[OwnedByJezebel]

Yes, it is very shocking to see the vet manipulate the patella, but that is how it is evaluated.

If I were you, I would get a second opinion from a board certified ortho vet. In my pup's case, she was diagnosed a little over a year ago as having stage 4 LP in both knees. I could see that she DID have LP, but I dismissed the grade because, like you, I had never seen her hop, limp, or carry either of her legs.

A couple of months later she did start to limp and carry, so I took her to the board certified ortho vet. He examined her and his diagnosis was that she was limping because she tore her CCL. He said that she had grade 2 in both knees, NOT grade IV that was diagnosed by the regular vet. She had surgery a few days later for the CCL tear and they also fixed the LP on that knee at the same time. However -- he never would have done the surgery to correct a grade 2 LP if that had been the only problem, but fixing the LP did make sense because they were going into the knee anyway. He recommended doing nothing on the other knee since it wasn't giving her any problems.

Since you've never noticed any problems, I would be shocked if an ortho vet would recommend surgery. I've seen several here that had a pup with LP for which their regular vet wanted to do surgery, but when they saw the ortho vet they were told it was not needed.

A visit to the ortho vet would let you know exactly what you were dealing with, the grade of the LP, etc. and since you are seeing no problems hearing from an expert that surgery isn't warranted at this time it will give you peace of mind.

Another thing about my regular vet that originally diagnosed my pup with grade 4: A couple of weeks ago I dropped both of my pups off at the vet for grooming and their yearly exam. This time she diagnosed my other pup with grade 4 LP that could not be popped back into place. WTH? I dropped off a dog with two perfectly functioning legs and picked up a dog that was still moving around just fine, full of energy and his usual bouncy self. That boy has never shown any problems, either, and the year before she said that she could just barely nudge one patella and the other was perfect. She was already gone for the day so I couldn't talk to her about it. All I had was a stupid print out with a diagnosis and surgery recommendation that upset me even though I really didn't agree with it.

I brought him home and felt both of his back legs up and down and could not tell ANY difference in the structure, all of the grooves and bumps and shape was exactly the same on both legs. I was going to bring him to the ortho vet but since there were no symptoms I decided to wait a bit. Two days later it was a Saturday when the vet practice takes walk-ins without an appointment so I thought why not take him back in just to talk to a vet and tell them I wanted to discuss what was given to me on that print-out. This time he saw a different vet. I showed him the print-out with the diagnosis and surgery recommendation, and told him I'm no expert but I can't tell any difference between the two knees and have never observed any problems.

Guess what his exam showed? Barely grade 1 in one knee and the other knee was perfect. That vet took him into the back to let vet #3 examine him and did not tell vet #3 the back story just to get an unbiased opinion, and that vet said the same thing. Needless to say I will not be back to vet #1, but if we have to see her I will not trust anything she has to say about LP!

I have a strong feeling that a visit with a specialist would really ease your mind.