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Originally Posted by Gracie2006  Gracie had grade 3 in her right leg and grade 2 in her left leg , she had surgery on both about 6 weeks ago. The surgeon said that during surgery, clinically, it was the left that was worse than the right. This is interesting because she was not always bearing weight on the right leg. Some things to think about are: 1. Symptoms don't alway correlate to degree of severity. My girl friend is a vet and says that LP causes pain with every step (grade 2 and above), even if the dog does not show it. 2. Even though things may seem "fine" now, every time the patella luxates it is causing friction and down the road, this will result in degeneration of the knee joint. By then it will be too late to do anything about it. I chose to fix both of Gracie's patella's now, as that is the only way to ensure that she won't be disabled from it down the road. It's a tough decision to make, but one that so far I don't regret. I could never live with myself if I could have done something to prevent her from being crippled and didn't. |
Totally what information I got from the Ortho surgeon that did Shelby's surgery AND also what the Vet at the Rehabilitation center told me. I have really got to see this first hand........ Shelby now has "straight" knees now but before she was bow-legged. She was compensating for the luxating patellas. The muscles and tendons in her inner thigh and going from her back to her thighs were not being used the way they should have. Some were being stretched and others not used(kind of like when you have a broken leg and it is in a cast for a long time.... it gets small & weak). We are doing Physical therapy to strengthen the inner thigh muscles (that weren't being used as much due to the "bow-leggedness") and also to loosen the back muscles (tendons) that go down to the back legs... because now they are straight and so they are "tight". I would think that the longer you wait and the worse it gets, the longer the recovery would be also.
Can I suggest that you talk to an orthopedic specialist? You may want to get more info and they could explain it the best..... Good Luck to you!
