Ursula Knee-High in Surgeries

by Carolyn Cothran

A few months ago, we sent Manuel off to look for a dog we thought needed to be rescued. He came back with five! One poor baby had a leg fractured in three places. Another in the group, was this gorgeous 5-year old yellow lab we named Ursula. This girl is the absolute sweetest thing in the world. She loves belly rubs and hugs more than probably any dog in recent history.

We noticed, though, that she wasn’t standing up a lot and she seemed to be in pain. Naturally we initially thought it may be hip dysplasia. Dra. Laura and Dra. Tere examined her and thought it seemed more like the knees. They took her to an orthopedic specialist and sure enough both knees were suffering from dysplasia.

Ursula needed surgery on each of her knees. The surgery is called Tibial plateau leveling osteotomy or TPLO for short. She would need the first one, on her worst knee, then recover and then the next knee. The vets took her in and assisted in the surgery. Ursula stayed in the hospital for two days and recovered like a champ. We then had a foster take her to their home as she had to limit her walking for the recovery. Slowly but surely we had a playful, happy, ready to go lab.

Her next surgery will be scheduled in the next few weeks. We can’t wait to see her totally pain free and living her best life.