A Complete Introduction to Safety-Focused TPLO - Veterinarians

September 11 - 13, 2025

Course Description

You’re experienced in bone plating, and you’ve treated your share of cruciate ligament ruptures with extracapsular suture stabilization. With your basic knowledge of stifle anatomy and experience with surgical approaches to stifle and bone plate application, you’re ready for the next step: TPLO.

This hybrid course includes 3 comprehensive hours of bite-sized online modules that provide valuable tips on pathophysiology of CrCL disease, diagnosis, positioning for TPLO radiographs, preoperative planning, meniscal injury / treatment, and reducing surgical site infections.

Once in our CE lab, you’ll develop your hands-on surgical skills to perform stifle arthrotomy, meniscal treatment, and TPLO using plastic bone models and cadaveric specimens. This is the only TPLO course in North America that supports you each step of the way during and after your training.** While here, you’ll also spend time in insightful radiographic review discussions of your TPLO’s before repeating the procedure on your pathway toward mastery.

** Ponder this … even if you were trained to fly a Boeing 737, would you pilot a commercial flight without the decision-making support of a flight plan, a co-pilot, control tower and ground crew? Of course not. So, why would you do a surgery as intricate as TPLO without using a support team to enhance the safety for your patient?

This course trains you to use patient-specific pre-, intra- and post-operative support on your individual TPLO patients. You’ll learn how to receive case-by-case pre-operative guidance and procedural planning, use patient-specific instructions to perform a guided TPLO cut, and to use detailed postoperative critique to shorten your learning curve and more rapidly grow your skills. Curious what this is all about? Better check it out.

Open to technicians to attend with a veterinarian from their practice (1 technician per veterinarian)

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Access to this course will expire one year (365 days) from the course’s end date. After this period, users will no longer have access to course materials, resources, and any associated content. It is the responsibility of the users to complete the course and download any materials including their course completion certificate.

Agenda

TMI_TPLO_PreCourse TMI_TPLO_Sept11-13_2025

Instructors

Dr. Ross H. Palmer

DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVS

Dr. Palmer, a native of Kansas, received his BS and DVM degrees from Kansas State University. He completed an internship at The Animal Medical Center in New York City. He received his small animal surgical residency training and an MS degree (Physiology) from the University of Georgia. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. His veterinary career has spanned both academics (Texas A&M and Colorado State University) and private specialty practice (Silicon Valley/Monterey Bay region of California) as a staff surgeon and as a practice owner. Ross is currently a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Colorado State University and the Associate Director of Education at the Translational Medicine Institute. Dr. Palmer seeks to entertain as he educates in order to make learning an enjoyable and memorable experience. He has been an invited speaker at conferences throughout the USA and the world. He was recently named VMX Speaker of the Year. He is the founder of the Complete Course on External Skeletal Fixation educating veterinarians from around the world for 25 years. He’s authored > 50 journal articles and book chapters. He is past President of the Veterinary Orthopedic Society (VOS), editorial board member of Today’s Veterinary Practice, board member of the VOS, World Veterinary Orthopaedic Congress, North American Veterinary Conference and the Veterinary Surgery Journal. Ross’ personal passions include international travel, cycling, hiking, fishing, and relaxing with his family in their family’s “off the grid” island cabin in remote northwestern Ontario, Canada

Dr. Susan Schaefer

Susan Schaefer, DVM, MS, DACVS is a clinical associate professor at University of WI- Madison, Department of Surgical Sciences. Dr. Schaefer completed her masters in 1988 and her DVM in 1992 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed a small animal medicine and surgery at The Ohio State University in 1993, followed by a small animal surgery residency at Michigan State University in 1997 and became a diplomate of ACVS in 1999. Clinical interests include small animal orthopedics and arthroscopy.

Dr. Barbro Filliquist

Dr Barbro Filliquist is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She is a DVM from the University of California, completed an internship at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and returned to UC Davis to complete a Small Animal Surgical Residency. Dr. Filliquist became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2012 and a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2013. Her main areas of interest are minimally invasive surgery, including arthroscopy and fracture repair, traumatology and joint disease.

Dr. Owen Fink

DVM, DACVS-SA

Accused of being a “hobby thief” by his siblings, Dr. Fink dabbles in fine art, woodworking, digital design and 3D printing. Also, dad jokes. Having at Brown University, The University of Georgia and The University of Pennsylvania, when not engaged in general tinkering, Dr. Fink can be found practicing small animal orthopedic surgery at Skylos Sports Medicine in Maryland.

Travel

Questions about where to stay while you’re here? Our “Hotel Map” shows a few of the closest hotels to CSU VetCE.

Northern Colorado and the City of Fort Collins offer many great indoor and outdoor activities to explore. For an up-to-date list of activities, visit their website.

Policies

Participant Cancellation Policy: Course attendees can cancel their registration for an in-person course according to the following

Cancellation more than 60 days prior: Full refund or 100% Future Transfer Credit (FTC).
Cancellation 30-60 days prior: 50% refund or 75% FTC.
Cancellations within 30 days: 50% FTC only. Cancellations due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances will be considered on an individual basis.
Future Transfer Credits can be applied to any course within 365 days of the cancelled course.

Course Cancellation Policy: Course cancellations due to low registration numbers or other circumstances may be announced 35 days or more prior to the course. Full refund of the course registration or 100% Future Transfer Credit (FTC) will apply. We are unable to reimburse for travel expenses incurred.

Course Access Policy:

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