[Gracie2006]

This is a hard question to answer for a grade II. Gracie was a grade II in one leg, a grade III in the other, based on clinical exam pre-op. It was the pre-op grade III leg that she favored when going down stairs or hills. She had the surgery. It turned out that based on operative findings, the pre-op grade II was actually a grade III, but was not symptomatic. My GF is a vet. She told me that the LPs cause pain every time they luxate, even if the dog does not overtly show it. For a grade II, you might consider getting another opinion or two. As you are probably aware, while many dogs do just fine without surgery, many others do not and end up with arthritis much sooner than a dog without LP and by the time the arthritis sets in, it is too late to do anything about it.

Gracie's recovery time went like this. 4 weeks strict confinement, then gradually return to normal activity over the next 4 weeks. For the first couple of weeks, she was in pain and did not want to wander around much. It was hard keeping her quiet after that. Somehow they know they have an owie and need to stay quiet, at least as long as the bandages/casts are on.