My 8 year old 106 lb. dog is scheduled on January 8th to have Tightrope CCL surgery on his back leg where he has a ruptured crutiate ligament. I have researched the Tightrope procedure and it sounds to be promising - however, I was wondering if anyone's pet has had this surgery and could give me some feedback on it. I know the procedure is somewhat new and not many veternarians are trained/ are offering to perform this procedure yet. Any information on the Tightrope procedure would be so very appreciated!!!

Hey, My dog 65lb lab mix is scheduled for the Tightrope CCL surgery also Jan 7th... 2 more days.... I"m nervous but I do beleive it's the best surgery out there for these types of injuries... I've been waiting around and doing the Conservative management with her for about a year. She got better then worse then a bit better but now in the last couple of months she won't put any pressure/weight on the injured leg. I researched the Tightrope online also and got the info from Dr Cook who actually invented the Tightrope. I also am going with it because it is so much less invasive and just makes more sense to me. :-) I wish you the best for your dog with the surgery and sense it's only one day apart It'll be interesting to hear your feedback also. I am dropping her off on the 7th around 8am then picking her up on the 8th after work around 3pm...
Best of luck to you and lets hope for fast/easy recovery for both of our babies!!!

My thoughts and wishes for a successful surgery are w/ you and your pup. I've been researching this treatment for my own dog who blew his knee out in September. This seems like the best surgical option, please keep us posted on what you're going through and any advice you may want to share.

I just spoke with the Vet that is performing the surgery on Azia tomorrow. He said it will take about 2 hrs. It is scheduled from 2-4pm. I'm dropping her off between 8-9am and i was just told she won't be ready to go home untill the next day (Thursday) after 5pm! They have to monitor her for 24hrs. I just don't know what i'm gonna do without her for that long! :-( Hope it all goes well, I just bought some cheap rugs to cover my hard wood floors so she won't slip. Getting everything ready. They also said she will need a cone/procollar so she doesn't lick the wound, so it sounds like she won't be in any kind of cast or bandage. Well I will post more once I get more info and pick her up. I'm just glad she doesn't know what's coming! :-(

Thanks for the feedback! No cast?! I'm going to have to talk to our doctor more when I go in Thursday. Emery has had to wear one of those cone collars before....in short, he was not happy. We are one day behind you and also trying to get the house ready. I will also let you both know how it goes for Emery. Hope he's not too mad at me when he comes home!

no, no cast, just bandages, and I have to bring her back 2 weeks after to remove the stiches. Also the doctor said they will send her home with a patch that goes on the back of her neck/back area which is like morphine pain killer she has to have for 3 days following surgery then i can remove it. Also she'll be on Remadyl for a while...
After everything the price is $2000.00, but i just want it over with and i want her home! Picking her up Thursday at 4pm. Her surgery is today at 2pm Pacific time.

one more thing, about the cone collar, they hate those! lol so there's a better one you can get it at any pet store, like petco or petsmart, it's called Procollar it's one of those that inflates so they at least can see better but still can't reach to lick the wounds. not cheap though, i think the large is like $35.00
ProCollar Premium Inflatable Protective Collar
on amazon.com it's cheaper, but after you pay the shipping it only come out to be almost the same.

Azia survived surgery, Doc said her minuscus was completely destroyed/tore up so he had to take it out. she was able to have the Tightrope done. Can't wait to go get her tomorrow!

Glad to hear the surgery went well. Hopefully by now Pacific time you have picked her up and she is home! Emery had his Tightrope surgery today at 2:00 p.m. The doc said it went well and that he saw some arthritis but that his cartilage was still ok. I get to pick him up tomorrow after work. Can't wait to see him. He was crying when I left him at the doctor. Keep us posted on how Azia is doing and I'll let you know about Emery when he gets home.

Azia is home! she is out asleep, so glad to have her home, i'm trying to post some pictures, hopefully this will work.

Well we got through the 1st night at home, she kept waking up and crying. It was so sad I would pet her scratch her back and she'd go back to sleep. She must of woken up like 5-6 times. This morning she ate, took her joint supplements, shared my smoothie, and went back to sleep.
Had a scare though, my other dog was on the couch and he must of gotten off, so she when i wans't looking jumped on the couch!!! scared me so bad, she seems ok didn't cry or anything but i'm taking the coushions off the coush and putting them on the floor. She loves the couch. I should of known better! I just hope it didn't do any damage to her leg! :-(
another thing i'm a little worried about is she hasn't gone potty. she went pee when we left the hospital yesteday at like 5pm, but that's it. she ate last night ate today, drank water but doesn't have to go potty.... weird.
Alycia i hope Emery is doing ok, i know you're picking him up today let me know how he's doing! watch him!!!! lol they are worse then kids! i'm thinking i should tie her to my hip or something lol j/k

Here's Emery's post-op pics.....wonder why he has no bandage!

hm... that's weird that he doesn't have the bandage, but maybe it'll heal quicker that way? not sure. it just seems like it'd be way easy for him to pull on one of his stiches, but it seems like it'd also be easier for him to get around. Azia has a hard time with that leg, it's so bulky and looks like it'd be heavy for her with all that wrapping stuff on it.
i just ordered her some Calendula gel for the incision when the bandages come off cause it's gonna be itchy when it's healing.
Emery is so cute, i hope he heals fast and him and Azia can go back to being reg dogs doing reg dog stuff lol :-)

I know - I sort of wish he had a bandage! There are big long threads hanging out! He did lick it earlier and I told him to stop it or he's have to wear the "cone" collar. haha He hates that thing so much - it depresses him! I gave him a new bone to chew on so that he won't want to mess around with his leg.

that's funny, well as long as he gets the bones/treats i'm sure he'll leave them alone, rather lick the bones right lol.
Azia is so funny i gave her a bone to chew on also but she didn't want it!!! i think she was too tired to work on it or something, so i'm saving it for later.

Emery did the same thing! He hasn't eaten anything, but he did drink a little water. When I gave him his bone, he chewed on it for a couple minutes and then went to sleep. He has been crying a little bit here and there.

We had a bad night last night... :-( I woke up to her passing back and forth in the room, She seemed to be in so much pain! It's like she was trying to run away from it. The bandage rolled down a bit so i could see the cut and the staples, she must of got to it and started liking or messing with the staples and it must of freaked her out. I tryed to hold her and calm her down, finely she laid down and was just shacking! Put the soft cone thing on her to prevent from liking, but she freaked out even more and looked so scared! i'm taking that thing back today and getting the procollar.
I got more of that wrapping tape stuff/bandage to cover up the staples. Gave her some Valerian root (i hope it's ok for dogs) I didn't know what else to do to calm her down, she was panting, shaking, and wouldn't go to sleep. the valerian root seemed to help after about 20 min or so she was looking very sleepy and dozed off.
I guess these 1st few days are the worst hope it gets better.
how did Emery do his first night home?

ok this one works better at least she can see around her, she's doing a bit better, drinking more water thank God.
I don't think she even know's this collar is on her untill she lays down it looks like a swim ring lol too funny. she wishes she was going swimming