Quote:
Originally Posted by ladyjane 
As for the LP, I personally would probably repair both knees. I don't feel that way about adult yorkies, but puppies yes. The surgeon I go to said while it is not wrong to fix LP in adult dogs it is really not necessary unless they are causing major issues (which is rare...usually when there are issues it is due to other things going on in the knee such as a torn cruciate ligament). He said that IF they tear a ligament, then he will repair the ligament and the LP. We were just there the other day with a YHR foster pup and, once again, the surgeon told us that the risk of arthritis is really not that bad with LP. There IS however, severe arthritis in torn cruciate ligaments. He said that many vets say that if a dog's LP is not repaired it will lead to arthritis but he has not seen that. I might add that every one of my personal pups have LP and are adults, and not one has arthritis in his/her knee. The reason to repair LP in a puppy is to try to prevent the wear and tear on the cruciate ligament which leads to tears; BUT it is not always going to prevent a tear. A pup can tear a ligament without even having LP.
|
Good point about arthritis not necessarily being associated with luxating patella. A lot of veterinarians say that it is, including my own vet, as well as this online article about luxating patella linked below:
01 Medial Luxating Patella - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company!
HOWEVER, I looked through the scholarly literature, and found a study that showed that although LP surgery improves a dog's mobility and quality of life, it doesn't reduce the frequency with which arthritis develops:
"In this study, surgery significantly improved limb use in dogs with lameness caused by medial patellar luxation. The beneficial effect of surgery on limb use has been reported by other investigators. However, surgical correction did not prevent progression of osteoarthritis in stifles of dogs with medial patellar luxation. Our findings were consistent with a previous report in which osteoarthritis progressed after surgical treatment of patellar luxation."
From
A Retrospective Evaluation of Stifle Osteoarthritis in Dogs with Bilateral Medial Patellar Luxation and Unilateral Surgical Repair - ROY - 2008 - Veterinary Surgery - Wiley Online Library (which is behind a paywall, of course).
So nix what I said earlier about surgery for severe LP preventing arthritis, but surgery for severe LP is still VERY beneficial for the dog's mobility and quality of life.