Welcome to Spoiled Maltese!
:welcometosm:
I think there are others on this forum besides me who have experience with this--but here's a little from me for starters.
TPLO is a type of high-tech surgery to deal with cruciate ligament failure. Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy is the full name, I believe. It involves cutting through the tibia and repositioning the top of it to change the angle the tibia and femur meet, to redistribute the pressures so that the cruciate ligament is not even needed.
My Spunky had it in one leg when he was 12 years old. Traditional cruciate surgery had failed twice in the other leg, so it was kind of his last option to recover good mobility. And it was remarkable--he was trying to run around the day after surgery like nothing had ever been wrong!
Quite honestly I can't remember what, if anything, was recommended for his rehabilitation, except for exercise limitation. He was supposed to be on very, very limited activity for several months, until the bone healed. That was extremely difficult, especially as I had other dogs who he thought he had to boss around.
Sadly, he developed heart failure within the next year, completely unrelated to the surgery.
Anesthesia can upset a dog's eating habits, so I wouldn't worry too much about it right away.
TPLO is a very specialized technicque. It is patented and involves specially-designed instruments. There are some risks that are distinct to this type of surgery, so I believe the rehab or physical therapy recommendations could be different from other types of cruciate surgery.
So your vet and the TPLO surgeon should be your best resource on these issues.
You could try a google search--i found several interesting sites--and there's a yahoo forum, I believe called orthodogs. But I didn't find much info about TPLO specific to small dogs--who have the advantage of being portable if necessary.
I hope you'll keep us posted on your dog's recovery!
