luxating patella

[mzzy]

Hi,

I'm really only here to vent and release some of my stress... this weekend my fiance and i were staying at my parents house so that we can do our weekend church marriage course. The church is closer to my parents house and it also gave my little Missy time to spend with them and their dog. Well, on Saturday night close to bed time i noticed Missy slightly limping, but then it went away within seconds... my parents were saying i was imagining it but i know i wasn't... sunday morning rolls around and she goes outside into the cold to go do her morning washroom run and she tries to jump up from the grass to the step and falls... then limps towards the sliding door so that i can let her in... I let her in, and she wimpers away to the corner.. i lift her up and try to massage her leg and stretch it out then hear a snap... and i freak out, start crying and put her down... but now, she's all good again... but still, i'm feeling she either broke her leg or she dislocated a joint... so i run to my laptop (which i brought with me to my parents house) and google "dislocated knee yorkie" and after a reading a few articles, i realized it was most likely luxating patella... so i went on yorkietalk.com and searched fro luxating patella and those are all the symptoms my missy has... now she's all sad, and definitely not herself... she covers into the corner and seems depressed... anyway, to make a long story short... although this post is a little long (sorry about that)... I brought Missy to the vet ($100 vet check) to just confirm that it is luxating patella... and surgery needs to be done... a cost of $2500 and most likely the other knee will need the same... the vet said it is definitely genetic... and that it's possible trama caused it to happen at an earlier time but genetics definitely plays a role in it...

My fiance is PISSED! he wants to send Missy to the humane society... my mom says if we plan to do that to give her Missy and she'll take care of her but not do the surgery... i don't know what to do!!!! I love her lots, but we're getting married in 2 months and have sooo many expenses... today, it didn't go out of place... we pick her up to go on the bed, we don't play fetch with her anymore and we're keeping her in bed most of the day... I know it's not life threatening.. but still... what can we do? we've had her for 11 months... and i checked my contract with the person i bought her from (not a breeder but a broker who sells lots of other dogs as well) and it says we have a 6 month life threatening genetic defect warranty... she's well past that and it's not life threatening... what a scammer.. although i wouldn't want to give her back or give her to the humane society... i had to ask my fiance (who happens to have a heart condition himself) "so if we have a baby, and he/she has a heart condition, should we give it up for adoption?" and he says it's different... but not to me... but we've agreed when we got her that if the cost of any surgery exceeds her original purchase price, we would not do it... so how do we deal with this now? she's so young still... she has her whole life ahead of her!!! she's only 1

thanks for letting me vent!

[bbrewser]

I am so sorry to hear what you are going through. Please, don't give her to the Humane society, if you can't find a way to get the surgery and keep her I will take her...just PM me. I know this is heartbreaking and I'm sorry you have to go through this. What about calling other vets and seeing what the cost is?

[mzzy]

That's another option i suppose is to check other vets... which i was planning on doing today... i don't want to give her up... she's such a great little girl.. we've trained her soooooo well... people even have offered to pay me 5 times what we bought her for and they're not even dog lovers, only because she's so well behaved.. it breaks my heart and i've been crying all day and i'm at work... so it sux!

[bbrewser]

I just read in another thread about a "lemon law" I'm pretty sure I've heard about it here in Canada(I don't know if it applies to brokers but if it's what they are doing for a living..maybe). Maybe you could check it out, then not only could you get money for the surgery but hopefully it will hurt this "broker" you got her from where it hurts(their pocketbook!!)...

[mzzy]

thanks, i'm trying to google that now... and not finding much about it here in Canada... I did look around and found that the University of Guelph has an animal hospital for interns and they do surgeries for a lower cost because interns watch and learn during the procedure... however we have to get a referral from our vet. We've left our vet a message this afternoon and waiting for him to get back to us. My fiance called me yesterday when he got home and sounded really sad and said "Honey, we just HAVE to do the surgery! It happened again and she wasn't even jumping" so I guess giving her away was all talk *whew*!!!

Another option is with an animal hospital close to my parents place that will allow for financing at no interest provided that we do the full monthly payments of approximately $200 per month for 18 months... I've also been told by some of the nurses at the vets that it would be more cost effective to do both knees cuz the other one will need it along the road as well... so i think we'll be doing that too... but I'm thinking we're still in the early stages cuz it's only luxating a few times a day... do you happen to know how often a grade 3 or 4 would luxate a day?

[PunkinPie]

How heartbreaking for you. I would definitely check with other vets, maybe even some out of an urban core where they may have lower overhead and charge less. Talk to everyone you know about it as you never know who they know who may be able to help you, or give you a recommendation for a new vet.

Our baby had the same surgery in August. It was $560. We have the best vet. This included x-rays a week before and a few months after and 5 follow-up appointments, pain meds, antibiotics and a can of soft food in case she wouldn't eat her homecooked stuff the first night.

Our vet assists the ortho surgeon, so it keeps the cost low. She is definitely not in it for the money. There have got to be other vets like her.

Please keep us posted.

[littlewhip]

Iam so sorry, praying for things to get better, please dont give her away.

[TLC]

Being that she is young, she will heal quickly. I do recommend both legs at the same time. Recovery is at least 8 weeks - NO JOKE - she will need to be contained in a crate of SMALL x-pen set up. NO walking, jumping or running. Nothing but resting. You will have to help her potty. You can make a sling from a small blanket and wrap around her belly to hold her up to potty. For the first 2 weeks, she really, really must have limited to no walking. After week 2 into 3, she can walk alittle more, and you will have to exercises with her legs. By week 4 to 5, she can have a little more walking time, and such as the weeks go by. But you have to be committed for the ENTIRE recovery, b/c any wrong move from her and she can damage the legs again.

But on a good note - You are gonna be soooooooooooooooo amazed at the BRAND NEW GIRL you get after she has healed - NIGHT and DAY - You'll be so amazed at the fact that you had NO IDEA how badly she really was effected by the LP

Best of Luck and keep us posted!

My advice - ONLY have a Certified Ortho Specialist preform the surgery. They are the most experienced. Once they open the leg, it's really small in there and they may have to be 'crafty' and 'artistic' (general Vets are NOT really that qualified for this type of surgery on such tiny legs).

[TLC]

IMO - Grade 3 and 4 are very bad and painful. LP doesn't get better, only worse, and once that cartilage is worn away it can not be replaced and you are left with bone rubbing on bone - VERY PAINFUL

[bbrewser]

I am so happy your fiance was just blowing smoke and that he has come around I checked with University of Saskatchewan to see if it was cheaper out west but they said approx$1700-2000(rough estimate of course) so I guess it isn't much better. I hope you can find something that will work for you and Missy...keep us posted!

[mzzy]

thanks so much for all your comments! Our vet called us back after leaving a message and he said he would refer us to the university of guelph, but that he has heard it is now more expensive... thanks bbrewser for checking with the uni of saskatchewan! So our next step is to wait for the UofG to call us back with a quote...

Yes, i too am glad my fiance was just blowing smoke and not really serious about giving her up!!!!

I'll keep you posted as to how much and where i get the surgery done... we've basically kept her in her crate thus far, letting her out to eat and go potty... the problem is, when i do let her out to eat, she gets all hyper cuz I think she needs to run around and exercise so she starts jumping and running all over the place, which then leads to her knee dislocating again... poor girl!

on another note, i found this article online that says surgery is the LAST thing you should do and should be done if it's in the worse stages... take a look http://www.earthsangels.com/html/luxpatel.shtml we also have her on Rimadyl, not sure if that will help???

[Gazou]

I don't really believe on her natural method . Even with this method , the dog will suffer .

Last week , a vet from the hospital had to replace the hip of a Yorkie . His owner was trying to cure it with vitamin C and glucosamine . Unfortunately , the hip completely dislocated .

[mzzy]

thanks for the info... we're gonna do the surgery... still waiting for the vet to call us with the info from UofG.

Question, if we get pet insurance now, does anyone know if that will cover the other leg if or when it happens? or would that be considered a pre-existing condition?

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by mzzy

thanks for the info... we're gonna do the surgery... still waiting for the vet to call us with the info from UofG.

Question, if we get pet insurance now, does anyone know if that will cover the other leg if or when it happens? or would that be considered a pre-existing condition?

unfortunately pet insurances will not cover LP surgery. i hope the place your waiting for a call from can give you a good price.

[mzzy]

does anyone mind me asking how much they paid for their LP surgery?