As many of you know, I travel through life with my playful, big-hearted sidekick: Buster.

Buster has been with me since he was 8 weeks old. He was by my side during the loss of my brother and throughout all my travel nursing adventures. He is 4.5 years old now.

Last week, Buster and I were playing fetch at the park. On the way home, I noticed he wasn’t using his back left leg at all. The next day, he was diagnosed with a ruptured CCL (the equivalent of an ACL in humans). Right now, he can’t run, jump, use stairs, or play. He is in pain.

The vet recommended a type of surgery, TPLO. We are moving forward with it because he deserves a better quality of life, but it’s extremely expensive.

I’ve lost a lot, but Buster has been by my side through much of it. I’m not ready to let him lose his energetic spirit. Please consider helping cover his needed surgery.

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TPLO info:

- The cranial cruciate ligament (CrCL) is one of the most important stabilizers inside the canine knee (stifle) joint, the middle joint in the back leg. In humans the CrCL is called the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

- Certain dog breeds are known to have a higher incidence of CrCLD (Rottweiler, Newfoundland, Staffordshire Terrier, Mastiff, Akita, Saint Bernard, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and Labrador Retriever).

- Surgical treatment is typically the best treatment for CrCLD since it is the only way to permanently control the instability present in the knee joint

- Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) involves making a semicircular cut around the top of the tibia and rotating its contact surface (tibial plateau) until it attains a near-level orientation (approximately 90 degrees) relative to the attachment of the quadriceps muscles. This renders the knee more stable in the absence of the CrCL. The cut in the bone needs to be stabilized by the use of a locking bone plate and screws.

“Most data show that 90-95% of dogs will return to their previous activity after the TPLO. All dogs develop arthritis within a few weeks of the ligament tearing due to inflammation, but once the knee is stabilized, this minimizes the arthritis.”

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average cost of TPLO surgery in the United States is between $3,500 and $5,500.