This dog is having an operation to repair a torn anterior Cruciate Ligament. This is a ligament in the knee joint that is torn when the dog twists the knee by cornering to quickly for instance when chasing sticks, it's also an injury of footballers remember Gazza ?

The dog is prepared for surgery given a general anaesthetic, the area of the knee is clipped and then cleaned so he is ready to go into the operating room.

The operating room is kept as sterile as possible so no infection is introduced during the operation, if you are squeamish you may not want to see any further pictures.

The incision is made to one side of the knee joint by David Giffin who has a special interest in surgery particularly orthopaedics.

The wound is deepened to cut though the fascia to expose the joint.

A strip of fascia is then cut which will act as graft which is passed through the joint to replace the torn ligament.

Here you can see the joint exposed so that David can check there is no damage to the Cartilage

Now you can see David passing the strip of tissue he has prepared through into the knee joint.

The graft is then sutured into place and will hopefully allow the joint to return to normal function.

Then David has to repair the wound he has made finishing up with a neat row of staples in the skin, easy if you have over 20 years experience and constantly update your knowledge.  The operation itself takes around 2 hours and with good aftercare he should be back to normal in 10 weeks or so.