Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Local vet completes 21st tibial tuberosity advancement surgery

Shauni James
By Shauni James
Rotorua Weekender reporter·Rotorua Daily Post·
30 Jun, 2017 01:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Dr David Barrowman in all his gear with an x-ray of a dog's knee joint. Photo/Shauni James

Dr David Barrowman in all his gear with an x-ray of a dog's knee joint. Photo/Shauni James

A local vet has recently completed his 21st tibial tuberosity advancement surgery.

Dr David Barrowman completed the milestone surgery last week.

He says it is great this high-tech surgery is happening in "little ol' Rotorua".

"From our perspective it's cool Rotorua is doing very high tech orthopedic surgery on dogs which is certainly not done everywhere."

The surgery helps to get a very lame dog back to being mobile, and this particular surgery helps get them back quickly, he says.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

David says in dogs' knee joint there are two ligaments and the front one tears.

He says the way they fix it with the surgery is by putting in a titanium wedge made by a 3D printer, chosen for that particular dog.

David says they make a cut in the bone and move the front of the bone further forward, and then put the wedge in there to keep it forward.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A plate with titanium screws is also used to hold it all together.

He says it used to be a surgery only done by specialist vets in cities such as Auckland or Hamilton.

At Vetora they were trained and started doing the surgery a year ago.

"Most of the dogs are doing really well after surgery and are back to full work or fun."

He says it is a reasonably complicated orthopedic surgery and they get dressed up in gowns, masks and gloves.

David says it is a real team effort from start to finish and he could not do it without the nurses.

He says being able to offer the surgery in Rotorua means dog owners did not have to travel to other cities to get it done.

David says they have done the surgery on dogs from other areas Taupo and Auckland.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Lifestyle

'New perspective on life': Alone: Australia's first Kiwi winner on what got him through

10 Jun 04:31 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Pregnant dairy worker thrown to the ground in attempted robbery

10 Jun 03:03 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Expect delays': Traffic backed up after incident leaves person critical

09 Jun 11:53 PM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'New perspective on life': Alone: Australia's first Kiwi winner on what got him through

'New perspective on life': Alone: Australia's first Kiwi winner on what got him through

10 Jun 04:31 AM

Shay Williamson also reveals what he plans to do with the $270,000 prize.

Pregnant dairy worker thrown to the ground in attempted robbery

Pregnant dairy worker thrown to the ground in attempted robbery

10 Jun 03:03 AM
'Expect delays': Traffic backed up after incident leaves person critical

'Expect delays': Traffic backed up after incident leaves person critical

09 Jun 11:53 PM
Rural worries grow over copper network deregulation

Rural worries grow over copper network deregulation

09 Jun 11:46 PM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP