normal vet today, I saw an orthopedic surgeon that I usually take my dogs to when I get them PENN HIP'd.  He looked at my male and said that he could feel fluid in his right knee and he had restricted movement and that he was about 90% sure that he had a tear in his ligament.  He gave me a 14 day supply of a painkiller and told me to restrict his activities and see if his condition improves.  He said to bring him back in 2 weeks and if it hasn'e gotten better they will x-ray and then probably have to do a TPLO.  My question is has anyone ever had this surgery done on one of their dogs?  How did it turn out?  Does anyone have any other treament recommendations?  Any help anyone can give me would be great.  Thanks.

Mysti

Mysti,  There is a Yahoo group called OrthoDogs I believe, that is a great network of support and advice on the different Ortho Procedures.

Check out these links and get a second opinions. $2500-5000 is alot of money.