LP Surgery Help
 

Hello!!!
We have a 3 year old YORKIE, "Prince" and he hurt his leg jumping onto a couch. We waited for 2 days if it got better, eventually we took him to vet.after taking X-Rays, we we told that he has Luxating Patella and in that he has his knee cap getting locked.
I always call Prince, a Jack Russell in Yorkie's skin. he is very active and loves to walk. We were devstated to see him hopping on 3 legs. He was put on Rimadyl for 1 week and now he is onto Tramadol 1/4 tablet twice a day.
Also the Vet said that his other knee is fine and this is the only one that is problematic, I was suprised.
The reason for this message is, can someone help me with how to cope with his current injury, any holistic remedies and also a good Vet Orthopedic sURGEON in Milford, CT area, who can treat my son well.

:aimeeyorkPrince's Dad:aimeeyork:animal-pa:animal-pa:animal-pa

I am sorry that I cannot be more help but I am sure someone on here will have answers for you, I just wanted to wish you well through this process. It is aweful when they are injured or sick. I also wanted to Welcome you to YT! This is such a wonderful community with such a depth of experience. I am sure that you will love it here. Have you tried the search function yet? sometimes you can find some of your answers in past threads:)

Just had double surgery on my Pommie's knees. He is now 10 wks. after and is doing well. Was very strict with him which is sooo hard to do when they are whining and appear so healthy. Make sure that the surgeon uses pins when the surgery is done. Has you doc put him on glucosamine? You might want to post your question in the regional section.

take things slowly
 

I believe in approaching surgery very slowly and carefully. Many of my friends are MDs and you wouldn't believe how reluctant they are to have any kind of surgery; something to be avoided at all costs. Prince should probably be crated much of the time while he rests, at least keep him from jumping. You could look online for advice on physical therapy for this too, and looking for a holistic vet sounds like a good move. Whatever, don't let anyone rush you into surgery. It's big, expensive, and not guaranteed to help. Good luck.

Actually with LP, the sooner you go to surgery, the less damage there is for the surgeon to repair. If you keep putting off an LP surgery, the chance of irreparable damage increases and arthritis can set in. Luxating patellas are not going to fix themselves if the puppy is done growing, and only will get worse with time. And yes, if the surgery is done correctly it will help as the surgeon usually pins the ligament holding the patella in place to prevent further luxation, as well as deepening the femoral groove which further helps keep things in alignment.

To the OP- we just had bilateral luxating patella surgery done on Ranger approximately nine weeks ago. He was released from puppy jail last week and couldn't be happier! He is doing fantastic- running and playing with no skipping what-so-ever. I was devastated with the diagnosis but after speaking with several veterinarians and our orthopedic surgeon, it was the best decision for us and for Ranger. Here are my threads- they go into detail with the decision-making process and the worst of the recovery.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...artbroken.html

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...er-update.html

Good luck and please PM me if you need anything.

Jasper (5 yrs old) is scheduled for LP surgery 6/29
 

I just signed up with Yorkietalk about 10 minutes ago. My little Jasper (5 pounds) will be having surgery on his left back leg on 6/29. The vet says he'll have to stay in his crate during his recovery... two weeks in a cast in his crate, and then continued confinement for another 4 weeks. I expect to be holding him whenever he isn't confined in his crate.

Can you offer tips regarding confinement?

Also, he usually sleeps on a pillow in bed with me at night. Do I need to put the crate next to my bed? I don't think he'd wander from his pillow at night.

I live fairly close to the woods. I know I'll need to chase all rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, birds... before taking him outside. Any additional thoughts?

Thank you!

Deb

Hey Deb, I just sent you a PM. I also realized I didn't answer your question regarding sleeping at night. YES, your baby will need to be in a crate at night. If he were to become disoriented (pain meds can do this) or have to potty or fall off the bed, he can completely undo the surgery and perhaps make it impossible to repair. Also, they are pretty painful the first two weeks, so it is very important to allow them a stable place to sleep so he doesn't tweak anything. Make sure you limit the blankets in his crate to prevent him from getting tangled in the blankies and hurting himself.

Please let me know if you need anything!

Re: LP Surgery Help
 

Thanks lot everyone. We are planning to get the surgery done after it is mandated.He is only 3 yrs. Is it too early to put him on Glucosamine & Chondroitin. Itried afew glucosamine products, looks like he like s Zunes' Hip Support with 300 mg of G& 50 mg of Chon.

I also bought a product called SynFlex.. anythoghts on this. I am not overdosing my son but trying to see what he likes the most.

I asked my Vets office how long he can take Tramadol, they said until he does not have pain ....

The Vet Surgeon in on vacation. Waiting for him/her to call us with price quote???

Any good Vet Surgeons in Southern CT. Please HELP me.

Once again thankyou all for the help and words of wisdom and hope

When you go outside make very sure that you have him on a short leash. I know all of this will be difficult but it will be worth it in the end. As for the bed, yes it is very important to have him crated for the night. I have heard of someone putting a hook in the middle of their headboard and leashing their baby on to that. I did eventually give in and allow Snowboy to sleep with us. He didn't seem to have any inclination to try and go down the ramp that we have set up against the bed. But he has never been one to jump off of things. Think he's knees were just too bad. Things got difficult when he was allowed to have some freedom. He was feeling so good that he wanted to go full speed ahead. He was limited until 11 wks. Also, have small ex-pens/crates set up around the house. That way he can be with you when you can't hold him.

It's definitely not too early to start him on glucosamine! I would recommend a brand called Cosequin. I'm sure there are other good brands available, but this is the only one that has testing & research to back up their formula. Did you mean 'Zuke's' Hip Support in your previous post? This seems to have the right dosage in it, they need about 250mg - 300mg per day. Good luck!!

Thanks a lot for the input... Yes it is Zukes not Zune...got carried away by Microsoft. Would using a hot compress help. I see no inflammation but my poor boy is limping.I read somewhere that wrapping a wetcloth might help. I will not do it until I read someone had luck with it.

Has anyone heard of adding fish oil or aspirin to the food to help with any pain? If so what dosage for a 6 lber? Mine doesn't cry out in pain. When she lays on her left back leg for a while, she will stand up but not put any weight on that leg for 5-10 seconds, then puts it down and walks with a little limp. Any ideas? The vet didn't seem to be overly concerned with it at her last check up. Should he have taken xrays?

I've been wanting to post this for a while and this is a good time. Reesie had double LP surgery on 2/24/2009, grade 4 right and 2 left. As far as crating, she WANTED to be in there on her own, away from all of us, so we had no trouble with crating her at night. In fact, she was in there all day and wouldn't come out except for pain meds (Metacam) . She seemed to know it helped. Her appetite wasn't great for several weeks but that was expected. Now, she eats twice a day and really gives me heck if I'm late with it.

I have a video we took a couple weeks ago of her zipping around my SIL's backyard, no pain, no sign of anything abnormal with her knees, just zipping around like a rocket with her buddy, Cindy. The look on her face says that it was the right thing to do.

A few things to think about, we couldn't afford physical therapy after surgery but it wasn't needed. We were careful and let her go her own pace. She always pulls on the leash so that is something you have to watch out for. No leash walks for Reesie until May. Now she stills pulls, despite training efforts, but it does help strengthen her back legs. I don't dare let her out if there's a rabbit in the yard, now she's just too fast.

It sure makes your heart sag when you see them in casts, or with those sad eyes, wondering why you did this to them. They don't understand. But most get better with the proper vet. It's better for them, and better for you.

(PS - How do I post a video?)

Thank you.
 

We are definitely nervous about Jasper's upcoming surgery (luxating patella, back left leg), but as it is now, he is running/walking on 3 legs probably more than 75% of the time, and I worry that he might injure his right back leg. When we go on walks, it isn't long before he wants to be carried.

My little Sadie had her double LP surgery on Monday. She came home yesterday and the recovery is going to be rough. She doesn't have casts but wears an Elizabethan collar so she doesn't disturb the stitches. The ortho surgeon said 6 weeks in a crate or in my lap. She slept in a crate last night for the first time in 5 1/2 years and I think it was worse on me than her. I am having trouble getting her to urinate...she just lays on the puppy pad. I am getting some water down her but no urination...is there anything I can do to make it easier on her to go potty?

To all of you moms dealing with lp surgeries, past and upcoming, I wish you all well. We just went through it. Hot Rod had his surgery a week prior to Amanadawash and her little Ranger.

Hot Rod went from a grade 1 to a grade 3 in a matter of 3-4 months. In our case, the surgeon only deepened the groove and moved the ligament to the proper location. Hot Rod's little leg had become bowed as a result of his issue. Our surgeon told us strict, strict confinement for 6 weeks. Hot Rod was to either be crated or in a 3 x 3 area. We could only let him down for potty-we were to carry him to and from. We crated and held him initially and then started to let him lay on the table rest between us on the sofa with basically a lanyard attached to his harness which we held so he wouldn't be able to jump. Je was crated at bedtime beside our bed. There were a coupld of nights that I had to let him out to use his pad. Normally he is in an expen with a pad at night. I cannot tell you how my heart ached and broke to see him in "jail" but I kept telling myself that it would all be better one day. And it is!

His surgery was 3/31/09. We were told that it could 2 months before he was "healed". We literally just had a scare and I thought he had not healed properly so hubby took him back just this past Monday and the surgeon was very, very pleased with the leg. He said that Hot Rod is good to go for a very long time on the leg. His limping and hobbling is just from remembering the pain of after surgery and so forth. In addition, our 1 year old yorkie keeps jumping on him.

Before surgery, we would walk about 2- 2 1/2 miles total a day. Now we're down to about 1 1/2 miles total. The surgeon said that we were all good to go with that.

I don't know of any vets/surgeons in your areas but I would highly recommend ours in Annapolis, MD. Coincidentally, I have 2 neighbors and know of someone else who have used this surgeon and the surgeon has a yorkie himself!

Whatever you do, make sure he is board certified and ask him/her how many of these types of surgeries they have done. Don't feel bad about asking any and all questions. Write everything down so you will not forget anything. The nght staff at the hospital propably thought I was a looney mom but I must have called 3 times until I finally went to sleep and then I called them first thing in the a.m., lol. They were wonderful. Bottom line, you will need to be comfortable with your surgeon, if not, please do yourself a favor and find one that you are with. Ask them for references and do call them. And most importantly, listen to what he/she prescribes by way of recuperating time. We were not prescribed any physical therapy. I did however, ask if we could do water therapy at about 4 weeks into recuperation. The surgeon was okay with that on a limited basis-no more than 5 mins. We did this every other day in our hot tub when we did it.

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...s-surgery.html

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...picture-b.html

Here are a couple of links to the threads about Hot Rod's surgery.

Good luck with your decision. I wish you all the best, hugs!

Feel free to pm me with any questions.