Orthopaedics is the treatment of problems relating to bones and joints. This is quite a specialised area of veterinary work and we are glad that we are able to offer a broad range of these services to our own clients and to clients of other practices. Our orthopaedic service at Temple End is led by James Copland and Peter Thomas.
Between them they have over 30 years of experience performing orthopaedic surgery in cats and dogs. Both James and Peter hold postgraduate certificates in small animal surgery, and James is an RCVS Recognised Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Surgery. This is the highest level of qualification that a vet working in general practice can achieve.
At our brand new Stokenchurch hospital we are able to deal with the majority of orthopaedic conditions including cruciate disease, elbow disease, hip disorders and fractures. We have state-of-the-art equipment to investigate and treat orthopaedic problems and 24-hour care of the patients that need to stay in with us. Our vastly experienced nursing team includes certificate holders with particular interests in emergency care, anaesthesia and pain management. We are happy to accept referrals from other veterinary practices, or for clients to contact us directly to arrange a consultation to discuss their pets’ care. All of our initial orthopaedic consultations are 30 minutes long.
For any patients that require a CT scan, we are able to arrange these on an outpatient basis at a neighbouring practice, with subsequent treatment or procedures taking place at Stokenchurch. We are pleased to be able to offer an indicative price guide for most routine orthopaedic procedures, which includes pre-operative assessment, post-operative medication and follow-up appointments:
TPLO for cruciate disease (one leg): £3000-4000
TPLO (two legs): £6000-7500
Lateral suture for cruciate disease (where indicated): £1500-2000
Patella luxation surgery (one leg): £2000-3000
Fracture repair: £2500-4000 (for the majority of fractures. Some more complex fractures could be more expensive)
Humeral condylar fracture (‘Y- fracture’ of the elbow) repair: £5000-6000
Hip toggle for hip dislocation: £2000-3000
Femoral head and neck excision: £1200-1500
Pancarpal arthrodesis: £3500-5000
Pantarsal arthrodesis: £3500-5000
Elbow arthroscopy (unilateral): £2000-3000 (outpatient CT scan required)
Elbow arthroscopy (bilateral): £2500-3500 (outpatient CT scan required)
Post-operative x-rays, usually taken 8-10weeks after surgery, are necessary in some cases, but optional in others. These are not included in the price guide given above but are typically £200-300.
The cost of more complex fracture repairs and other procedures can be estimated upon review of patient history and radiographs.
One of the most common orthopaedic conditions we treat is cruciate disease.
The Slocum TPLO is the technique favoured by most orthopaedic specialists around the world and has consistently been shown to give superior results when compared to other techniques. Here at Temple End we use the Slocum technique to treat the majority of our patients and all of our TPLOs have Biomedtrix Biocurve plates placed, which is an industry-leading TPLO plating system, originally developed in the USA, and favoured by orthopaedic specialists all over the world. These plates feature a unique anti-microbial coating on top of their stainless-steel construction which helps to minimise post-surgery complications.
We sometimes opt for alternative surgical procedures to treat cruciate disease and have experience with a wide variety of techniques including TTA procedures, TTO procedures, lateral suture procedures and others. We will advise you if there is a different, superior or less expensive option available to suit your pet.
We are constantly examining the outcomes of our patients to make sure we are in line with or better than other centres in terms of our results. As part of this process, we are proud to be part of the Canine Cruciate Registry, which is a system of independent review. The Canine Cruciate Registry enables owners to input their experience of their pet’s recovery from their surgery in to the database. This typically involves completing a short multiple-choice questionnaire on their mobility prior to the surgery, 6 weeks post-operatively, 12 weeks post-operatively, and annually thereafter. There is more information on the registry here: www.caninecruciateregistry.org/dog-owners-faq/
Following verbal consent, all of our patients are sent an invitation to join the registry automatically when they are booked in for their surgery. This allows us to keep a long-term track of our patients for auditing purposes and helps contribute to the overall understanding of the best way to manage cruciate disease in dogs. James has been recognised as one of the top contributing surgeons to the Canine Cruciate Registry in 2024-2025.