Odin is a 4-year-old Bulldog mix in Honolulu, HI, who needs $1,998 for TPLO surgery.

This is Odin, he's a Bulldog,  American Bulldog and Mastiff mix that I rescued from the Hawaiian Humane Society in July.  I was overjoyed when I picked Odin up, he's super sweet like a big teddy bear, and even listens to common commands.  I thought to myself, this is too good to be true, who just gives away such a sweet dog, I guess I'm just lucky....  Turns out Odin has blown both his ACLs and needs a very expensive surgery.  This is probably why he was surrendered to the Humane Society.

We are hoping the power of social media can help and are looking for donations to contribute towards a TPLO procedure, any donation will help.  Please share this page and comment below even if you don't donate.  Mahalo!

Full Story:
After a few days of getting to know him I noticed he waddled a little when he walked and at the time didn't think much of it.  Then one day I noticed he wasn't putting full pressure on his back left leg.  I figured he hurt his back foot somehow, it didn't seem that bad, I'll just keep an eye on it.  After a few days of no improvement I realized this could be more serious than I thought, I better get him checked out.

The next day I took him to the Vet and right away the Vet could tell Odin's leg wasn't right, after giving him a thorough examination it was determined that Odin had an "cranial cruciate ligament" (CCL) which is basically the same thing as an ACL tear but for dogs it has a different name because of their anatomy.

Unfortunately for both Odin and I this is a fairly serious injury that requires a major operation and costs around $4000 per leg.

The name of the surgery is called TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) the philosophy behind the TPLO surgery is to completely change the dynamics of the dog’s knee so that the torn ligament becomes irrelevant to the stability of the knee itself.

Developed by Dr. Barclay Slocum, the TPLO surgery was originally considered a radical procedure for addressing canine ACL injuries. Now in existence for over 20 years, the surgery has proven itself time and time again, to be an extremely effective long-term solution for addressing this injury in dogs, providing quicker recover and superior long term results.

When a dog tears its ACL, every time the dogs goes to stand or put weight on the leg, the femur slides/rubs on the back of the tibia. This rubbing causes pain and inflammation, which is very uncomfortable. This is why most dogs with a torn ACL will not even put any weight on the leg, or if they do, they will just toe touch the leg to the ground.

The true beauty of the TPLO surgery is that it completely alters the dynamics of the knee. Once the bone is cut and the tibial plateau is rotated, where the femur and the tibia communicate, no longer can the femur slide backwards. The knee is immediately stabilized. By doing so, this eliminates the need for the ACL ligament entirely and returns stability to the joint immediately.

So here we are, about 4 weeks after the Vet diagnosed Odin's injured ACLs and his condition has not improved even with limiting all his activity down to just taking potty breaks.  In fact, he seems to be getting worse, he hardly puts any weight on his back left leg now and sometimes in the morning when he stretches he whines in pain.  I'll be documenting his entire recovery process and will keep updating everyone upto date here.