Magnum came into our lives through friends. The Mr. bought Magnum to be a hunting dog. He worked with him every day, took him hunting and to his office. His wife never did really like Magnum, but more or less, put up with him. One day they noticed Magnum limping. He was only a year old. They took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a torn cruciate in each leg. He had surgery on both legs, not at the same time but within months of each other. Soon after the last surgery, he was limping again. His hunting days were over. He was pretty much left in the house to lay around and become part of the furniture. He was fed and housed but he wasn't loved. The Mrs. kept trying to get me to take Magnum because she REALLY didn't like him. However, we were raising the Leader Dog puppies at the time and there was no way we had room then for another big dog, nor did I have the energy for another big dog. We would see Magnum very infrequently when we went over to their house. He kept getting fatter and fatter. He is 3 years old now. We took our last Leader Dog puppy back this past November. We bought a house and moved in September. I was worn out from moving and raising Jack, who was a handful, and wanted a break. Around December we saw Magnum again and, again, she asked me to take him. Finally I said that if it was all right with her husband, I would start collecting numbers to rescue organizations so they could rehome him. We took him "for a few days" while I tried to find him a home. We ended up falling for him and didn't want to part with him. I had posted our story to some Lab lists and got lots of information from rescue group numbers to ideas about how we could keep him ourselves. One person directed me to LABMED and Labrador Life Line. She always took time to respond to my posts, and has been a big encouragement to me. She also directed me to the orthodogs list which has been a big help too. The people at LABMED and LLL have been a great encouragement and help to us. I am very grateful to them. I put him on a diet right away and changed his food to a higher quality one. His coat is nice and shiny now and he has lost about 7 lbs. so far. Magnum started limping again a couple of weeks after we had him. I took him in to the vet for x-rays and the vet said he thought the cruciate had retorn. I started searching for different solutions to his problem and was told, by someone on the internet, about TPLO surgery. It is a major surgery where they actually saw the bone in two and change the angle of the knee. Then they put a plate and screws in to hold it together while it heals. That is probably an oversimplification of it but that is what it boils down to. It sounded very radical to me, but the more I read about it and the traditional surgery, the more I knew it was the only thing that would give Magnum a chance at a normal life. In researching the procedure, I came across Laurie's TPLO page. It is full of information and links. The procedure is very expensive so, again, I didn't know what to do as we just couldn't afford it ourselves. I was willing to surrender him to a rescue group in order to get him fixed. We applied to LABMED and LLL for help getting his knee fixed and we found out this week, 3/25/01 that we have funding from both groups. We will kick in a little of our own money as well and he goes in for surgery on Monday, 4/2/01. Also, his ortho vet has agreed to give up his fee for Magnum in order for him to get help. Thank you Dr. Meinen. This procedure was developed and patented by Dr. Slocum of Slocum clinic. In order to find a Dr. who does this procedure, I called the Slocum clinic and got the numbers of vets in all the states around mine. We found a surgeon that is 1 hour away. You can check to see if your surgeon is board certified here. Dr. Slocum died recently and the clinic has closed. The number for Slocum Enterprises is (541) 689-8441. The records are there. They *may* be able to give you the names of vets certified in TPLO. I'm excited but scared. It's a big procedure. He will have to be very quiet for about 2 months and no stairs for 2 or 3 months. My husband and son are going to build him a ramp for the front steps. Both ways out of our house have stairs. He has arthritis in both knees the left one worse than the right. That is the knee that he is having repaired. TPLO is supposed to stop the progression of the arthritis but, of course, can't remove the arthritis that is already there. That could cause him some pain even if the TPLO goes well. Today is Monday, March 26, 2001. Surgery is one week from today. I'm nervous about it but I'm trying to concentrate more on the benefits of the procedure rather than the healing time. God was good enough to give us the funding and direct our path this far, I trust Him for Magnum's recovery and strength for us to see him through it. We are hoping and praying that after he has healed from the surgery, he will be able to run and play with the kids and maybe get some swimming in in our lake this summer. He wants so badly to chase the ducks. :-) So this will be a record of our TPLO experience with Magnum. I hope we can help by at least letting you know that you are not alone if you are facing this decision now or are going through this procedure now. There are others going through the same thing and we know how you feel.. |
| Magnum's TPLO Page |
| Here are some pictures of Magnum. Here are a couple more pictures of Magnum and a picture of our lake. Pictures of Magnum's "big brothers & sister". Links, and links to more pictures Why TPLO? Erica's Magnum Page Does your dog have arthritis? The clinic we used for Magnum's surgery |
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| Magnum's TPLO Journey |
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