My Pixie who was 4 1/2 at the time, had LP surgery in June. She was fine until Nikki, the male yorkie I took in scared her and she walked off the end of the bed. A day later she was falling over and couldn't stand on her left leg. I took her to the ER and the vet said LP. I was surprised since she had never been diagnosed with LP. I took her home and took her back later that night and got a different er vet and he said LP also and did an Xray. Both er vets said her left knee was out and would not stay in (grade 3/4) and would need surgery. I took her to my vet the next day and she agreed with them and advised a ortho consult. I took her for that and the board certified surgeon said surgery was needed. I left her right then and they did the surgery. She has since recovered nicely. I also have Cali 5 1/2 years old with grade 4 in both knees and they are permanently out but she shows no signs of it bothering her. Since she has mild MVD my vet and I agreed to just do a wait and see and hopefully she will never need surgery. My vet said she has treated dogs with Grade 4 that lived to 14 and never needed surgery. So it really is a case by case situation. All of mine use ramps and stairs and I am trying to keep their weight down to help reduce the need for surgery in the future. All 4 of mine have some degree of LP. I used the Care Credit for Pixie's surgery and it was 2600.00 just for surgery. I hope your baby can manage without surgery. |