Dr. St. Clair,
You are an amazing man! My pooch Brett will be having his TTA surgery this Thursday.I was so filled with anxiety when I received the news that Brett’s ACL was ruptured. I found your site and booklet on post-op care. Thank you so much. Your excellent information has put my mind in a much better place. I feel prepared now. You are the best.
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Hi Dr. James,
Our golden is five months out from surgery and I am very grateful to have had the benefit of your wisdom and guidance. Connor started a weekly rehab program in December using the underwater treadmill and other strengthening exercises. We of course are continuing conditioning him at home on a daily basis as well. He is now off-leash with me while I snowshoe for 15-30 minutes and doing fabulous. Without your detailed weekly guidance during the initial recovery process and the continued support for strengthening I would not have felt as confident as I now do now to let him off-leash at this point. Thank you very much for this valuable information and support! I just finished giving a review of your TTA book. I have attached for your information.
“My golden retriever is close to his five month recovery for TTA surgery. Although the surgery was a success in MN, I found the surgeon’s 2 page recommended recovery process lacking in detail. It is very important to exactly know how to do each exercise and a 2 page summary just wasn’t enough for me. I researched the web for more detail and discovered Dr. St. Clair’s very detailed TTA recovery information. I was so relieved to see videos of how to do each week’s exercise as well as the much needed support to continue through the entire process to enable our golden to recover completely. Oddly enough, our surgeon just said, “use common sense” and we were then left on our own at twelve weeks. This just didn’t feel right to me. I e-mailed Dr. St. Clair about my concerns at week twelve of letting my dog off-leash. Dr. St. Clair immediately responded by telling me that it was not ok until both legs measured the same in muscle mass. Since our winters are very harsh I was concerned that my golden would lose whatever strength he had gained going forward due to a decreased exercise schedule during our icy/cold conditions. I also found a rehab facility through Dr. St. Clair’s website in Oakdale MN which specializes in PT for dogs recovering from TTA surgery. Our golden has been using an underwater treadmill and all sorts of strengthening equipment weekly and will continue for twelve weeks. The muscle mass has improved and is near equal to the non-surgical leg. We are now off leash in the snow for 15-30 minutes while I snowshoe! I would not have known about the importance of continued rehab or the many exercises recommended if it had not been for Dr. St. Clair’s website and TTA guide. I truly believe that without Dr. St. Clair’s caring help and detailed guidance for TTA recovery, our golden would not be as strong as he is now. I cannot emphasize how important it is to follow Dr. St. Clair’s instructions completely to ensure that your beloved pet recovers to their full potential. By the way, this is the first time I have written such a glowing recommendation for any product. This is the real deal and you will not find another detailed TTA recovery explanation better than this. “
Thank you Dr. James!
Hi Dr. James,
Our golden is five months out from surgery and I am very grateful to have had the benefit of your wisdom and guidance. Connor started a weekly rehab program in December using the underwater treadmill and other strengthening exercises. We of course are continuing conditioning him at home on a daily basis as well. He is now off-leash with me while I snowshoe for 15-30 minutes and doing fabulous. Without your detailed weekly guidance during the initial recovery process and the continued support for strengthening I would not have felt as confident as I now do now to let him off-leash at this point. Thank you very much for this valuable information and support! I just finished giving a review of your TTA book. I have attached it for your information.
“My golden retriever is close to his five-month recovery from TTA surgery. Although the surgery was a success in MN, I found the surgeon’s 2 pages recommended recovery process lacking in detail. It is very important to exactly know how to do each exercise and a 2 page summary just wasn’t enough for me. I researched the web for more detail and discovered Dr. St. Clair’s very detailed TTA recovery information. I was so relieved to see videos of how to do each week’s exercise as well as the much-needed support to continue through the entire process to enable our golden to recover completely. Oddly enough, our surgeon just said, “use common sense” and we were then left on our own at twelve weeks. This just didn’t feel right to me. I e-mailed Dr. St. Clair about my concerns at week twelve of letting my dog off-leash. Dr. St. Clair immediately responded by telling me that it was not ok until both legs measured the same in muscle mass. Since our winters are very harsh I was concerned that my golden would lose whatever strength he had gained going forward due to a decreased exercise schedule during our icy/cold conditions. I also found a rehab facility through Dr. St. Clair’s website in Oakdale MN which specializes in PT for dogs recovering from TTA surgery. Our golden has been using an underwater treadmill and all sorts of strengthening equipment weekly and will continue for twelve weeks. The muscle mass has improved and is near equal to the non-surgical leg. We are now off-leash in the snow for 15-30 minutes while I snowshoe! I would not have known about the importance of continued rehab or the many exercises recommended if it had not been for Dr. St. Clair’s website and TTA guide. I truly believe that without Dr. Sinclair’s caring help and detailed guidance for TTA recovery, our golden would not be as strong as he is now. I cannot emphasize how important it is to follow Dr. St. Clair’s instructions completely to ensure that your beloved pet recovers to their full potential. By the way, this is the first time I have written such a glowing recommendation for any product. This is the real deal and you will not find another detailed TTA recovery explanation better than this. ”
Thank you Dr. James!
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Dear Dr. J,
I just wanted to say that you are so admired for your dedication and caring. Your informative messages are always appreciated and they are a great learning experience, especially in your presentation.
I am so glad that I found your site over a year ago while gathering insight on the different surgical procedures for a cruciate ligament tear and after reading your informative explanation of the differences in the procedures was greatly relieved by the choice made to have TTA done. The best part was your detailed day to day recovery instructions, which I was truly so gratified to have, in the recovery of my Standard Poodle…Deedee, who was only 1 1/2 at the time. And I referred my vet to your site as well as showing him your recovery instructions….he in turn has referred several of his patients…I also gave a copy to the surgeon!
Unfortunately after the first month she somehow threw one of the screws out and cracked a bone, which put us back a little, but the surgeon felt that since the cage was still in place her bone would hopefully heal around it and we would not need further surgery. She did heal …no further surgery but she does have a “funny” gate…she throws that “knee” out while walking, but we have built that muscle up. We go for good walks, but I have hesitated to let her run loose in the park and I’m sure that as she ages will see the effects of arthritis.
Which brings me to another wonderful compliment to you….the GlycanAid is a terrific supplement. Our other girl…Willa who will be 5 in October is our rescued girl and she has bad hips. Both of our girls are on the GlycanAid. One quick question if you are able to respond, the girls are suffering from allergies and are very itchy, as we are trying to eliminate all kinds of possibilities, you haven’t had anyone that’s had an allergic reaction have you?
I could go on but I’m sure you get so many wonderful testimonials from everyone who discovers you, that you don’t possibly have time to read all of them. Just also wanted to thank you so much for your personal note.
I found this printed material to be EXTREMELY helpful and was so grateful to have them as a resource. My dog had TTA surgery in January and I followed the rehab plan as close to it as I could and I am happy to report that (after what seemed like a very long, trying process) Cody is 100% – happy, running and playing. Having the step-by-step guide as so helpful :)
Thank you for publishing this and making it available to us all who have to go through the surgery with our pets!!
I also bought the joint supplements and intend on keeping him on those.
Thanks again! I will recommend Top Dog to everyone I know.
Thanks – your information has been very helpful and at end of week 1 we are doing very well — too well and that’s the problem — very active dog not used to being calm and quiet — but doing his best. your articles and information are very helpful. Surgery was today – he had a TTA and comes home tomorrow. They say he did well and had 25% tear in the ligament, slight arthritis and did a meniscus release… thanks for the tips – this is a very big learning process – first time.
Our GS had TTA on his stifle on the winter solstice. He is almost a month out. He was a rescue from a kill shelter and even though looks to be pure bred he is genetically messed up. Will turn 4 in Feburary and from 9 months on has been in therapy. Had prolo therapy on one hip. Both knees need surgery so that’s why we elected to try the first one.
We will see how he does during the next 2 critical months.
I received more help from your site than I did from the surgeon and his associates.
Keep up your good work.
