Orthopedic Surgery 
Orthopedic Surgery is all about repairing broken bones. When fractures happen, we are prepared to handle it!
Fractures are common in dogs and cats
Fractures can happen for a variety of reasons. Most of them have to do with being run over by a car, but it can happen even in relatively mild falls as well. When bones are broken, it is a big problem.
There are a Variety of Ways to Repair Broken Bones
Repair options include:
- casting
- bone pinning
- circlage wires
- external fixation
- bone plating
- any combination of the above
ACL Surgery
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries are also quite common in dogs. There are two main options for treating them, a surgery called Tibial Plateau-Leveling Osteotomy, more commonly called TPLO, and implanting an artificial ligament. TPLO is done by referral specialist surgeons, and many clinics refer their ACL cases away to these distant referral centers. While specialists certainly do great work, there are some problems associated with being referred, and it is not for everybody. You can read more about that below.
TPLO is a great procedure, and many dogs do very well with it. However, it is not the only option. At Sunnyside Veterinary Clinic, we do a procedure called the Tightrope Procedure, where an artificial ACL is implanted in a very precise way. Many dogs do well with the Tighrope Procedure as well, and it costs about half of what a TPLO can cost. Scientific studies have shown the Tighrope to be an effective way to treat ACL injuries in dog. You can read some of them here. Click here to go to a page that discusses TPLO versus Tightrope in more detail.
Referral to Specialists
It seems like many of local clinics these days are not doing much orthopedic surgery themselves. Clients tell us they are referring these cases to out-of-town specialists. While it is not a bad thing to be referred to a specialist, traveling to an out-of-town referral surgeon is not your only option. We'd be happy to review x-rays for you and give an estimate.
- Referral to a specialist requires travel, both for the intital treatment and also for follow-up exams if needed. It's usually not a same-day kind of thing.
- Transporting a dog with a broken leg to a distant referral center poses some problems.
- If there are complications, you will spend a lot of time on the road.
- Specialists are also quite expensive, often twice what a local clinic might charge.
- A lot of specialists aren't real flexible when it comes to payment options.
A Local Option
There is a local option available. Although Dr. Nield is not a Board Certified specialist surgeon, he does have 25 years experience doing these types of procedure. At Sunnyside Veterinary Clinic, we do bone plating, bone pinning, external fixation techniques, and the Tightrope ACL surgery. We'd be happy to reviews x-rays and give you an estimate. Payment plans can often be worked out on on approved credit.
Case Studies
All of the images on this page are repairs Dr. Nield has done at Sunnyside Veterinary Clinic in the last few years, including the ones posted above. Here are some of the repairs we have done in the last few years.
