BajaNomad - surgery on my dog

surgery on my dog

Bielefeld - 1-17-2008 at 09:02 PM

I am going to baja in a few days. All the way to La Paz. Since my dog recently tore a cruciate ligament in her left hindleg, I was wondering if anybody has a sugestion for a good vet who is able to do a surgery to help her. :?:

bajabound2005 - 1-17-2008 at 09:05 PM

whre? In La Paz or along the way? If in Ensenada, Antonio Pena is a great ortho guy. Post back if you want the contact info.

Bielefeld - 1-17-2008 at 09:26 PM

I am open for any sugestions. The vets up here want 600 to 1000$ for this surgery. It should be cheaper than that, but I want an experienced guy, who knows what he is doing.

bajabound2005 - 1-17-2008 at 09:37 PM

dr. antonio pena
9th street #331 between ruiz & obregon
646 178 3993
646 174 0601
his cell 044 646 107 6306 (don't be afraid to call it)
He speaks English...maybe one other in his office does. Just call and ask for him, in English if you don't speak enough Spanish.

He's considered the best vet orthopod in the area. Other vets will even you refer you to him.

Bronco - 1-17-2008 at 09:40 PM

I have been taking my Newfs to Dr. Antonio Pena for 8years. I have referred many people to him, several from the states. All have thanked me. He is from Mexico City, speaks English and is a excellent surgeon.

(646)178-3993 or 174-0601

His clinic is on Calle 9na (9th st), between Ruiz and Obregon in Zona Centro

Bronco

Paulina - 1-17-2008 at 09:57 PM

BB,
You can disregard my last u2u, I didn't see that you posted the info here.

Dr. Antonio is fantastic. As I told BB in my u2u, he repaired my English Mastiff's front leg after she had been hit by a car in Bahia. A different Ensenada vet kept her over night, put a cast on her and told us that he had repaired her leg, gave us a big bill, sent us on our way. He probably thought we were tourists and would eventually find out when we got back to the states and checked in with our own vet.

Fortunately we were referred to Dr. Antonio for a second opinion. He x-rayed through her cast, discovered that it had been left broken, then did the surgery to pin/repair it properly.

He also helped with our Bulldog's knees, as well as tumors on our Boxer mix, and all the other regular vet type visits we made.

I lost track of him when we moved back to the states. I'm glad to know his number so we can go back to him should we need him.

P<*)))><

Cardon Man - 1-18-2008 at 09:28 AM

My dog has had the same surgery also...on both legs in fact. She's 9 now but can tear it up with the young dogs no problem. Good luck!

Bielefeld - 2-3-2008 at 05:18 PM

I would like to thank everybody for recomending Dr. Antonio Pena to us.
He did the surgery and he did a great job. He is a very dedicated vet. It will be another week before our dog can use the leg but the stitches look good.

THANKS AGAIN; NOMADS!! :bounce:

bajabound2005 - 2-3-2008 at 05:37 PM

Glad to hear it! And best wishes to your pooch for a speedy recovery.

Paulina - 2-3-2008 at 05:40 PM

Thank you for posting a follow up. Glad to hear that all went well for you and your dog.

P<*)))><

DENNIS - 2-3-2008 at 06:37 PM

Good for you and good for your pooch. I'm glad and happy.

El Camote - 2-4-2008 at 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bielefeld
I am open for any sugestions. The vets up here want 600 to 1000$ for this surgery. It should be cheaper than that, but I want an experienced guy, who knows what he is doing.

Glad to hear the surgery went well. As the human of a geriatric mutt I have to ask, how many dog biscuits did it set you back?

bajaguy - 2-5-2008 at 06:32 PM

Bielefeld....my daughters 9 year old Yellow lab need the same type of surgery. I would like to contact yo by phone, e-mail or u2u to discuss your experience with your dog and Dr Pena.

Thanks!!!

bajaguy - 2-24-2008 at 06:38 PM

What is the status of your dog??? :?:

mtgoat666 - 2-24-2008 at 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajaguy
What is the status of your dog??? :?:

he's kind of gassy tonite. thanks for asking.

Kell-Baja - 2-25-2008 at 11:48 AM

OOO Doggy gas is the Worst :barf:

BajaGeoff - 2-25-2008 at 01:00 PM

Looks like you might need some Dog Smog Remedy!

Bielefeld - 3-14-2008 at 01:38 PM

Another update on my dog "Luna":

It is now 6 weeks since the surgery and she is walking quite well. She still can not jump at all. So we still have to carry her up the steps of our trailer all the time.
The reason may be, that her other leg is bad as well and needs to be operated on for a full recovery. We are thinking of having that done on the way up in Ensenada as well.

One can only hope that she will be OK eventually....

Cardon Man - 3-19-2008 at 09:02 AM

Bielefeld...It takes a long while for full recovery. Like I said, My dog has had both knees done. It's been about 3 years or more now but she can run and play like a champ. It's hard to believe she was ever hurt at all. Best of luck.

[Edited on 3-19-2008 by Cardon Man]

durrelllrobert - 3-19-2008 at 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by El Camote

Quote:

Glad to hear the surgery went well. As the human of a geriatric mutt I have to ask, how many dog biscuits did it set you back?

....and was the savings better than 33%? :?:

Bielefeld - 10-3-2008 at 02:47 PM

I just want to tell everybody who helped us find Dr. Pena, that our dog Luna is doing fine. I really can recommend Dr Pena for doing a great job. Our dog is running around like before. It might help, that the doc recommended to let her loose some weight, too.

We are now back in Germany (the dog too) and working our butts off (only us humans, not the dog) and waiting for our next Baja- fix

Russ - 10-3-2008 at 04:57 PM

My choc. Lab also had his ACL repaired by a different vet in La Paz. Cost $1000usd but the vet I saw in Calif. wanted over $4000. He's, my dog not the Calif. vet, is going great but the injured leg is smaller/ less muscle mass. Took a year for him to recover.

jodiego - 10-3-2008 at 05:57 PM

There is an alternative to surgery on a torn ligament. My vet told me my dog tore his ligament. I scoped out this website and decided on my own to rest him. That was about a year ago. He's fine now. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ConservativeManagement

DrTom - 10-4-2008 at 08:56 AM

anterior cruciate ligament surgery is complicated. ive done 300 of them and there are many different ways to do them and each requires special instrumentation. for years we thought it was easy, but we tolerated a significant percentage of suboptimal outcomes. evaluating the menisci is of prime importance and i found out over 25 yrs that i needed some pretty specialized equipment to do that properly. the state of practice in the us and canada requires that we have special orthopedic training in acl issues (extracapsular, tplo, tta etc). That said, for 15 yrs, i just looked at em, cleaned em and imbricated them and a lot did fine. thats pretty much what you get in baja, if you get that. you really dont find out what you got until a few years down the road to see if you get the meniscal complications, and the contralateral injuries because of a suboptimal repair. and a certain amount of cases will do okay with rest......but not most.

Russ - 10-4-2008 at 05:16 PM

Dr. Tom, You'll love this. The vet I used in La Paz said he attached two monofiloment lines on each side of the knee and one stainless strap or cable over the top of the knee. He said there had been some deterioration of the joint and needed the extra support. He also said he had to do a little reshaping of the cup and added a piece of bone somewhere too. Surgery took 6 hours. My dog's fine but does have a bit of a hitch in his gitti up.

DrTom - 10-4-2008 at 08:28 PM

this is exactly what i mean. there is an extra cap method where we used to use 100# test mono on the lateral surface.....dont use on the medial aspect....and the suspension bridge over the patella is worthless....deterioration translates to arthritis and reshaping is eiiii chihuahua.....just goes to show you that some get better in spite of what we do....adding bone is no, no...bet the patient resorbed that hopefully....they try hard, but sometimes you need the real deal. i spend a lot of time training drs. there and it takes time.

Dear Dr. Tom

Gypsy Jan - 10-4-2008 at 09:15 PM

I have a screwed up ACL in both my knees. The left one was operated on almost twenty years ago after a skiing accident.

The right was never fixed after a car accident fifteen years ago.

My knees hurt everyday, along with my back.

If I sit nicely, don't beg for food and prove that I am housebroken, can you help me out?

DrTom - 10-5-2008 at 09:00 AM

in human medicine, surgeons use an arthroscope (a 2.7mm telescope instrument) and use it to remove the remnants of torn menisci and place an intraarticular ligament implant. In dogs, most of us find that theres a fat pad that gets in the way but we can diagnose the issue with the scope, but often still need to go into the joint. I would recommend scoping your knees looking for "joint mice" aka osteophytes and see if they cant clean them up. i actually have better equipment than the local human hospital for arthroscopy and laparoscopy, but i stick to 4 legged's....