Quickasyoucan Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Only to say I am very sorry about your situation with your TPLO. I have no experience with giant breeds but have had several friends with rotties who have had successful ones and my 19kg dog has been okay too. Sounds like you and your dog have had a mixture of bad breeder, bad luck and some dodgy attitudes from the vets. Just wondering if there would be recourse against the veterinarian under the new consumer laws they are considerably tighter than the old trade practices act particularly for the average consumer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 ..it's an awful situation ..however, when dealing with any living thing ..including bacteria , unforseen things do happen. Most surgical intervention works ..and with little disruption to the functioning of the dog ..sometimes, a dog's immune system will not respond , sometimes tissue breaks down, sometimes tissue reacts to being 'assaulted...and sometimes vets do not have the skills It is nothing like working with a car in many ways .. metal/rubber/oil/steel all behave in absolutely a set way ..if X is done, then Y happens. Carparts do not grow, or bleed...there are no infection which change the performance.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpuppy Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 ..it's an awful situation ..however, when dealing with any living thing ..including bacteria , unforseen things do happen. Most surgical intervention works ..and with little disruption to the functioning of the dog ..sometimes, a dog's immune system will not respond , sometimes tissue breaks down, sometimes tissue reacts to being 'assaulted...and sometimes vets do not have the skills It is nothing like working with a car in many ways .. metal/rubber/oil/steel all behave in absolutely a set way ..if X is done, then Y happens. Carparts do not grow, or bleed...there are no infection which change the performance.... No excuse for staph in a freshly cut bone - I am talented but not that talented!!!! Sterilisation does wonders amazing study on hospitals with high % of staph and those with very low cases - all comes down to theatre sterilisation. And yes you are correct sometimes vets just don't have the skills, this person sells his practice on TPLO which makes it even worse because he certainly isn't the only one that is trained to perform this surgery.....even ore reason for regulation in this industry to stop poor pet owners paying $$$$$ for vets that can't perform procedures they think they can ....... my lesson is always beware of those that focus on marketing themselves and not caring for the animal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 my lesson is always beware of those that focus on marketing themselves and not caring for the animal. yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flick_Mac Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm sorry for the complications that have come about with this surgery and generally with your poor newfie, but I have to defend the vet for a second: their attitude may not have been the best, but it is highly likely that the Staph actually came from your dogs skin (or possibly from someone in the room). The surgeons should have been scrubbed, gowned, gloved and masked to prevent contamination from them. The surgery should have been clean to prevent contamination from previous surgeries. Many vets will do orthopaedic surgeries first too so that they don't have a chance to be contaminated by 'dirtier' surgeries. Finally, your dog would have been prepared aseptically as is standard - but missing even one cell could have been enough for the infection to seed. In addition, implants breaking happens sometimes. I guess what I'm saying is that I believe this is probably due to bad luck more than anything - I think the vet in question should have been more sympathetic to your situation, however complications are possible with all surgeries and I don't know of any vets who cover the costs for semi-predictable complications - outright mistakes (which it doesn't sound like to me) is a different story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpuppy Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 I'm sorry for the complications that have come about with this surgery and generally with your poor newfie, but I have to defend the vet for a second: their attitude may not have been the best, but it is highly likely that the Staph actually came from your dogs skin (or possibly from someone in the room). The surgeons should have been scrubbed, gowned, gloved and masked to prevent contamination from them. The surgery should have been clean to prevent contamination from previous surgeries. Many vets will do orthopaedic surgeries first too so that they don't have a chance to be contaminated by 'dirtier' surgeries. Finally, your dog would have been prepared aseptically as is standard - but missing even one cell could have been enough for the infection to seed. In addition, implants breaking happens sometimes. I guess what I'm saying is that I believe this is probably due to bad luck more than anything - I think the vet in question should have been more sympathetic to your situation, however complications are possible with all surgeries and I don't know of any vets who cover the costs for semi-predictable complications - outright mistakes (which it doesn't sound like to me) is a different story... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpuppy Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Very strange answer - clearly from someone that has been in this position before and in the industry. You have no idea what happened ?????????? And are guessing - we are looking at the FACTS you have no idea where anything came from unless you were there???????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpuppy Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Only to say I am very sorry about your situation with your TPLO. I have no experience with giant breeds but have had several friends with rotties who have had successful ones and my 19kg dog has been okay too. Sounds like you and your dog have had a mixture of bad breeder, bad luck and some dodgy attitudes from the vets. Just wondering if there would be recourse against the veterinarian under the new consumer laws they are considerably tighter than the old trade practices act particularly for the average consumer. Yes yes and yes - we live on the beach and this morning I was walking my daughters Old English Sheepdog for her - and there was an IDENTICAL boy to our girl - all black and fluffy and healthy, swimming, running, barking - had a huge chat to the owner who imported him in from NZ because he had heard so many stories of Newfies in AUS and problems - very interesting gentleman and said he recently knew of at least two other cases similar to ours???????? What is going on out there????? So came home to my girl as she lay there so far from what she was - it just disgusts me. Our Local Vet has been wonderful and very understanding and agrees her time may well be up - devastating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flick_Mac Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 (edited) Been in this position before no... in the industry - almost. I'm not talking about facts - I'm talking about the steps that are taken by the majority of vet surgeries when conducting surgeries. If these hadn't been taken I would think you have a case for negligence - and taking them to court, as well as informing the Vet Surgeons Board. Simply putting it out there that complications happen that don't neccessarily involve negilgence. Your situation might, I have no idea but it could all be horrible luck for you and your dog. Good luck to your dog. Edited November 13, 2012 by Flick_Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfmama Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Our beautiful 17 month old Newfie has endured three major rounds of surgery from 6 months old. Firstly her front leg bones were not growing together so major surgery at a cost of $6800, then a TPLO in right hind and recently TPLO in left hind. She wasn't right upon returning home and within 6 days she started panting, not moving much so took her straight back - her wound was spotless. Well........7 days in ICU and finally cultures came back she had contracted STAPH!!!!!! 2000mlgm twice a day of antibiotic - so which kills her this or the staph. Has anyone got any advice or been through this - she is just weight bearing and we are 8 weeks down the track now, also found out when she was admitted to ICU that the top screw had snapped....and no the screw nor plate have caused the infection it has been admitted it was surgically obtained......for that pleasure it cost us $5500. Both TPLO surgeries cost us $11000 together and have since found out that this particular surgeon is NOT the only one able to perform the procedure in Melbourne so we are feeling horrendous that our pup has gone through all this and ended up with Staph. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Only to say I am very sorry about your situation with your TPLO. I have no experience with giant breeds but have had several friends with rotties who have had successful ones and my 19kg dog has been okay too. Sounds like you and your dog have had a mixture of bad breeder, bad luck and some dodgy attitudes from the vets. Just wondering if there would be recourse against the veterinarian under the new consumer laws they are considerably tighter than the old trade practices act particularly for the average consumer. Yes yes and yes - we live on the beach and this morning I was walking my daughters Old English Sheepdog for her - and there was an IDENTICAL boy to our girl - all black and fluffy and healthy, swimming, running, barking - had a huge chat to the owner who imported him in from NZ because he had heard so many stories of Newfies in AUS and problems - very interesting gentleman and said he recently knew of at least two other cases similar to ours???????? What is going on out there????? So came home to my girl as she lay there so far from what she was - it just disgusts me. Our Local Vet has been wonderful and very understanding and agrees her time may well be up - devastating. I know someone who has imported three Newfies from NZ and all have died young from health complications. They now have Labs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfmama Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Very sorry to hear of your problems and I really hope you can perservere and see improvement in quality of life for your girl , we had a rescue that was about 7 come in and he had had a cruciate repair but had an infection in the bone it was a long haul but he came good finally and became happy which is most important . I breed newfies and am also on committee of the NSW Club . I dont know where your newfys came from but you do have redress on pups that go wrong through no fault of your own . Contact should always be firstly with the breeder , if you do not get satisfaction from them , then you can contact dogsnsw in NSW anyway . They have a committee now set up to deal with breeder complaints . Cruciates are becoming more common in all breeds from my research and may or may not be hereditary , theres no way of knowing , however the fact that the bones in your girl were not growing correctly seems to me to be something the breeder needs to know about . The majority of giant breeds do not have these problems , the responsible breeders do test for anything hereditary that they can and use only sound dogs when breeding . No one wants to produce unsound dogs , we all do our very best to avoid that , but sometimes things go wrong no matter what . Personally I have had one cruciate repair in 28 years , I used the old method not TPLO and the other leg is still going strong on the bitch that is over 12 now , that doesnt mean i wont get one go tomorrow of course As for someone saying they go to NZ to get a better newfy , that is quite amazing and I find the opposite to be true , most of the major NZ breeders have and do import from Australia . We have exported to NZ both dogs and semen and I get many requests for pups from there . We sell very few dogs interstate , I like the people and their pups to be close so we can advise and help owners , and I really do feel this is best . Dont give up on your girl yet , I can put you in touch with a vet who has newfies in this state if you want to discuss your girl with them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alotanewfs Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 Good post newfmama. To the OP, I really hope your girl can get through this and have a good quality of life. How is she going now? Did you get my Private messages? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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