Since the TPLO surgery I noticed Duggans gait was off. The bad leg kinda twists out to the side. The first and second set of after surgery X-rays show the alignment is good and he has healed, albeit twice as long as it should have. Could this be from a loose hip or from him still not fully weighting it yet? It sometimes looks to me that he has a small curve in his spine from compensation for the bad leg. Could this be causing the leg to twist outward?
Have you said anything to the surgeon so he can have a look? Just to be on safe side and put your mind at ease, probably best to have a chat with your surgeon and ask him to have a look at Duggan walking. Does Duggan seem less active since the surgery or is it still too early to tell? Of my two dogs that had TPLOs, one's gait didn't change at all (unilateral TPLO), but Brogan (bilateral TPLO) definitely developed a very different gait. Prior to the surgeries he walked like a Lab (which I'm pretty sure he was mixed with) and afterwards he had the characteristic Rottie waddle. As I thought he'd previously had a weird gait for a Rottweiler, I was actually tickled that he finally got his Rottie waddle on, albeit later in life.
Are you still carrying on with physiotherapy? I had a hip replacement a few years ago, and I was still limping six months afterwards, even though I had no pain - it was the way my body had learned to move. I had to go back and have more physiotherapy, and happily I don't limp at all now. I'd have a chat with your vet, just to be sure.
You need a professional to observe and perhaps more Xrays. ONe idea is, do you have a really accomplished trainer near you? OUr agility instructor observed minute changes in the movement of one dog and Xray later confirmed a bad cruciate. She had been observing that dog all along though, so I bet that helped. I hope to have my last PT appt. today for my broken ankle. One thing we have been working on is getting my legs, both of them, to "remember" how they moved before the end of one hurt. Amazing how long it took. Dogs must be the same?
