luxating patellas

[Blewstones]

Hi! My 4 year old Candy has luxating patellas in both knees. The vet didn't say what level it is, only asked if it is bothersome. At the present time, it seems to be ok. After reading several posts, I am wondering if it would
aggravate the knees to be walked just about every day, since I live in Pa., and the weather is now breaking. Candy is also about 2 lbs overweight, so I figure the walks would be good that way.
Thanks for any advice!

[Patti]

Cali has been diagnosed with grade 4 lp in bith knees. They donot bother her at all so far and she is going to be 3. The vet said she may never need surgery or she may so we are taking a wait and see approach. One of the things that can help is keeping them from getting over weight. Cali is a tad overweight but I am working on that. Of all of my girls, Cali is the one who loves to go on walks and the other like to be in the stroller but not her. So I figure if her knee's start bothering her I will put her in the stroller. Good luck with your baby

[nikkinack]

Lily had grade 2 in her right leg and grade 3 in her left leg and had surgery 4 weeks ago due to the issues she was having. Most vets say it is fine to be left alone no matter what stage as long as it is not bothering the dog. If it is bothering them they will skip when walking and running and some even quit using a leg and will hop around on three. If your dog is showing no signs I would say don’t worried about it I would just be careful about her being over weight and jumping on and off things like bed and couch this could make it worse.

[Blewstones]

thank you both for your timely responses! That's what I thought, but wanted to make sure. Well, it's off for our walk! Take care

[Gracie2006]

Gracie had grade 3 in her right leg and grade 2 in her left leg , she had surgery on both about 6 weeks ago. The surgeon said that during surgery, clinically, it was the left that was worse than the right. This is interesting because she was not always bearing weight on the right leg. Some things to think about are: 1. Symptoms don't alway correlate to degree of severity. My girl friend is a vet and says that LP causes pain with every step (grade 2 and above), even if the dog does not show it. 2. Even though things may seem "fine" now, every time the patella luxates it is causing friction and down the road, this will result in degeneration of the knee joint. By then it will be too late to do anything about it. I chose to fix both of Gracie's patella's now, as that is the only way to ensure that she won't be disabled from it down the road. It's a tough decision to make, but one that so far I don't regret. I could never live with myself if I could have done something to prevent her from being crippled and didn't.

[loveyorks]

Originally Posted by Blewstones

Hi! My 4 year old Candy has luxating patellas in both knees. The vet didn't say what level it is, only asked if it is bothersome. At the present time, it seems to be ok. After reading several posts, I am wondering if it would
aggravate the knees to be walked just about every day, since I live in Pa., and the weather is now breaking. Candy is also about 2 lbs overweight, so I figure the walks would be good that way.
Thanks for any advice!

Chewy is also 4 yrs old and has been diagnosed with LP but no mention of grade, we often go on walks and he sometimes walks on three legs and jumping up on furniture takes several tries before he succeeds, but the dog does not seem to be in any pain, if anything I'm the one feeling sorry for him. My vet said as long as he feels no pain all is OK. So we just wait and see - so far he seems oblivious to it, apart from the multiple jumps.

[tpaxton23]

My little Dylan is going to have the LP surgery done on his left back leg. It didn't use to bother him very much except for an ocassional skip but recently it has become much worse and sometimes he will now hold it up and not use it at all. He's only 2 years old. My vet said it's only a grade 2 but it definitely is bothering him. I am going for a consult with a surgeon this Thursday.

I'm so worried about him surviving the surgery because he also has a collapsed trachea. I'm hoping that the surgeon will be able to alleviate some of my fears. If he says the surgery is risky because of his collapsed trachea then I won't go through with it.

[Shelby&Seymour]

Originally Posted by Gracie2006

Gracie had grade 3 in her right leg and grade 2 in her left leg , she had surgery on both about 6 weeks ago. The surgeon said that during surgery, clinically, it was the left that was worse than the right. This is interesting because she was not always bearing weight on the right leg. Some things to think about are: 1. Symptoms don't alway correlate to degree of severity. My girl friend is a vet and says that LP causes pain with every step (grade 2 and above), even if the dog does not show it. 2. Even though things may seem "fine" now, every time the patella luxates it is causing friction and down the road, this will result in degeneration of the knee joint. By then it will be too late to do anything about it. I chose to fix both of Gracie's patella's now, as that is the only way to ensure that she won't be disabled from it down the road. It's a tough decision to make, but one that so far I don't regret. I could never live with myself if I could have done something to prevent her from being crippled and didn't.

Totally what information I got from the Ortho surgeon that did Shelby's surgery AND also what the Vet at the Rehabilitation center told me. I have really got to see this first hand........ Shelby now has "straight" knees now but before she was bow-legged. She was compensating for the luxating patellas. The muscles and tendons in her inner thigh and going from her back to her thighs were not being used the way they should have. Some were being stretched and others not used(kind of like when you have a broken leg and it is in a cast for a long time.... it gets small & weak). We are doing Physical therapy to strengthen the inner thigh muscles (that weren't being used as much due to the "bow-leggedness") and also to loosen the back muscles (tendons) that go down to the back legs... because now they are straight and so they are "tight". I would think that the longer you wait and the worse it gets, the longer the recovery would be also.
Can I suggest that you talk to an orthopedic specialist? You may want to get more info and they could explain it the best..... Good Luck to you!

[JC61]

Hi, My 7 month old Annie had the surgery on her back left leg last week. She is doing very well. Can't jump or chase the cat for awhile. Kept in a playpen and does very well. On pain medications and antibiotic for the next week or so. We saw 3 vets and not one would x-ray her legs and finally found a ortho vet and that is first thing he did. Found she was a grade 5 and was in need of the surgery now. If we didn't do it, she may have been lame or her leg would have been held up. So with that information we said do the surgery. If you have a dog that is showing any of these problems, get the vet to x-ray now.

[JC61]

Annie had surgery 2 weeks ago and was doing so well. She put too much weight on that leg in turning around she broke the leg. Right below the knee surgery on her back right leg. Now in a cast for the next few weeks or longer. Every Tuesday, she has to come in and have the cast off to work her knee and cast goes back on until the next Tuesday.

[demitasse]

Originally Posted by Gracie2006

Some things to think about are: 1. Symptoms don't alway correlate to degree of severity. My girl friend is a vet and says that LP causes pain with every step (grade 2 and above), even if the dog does not show it. 2. Even though things may seem "fine" now, every time the patella luxates it is causing friction and down the road, this will result in degeneration of the knee joint. By then it will be too late to do anything about it. .

I just got home from a visit to a new vet, and this is the exact same thing she told me.

[JOYJEEP50]

My Jimathy now 1y 8mos had his operation a little over 8mos ago on both his hind legs (left was 5 right side 3.) He had his limb since he was 4mos old. The operation, I was told, went just as it should have. I did everything that the doc told me to do about aftercare. Had his checkup that was okay. My problem is he's starting to hold up his left leg again. It's not broken. Can he get this patella a 2nd time? I thought this was something they were born with and runs in their blood line, that why you shouldn't breed them. (I got him for breeding) I pd $2900 for his operation ( he is worth every penny of it too) Will I have to pay a 2nd time or should they be responseable..The ortho Doc comes only once a month to my vets, so i'm waiting. Has any one out there had this happen to them?

[TLC]

Originally Posted by JOYJEEP50

My Jimathy now 1y 8mos had his operation a little over 8mos ago on both his hind legs (left was 5 right side 3.) He had his limb since he was 4mos old. The operation, I was told, went just as it should have. I did everything that the doc told me to do about aftercare. Had his checkup that was okay. My problem is he's starting to hold up his left leg again. It's not broken. Can he get this patella a 2nd time? I thought this was something they were born with and runs in their blood line, that why you shouldn't breed them. (I got him for breeding) I pd $2900 for his operation ( he is worth every penny of it too) Will I have to pay a 2nd time or should they be responseable..The ortho Doc comes only once a month to my vets, so i'm waiting. Has any one out there had this happen to them?

Sorry to say, but surgery is not a 100% guarantee. It's just like a human having knee surgery, sure it will fix the problem, but something could happen down the line.

Roxy had both legs done at the same time. 6 weeks after surgery her right leg was luxating again. Back for surgery on that leg and all is good for that leg. 6 months after the first surgery and her left leg started to luxate again. I have put off surgery b/c she has been dealing with skin infections and until she is cleared of that I will do surgery again.

As far as payment. The first surgery for both cost $3000 - the 2nd surgery to repair the right leg cost either $600 or $800 (I had to pay for meds and the extra hospital nights that I wanted her to stay b/c I couldn't care for her).