[annette22]

Hi,

I have two 5 month yorkie girls Maya and Lily. When I went for my first Vet visit when they were 10 weeks old, the vet told me that Maya has weak knee caps and we will have to watch for that, but Lily was fine. Now, Maya is not a jumper & she is scared to jump of any furniture but Lily jumps very high. Two days ago, I came home from work and Lily was limping - badly. She couldn't put her paw down, step on it and she was just walking on three legs. Next morning it was much better and she was able to walk, but I took her to see the vet anyways.

The vet said that Lily has very weak knee caps in both her rear legs. They gave me a handout about the disease and said that they were born with this so it was passed along from the parents and they strongly advised me not to breed. The nurse was angry that the breeder keeps breeding puppies with this condition and doesn't say anything to the buyers. I had a dog named Lily from the same breeder who was almost 4 when she was hit by a car and I never had any problems so I decided to get my new girls from the same woman trusting her and thinking she is honest... Was I wrong. I mean what is a chance of buying two girls that have the same condition ???

Anyways, the vet didn't do xrays so I don't know what stage they are at. I see it is getting better but at least once a day I see her limping especially when they play together. Vet told me that it is something new so Lily doesn't really know what it is and she will figure out on her own how to pup it back in. I have doggy steps which I bought when I found out about Maya's weak knee caps when they were 10 weeks old. Other than that I don't know any preventive forms.

The vet told me there is nothing I can do for them. They are not in pay because they don't cry, so they can live with it. She didn't do any xrays so I don't know how bad it is. I'm thinking it's probably the 1st or 2nd stage because she seems ok - only sometimes would raise the leg up for a minute or two and then she seems ok again.

I researched online but it doesn't say if there are any supplements you can take like glucosamine.
Can anyone tell me anything helpful? Did anyone went through anything like this or the surgery??? How much is a surgery like that? I'm looking at probably operating on both of them but as a last resort only. I want to do it the natural way first and see if there is anything I can do to make their life easier.

It's really hard for me to see Lily limping because I lost my other dog 4 months ago and I would do anything to make them not go thru this. They are so small and innocent it makes me want to cry, and it makes me soooo angry at the breeder because she is causing pain not only for the puppies but also for the owners.

:_(