Fred’s looking and feeling fabulous 💃
Six weeks ago, Fred underwent a total knee replacement on her left knee. As a puppy, Fred was involved in a motor vehicle accident which fractured her femur. A few years later, her knee was bothering her. Needle arthroscopy of the knee revealed extensive cartilage loss and bone-on-bone contact which was causing her pain and lameness.
With her “pup-grade” to a total knee replacement, Fred has been able to stop taking daily pain medication and her owners report she is significantly more playful and happy lately! 🥰
#dogsofinstagram #espanolavet #dog #dogsofig #vettechlife #vetmedworld #veterinarian #dvm #surgeryrecovery #vetmedlife #rvt #surgery #orthopedicsurgery #sudbury #Movora #vetmed #vettech #orthopedics #caninekneereplacement #KneeReplacement #labradorretriever #canineorthopedics #canineorthopedicsurgery
New Hip, Who Dis? 🐈
Ruger was in for a visit this week to show us just how well he's been doing! This poor boy suffered from a broken hip. Somewhat common in large male cats, this type of fracture usually occurs without any trauma. The growth plate, which would normally "fuse" when the patient is done growing, fails to do so, which leads to a fracture. These fractures are not repairable and are treated by replacing the entire hip.
Being a very good boy, Ruger was even feeling up to walking down the TekScan for us, which allows us to collect objective data about weight-bearing for our various research projects.
#vettechlife #rvt #vetmed #orthopedics #surgery #Movora #vettech #surgeryrecovery #vetmedlife #vetmedworld #espanolavet #dvm #veterinarian #orthopedicsurgery #sudbury #totalhipreplacement #catsofinstagram #mainecoon
This kiddo had a total hip replacement to correct a horrible fracture malunion. Scrub in with us! #veterinarian #vetmed #vetmedlife #dvm #Movora #caninehipreplacement #totalhipreplacement #dogsofinstagram
Just here to ✨ bless your feed ✨
Midnight is a 8 week old kitten who has had a very, very rough start to life. He suffered 2 broken hind legs at approx 6 weeks of age, and had lived like this for long enough that by the time he was rescued, his bones had started to heal - badly.
We have to wait for Midnight to finish healing in order to correct his legs, so in the meantime he comes in for recheck x-rays to monitor his progress.
We always try our best to make sure our patients enjoy their time with us, so baby Midnight got to enjoy a Churu tube for being a brave boy getting his x-rays. 🥰
#vettechlife #orthopedicsurgery #surgery #surgeryrecovery #vetmedworld #dvm #vetmed #kittensofinstagram
Not perfect, but it sure beats being paralyzed!
This is Piper, who has, to date, made the most miraculous recovery we have seen.
Piper’s owners woke up early one morning to find she could not use her hind legs. They rushed her to her local vet in North Bay, who then referred her to our care.
Our team rearranged the surgery day to accommodate Piper’s urgent needs. She was rapidly losing any sensation in her hind legs and she needed surgical decompression ASAP. Within 30 min of arriving at our hospital, she had a spinal CT scan which showed a massive compression in her lower back. Not long after that, she was in surgery.
She spent the afternoon sleeping but by 6pm had better sensation in her hind legs. By 1am she could stand, and by 9am she could walk. We’ve never seen anything like it!!
#surgery #vetmed #vettechlife #dvm #espanolavet #vetmedworld #surgeryrecovery #sudbury #frenchiesofinstagram #canineivdd
Miss Canada is off to the races!! 🇨🇦
Ellie (solid brown dog in this video) who received Canada’s first medial elbow replacement several weeks ago, is now off exercise restriction and living her best life.
Her owners tell us that it has been the best feeling watching Ellie zoom around pain-free!
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If you have a dog with elbow dysplasia who is struggling, reach out to us!
#elbowreplacement #elbowdysplasia #vetmed #vettechlife #surgeryrecovery #orthopedics #espanolavet #vetmedworld #dvm #orthopedicsurgery #sudbury #surgery #seniordogsofinstagram
What a difference a few weeks makes!! 💕
This is Birch, a sweet little Husky that had a very unfortunate altercation with a vehicle that left him with multiple pelvic fractures and a left femoral fracture. He was not able to stand or walk. Birch lives very, very far north, making a 19 hour trip to come see us.
Even in immense pain, Birch was sweet and trusting with us. He underwent staged surgical repair over a few days, and in between procedures he rested in our ICU while we iced and massaged his very swollen limbs and kept his pain under control.
The video on the left is Birch heading to an exam room to visit his human the afternoon before he was discharged. He could walk slowly with support but tired quickly and was pretty sore.
The video on the right is Birch two weeks later. Seeing him walk so well brought tears to our eyes!! He still has a ways to go, but he is well on the road to recovery.
You make us so proud, Birch!! ❤️🩹
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#espanolavet #huskiesofinstagram #canineorthopedics #caninefracturerepair #surgeryrecovery #vetmed #dvm #orthopedics #orthopedicsurgery
When a lifetime of great care pays off ♥️
This is a sweet little video of Duke, one of our longtime patients. We first met Duke many years ago when his owners scheduled him in for an orthopedic examination and x-rays with us. He didn’t have any symptoms, but given his breed (Lab x Border Collie), they wanted to know about any potential problems early.
We did find that Duke had mild hip dysplasia and together it was decided that we would do whatever we could to try to keep Duke off the surgery table. He was prescribed Hill’s joint diet and a glucosamine supplement, which he has continued to enjoy over the course of his life.
Duke turned 13 years old in March. He has never needed surgery and has been able to enjoy an active life (especially swimming!) this entire time. Most importantly, he is happy, healthy, and full of love. 💕
#espanolavet #canineorthopedics #tplo #caninetotalhipreplacement #seniordogsofinstagram #goodboy #hillsprescriptiondiet
Watch Out For Our New Pet Care Segment On CTV, Debuts Tonight On The News At 5pm!
So This Dog Was Supposed To Be Having An Amputation...
When Maggie came to see us early in 2020 things were not good. She had a cruciate repair performed a year before by a general practitioner using an outdated repair technique with catastrophically bad consequences. She was in severe chronic pain and had not walked on the leg or borne any weight on it for many months. Maggie then tore her other ACL as a result. The first leg was so badly infected and destroyed that we considered it completely unsalvageable. Our intent was to perform a TPLO and get it functional enough to support her through surgery on the more recently injured leg then amputate it later.
What shocked us was that despite having no cartilage anywhere in her knee, massive bone lysis and no identifiable intra-articular structures, she began to walk on it really well within a few weeks of surgery. Now many months and 2 TPLOs later we're still shocked at the outcome! Any guesses as to which leg is which?
Two Hip Replacements Later...Zoomies Re-installed!
Nala came to us last year as a less than 1 year old dog with really severe hip dysplasia. She was in a lot of pain and wasn't able to play or even walk properly when she came to see us. Nala is having a much better summer this year now that she is recovered from her surgeries. Her person sent us this awesome video last week and we look forward to seeing her enjoy many more summers with her new hips!!
Am I Gonna Point Again Doc!?
Last week, this handsome young English Pointer named Cooper had an unfortunate entanglement with a vehicle (he lost clearly). Suffering two broken front legs and lots of abrasions, he got some intensive surgical management and nursing care (and lots of liver cookies - his fave!) He's back home with his people now recovering from his injuries. Thanks so much to Dr. Lawrence from Callandar Animal Hospital for entrusting us with Cooper's care.
This Crazy Dog Received A New Type Of Rotator-Cuff Repair At Espanola Animal Hospital!
We’ve told this story before, but Laney’s owner’s sent us this awesome video so we needed to share an update. Laney had a new version of a minimally invasive rotator cuff repair that was developed here in our hospital this summer. Laney was very painful and lame when she first came to see us. Here she is out playing a couple weeks ago, obviously fully healed!
Ouch, Get This Thing Out Of My Shoulder!!
Champ is a young, fast-growing large breed dog with a disease called OCD that causes cartilage defects in the shoulder and sometimes other joints. A cartilage flap elevates and causes severe pain and lameness, which it was doing in his case. He had arthroscopic surgery last week on both shoulders to remove the loose cartilage, which usually instantly relieves the discomfort. He will be receiving laser and platelet-rich plasma treatments over the next several weeks to help his joint heal and if necessary we can resurface it when he is old enough.
Here is a video clip of his surgery and him walking outside the morning after!
Espanola Animal Hospital Develops Ground-Breaking Technique For Rotator Cuff Repair In Dogs!
Building on techniques developed by Dr. Jimi Cook, Dr. Chad Devitt and others, Espanola Animal Hospital’s research team is working on a project to make rotator cuff repair in dogs easier and more practical to perform. The current technique is technically very challenging and can take hours to execute.
In our first clinical case, Laney, seen here just a few days post-op, had a minimally invasive rotator cuff repair that took less than 35 minutes! Her lameness resolved immediately post-operatively and she has continued to do very well since.
A larger study has been in progress at Espanola Animal Hospital for many months and we hope to present preliminary findings at an orthopaedic conference in Munich, Germany this summer. The results thus far are excellent and we hope that this will make it much easier to deliver care to the dogs who suffer these injuries!
