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Originally Posted by pstinard  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. |
I agree with your last sentence in IF the LP is severe and by that I don't mean the grading. The symptoms are what should be considered. The surgeon I use said that many times LP is repaired and then the CCL tears and the poor pup needs surgery yet again. Tough on the pup and hard on the owner's pocketbook.
In a puppy it is a whole different ball game.