Quote Originally Posted by Greg3093 View Post
most vets will only tell you of surgery as they get a % when the surgeon does the work.
Nonsense; it is illegal for veterinarians to demand or offer kickbacks for referral. Our regulatory body, the CVBC, will come down hard on any veterinarian doing so. Please do not make unfounded allegations in a public forum.

My experience with braces has been that the generic ones generally are a poor fit and, as a consequence, do not stabilize the knee properly and lead to pressure sores. Custom fitted ones, like those made by Orthopets do a bit better, but will run >$1500. Braces are a great solution for offering temporary support while something is healing. I like them for aiding patients with torn Achilles tendons after the surgical repair for example. However, a torn cruciate will never heal so the dog would need to wear the brace for life. Braces do not have an infinite lifespan; they will likely need replacement every 2 years and at >$1500 for a decent brace you are looking at the same expense as TPLO surgery over the dog's lifetime, but with a significant worse outcome..