Legg-Calve-Perthes
 

Has anyone ever had to deal with this?

Thanks.

I just found out that the male I bought from another breeder has Legg Perthes and bad luxating patellas. I will have to do surgery on him and neuter him also. I am bummed because I bought him for the purpose of breeding him.

How come these breeders aren't testing for at least the luxating patellas before selling off their puppies? They should be providing health certificates with their dogs especially if they are going to be bred.

I agree, and even though I am a breeder and should have known better, I didnt sign a contract with them. I assumed since I was buying a high quality dog loaded with high quality champions from famous lines and I bought him from a show breeder, that the dog would be sound and I didnt even take him to the vet to have him checked out when I got him. Stupid me. Live and learn I guess. This is a costly mistake I wont make again for sure. I havent had him very long but now I get to put another 1000.00 into him so he isnt in pain and can still live a decent life.

i have read a lot of stuff on different sites that says luxating patella is not always a gentic defect. it can also be caused by people letting the puppy jump off high places, rough play and etc.. this is why most breeders do not guarantee this in their contract.

A puppy CAN be checked by a Vet. and not have any knee problems, but show up months later. Nothing is for certain.

pup
 

Barb..I certainly hope the breeder is paying for the surgery!

sorry to hear about your baby!

Mine is a rescue which came from a so called reputable breeded. He was in 5 homes by the time he was 9 months. I'm so glad he is in my life. I am just beside myself about this.

He does have a grade 2-3 luxating patella which is what we thought the problem was but his back is startng to hunch. Patella's do not do this. The hip does.

This just breaks my heart for him.

Abbie has perthes and underwent surgery in January to correct the problem. I can say to you that if you have a reputable surgeon the dog can be just fine after it. Abbie runs, jumps, and plays just like any other dog. The recovery time is several months though. Good Luck!

Im going thru it right now.
I have a tiny boy at 2 1/2 lbs who isnt very old, just a year. I had him checked by the vet, but only a hands on eval, not an xray. He checked his knees said they were tight, watched his gait etc at about 8 months and he checked fine thru that exam. Never favored any limbs with running.
Well about 6 weeks ago, I had him running with my stud. THey had never fought before and seemed to be Buddies. But on that day, my stud ddecide to attack my little guy. I should have not had them together.
ANyway before I could get my stud off him, he had rolled him all over and bit at his back legs.
Lil man was favoring his back leg and I took him in, xray showed nothing, and the vet thought it might be a strain or spring.
Well since that time he favors his leg, the muscle has began to deterioate, smaller then the other leg. I have him on joint supplements trying to see if that will help, he is using it more but still favors it alot, but he will probably have to have surgery.
He has legg perthes. SUch A shame, because I think I could have prevented it. Ill never know if he actually had it and it hadnt developed yet, or if it was purely injury related. His little legs are like twigs, so they cant withstand much stress.

I wasn't aware that this was preventable. My readings have told me that this is genetic and common in Yorkies and West Highland's. Do you have any reading information that may say differently? I would love to have it if you don't mind.
Also, what supplements are you trying? My surgeon has also suggested this along with slinging the leg and crate rest for a month. But also said in Joey's case it might not really matter.

Thanks for any additional information you may provide.

Its really not completely understood. Its not always preventable, and most times it probably is genetic especially if it occurs at an early age and you know there has been no serious injury, but injury can cause it.

http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/legg_calve.htm

RIght now I have my lil guy on pet savers, but Im not real sure I like the effects, but then again, Im looking for perfection because I dont want him to go thru the surgery but that is probably what will happen

That would be nice but I emailed her about 2 weeks ago to tell her about the Legg Perthes and havent heard a word back from her so I doubt that is going to happen.

Why was he in so many homes before he was 9 months old?

First Home was the breeder.

Second home the breeder had given him to a family in the town she lived in because a little boy had a flesh eating illness..?

Third home the family had deceided the puppy was too much for them to handle so they gave him to their semi-retired vet.

Fourth home.The vet was traveling and boarding him way too much and he felt it wasn't fair so back he went to the breeder.

Fifth home, back to the breeder...for a month

In between the breeder and my home ( he was traveling from WVA to NJ) he stayed with a friend of the breeder for almost two weeks before it was agreed to put him in rescue. So really this was his sixth home......

Sixth (Seventh, depends on how you look at it) home foster care,my home where forever he will stay.

I look at pictures of him before he was with me and he looks so lost... It took him a year to trust me. He is my darling little sweetheart and I'm so grateful to have him in my life, medical problems and all.

So, you ask why...People...

Poor little guy. I can see why he would feel so lost. People tossing him around here and there. I am glad he found you and he has a forever home to live in. I hope all goes well if you need to have surgery for his Legg Perthes.

Well Joey has to have the surgery for sure. The surgeon and my vet both said that if it is not done later on there could be Big trouble. Example, back problems, arthritis, knee problems and for the most part it is passed through the genes.
So, I have him on 1/4 Remedyl in the AM and again in the PM. There are no supplements to make this better because the bone is already dead.

Isn't this great. I feel so bad for him and I must say a little for myself. This can be a long drawn out recovery. I am blessed to have him and wouldn't change it for the world. Can't help being upset.

Thanks for your support! I really need it.:(

I always want and love support too.

My Science supports my studies.

I am sorry that Joey does have to have surgery after all. I know exactly what you are feeling since Trace has to have surgery too. I am hoping the recovery time isnt too bad for them. Trace is basically a three legged dog right now so it shouldn't be too bad afterwards I hope. The hard part will be keeping the other dogs from playing rough with him. I hope you have better luck with your breeder helping out with the expenses for the surgery. The breeder I bought Trace from hasnt even repsonded to my emails yet and I doubt she will. Best of luck with Joeys surgery, I hope all goes well and he is back on his feet and ripping and tearing around in no time.

Did you go to the premises of the breeder? Do they treat their dogs good, it doesn't sound like it. Please report her to the Humane society, atleast tell her not to breed the parents of the dog you purchased becuase they are carriers. I hope you gave her a lot of grief!!!

No I didnt go there. The dogs (I bought 2 from her) were shipped to me. I emailed her about the bad luxating patellas and to let her know we were going to try some anti-inflammatories and see if that helped any before we did the xrays to check for Legg Perthes which was what I suspected he had. I never heard back from her and I emailed her again to see if she got my email since I hadnt heard from her and it had been a couple weeks. She finally emailed me to say she would tell her mom. After the xrays I emailed her with the Legg Perthes diagnosis and havent heard from her since. I didnt ask for anything, I just let her know I would be taking him in for surgery as soon as I could. I havent given her any grief, I feel like if she feels good about ignoring me and not caring about the dogs she sells, then she is the one who has to sleep with that, not me. Its my fault for trusting someone I didnt know and not getting a contract because I should have known better. Like I said, live and learn.

this is very true !! i have seen this first hand !! :eek:

I agree that you cant tell for sure if the luxaing patellas are genetic or caused from injury but from what I have read Legg Perthes is genetic.

What a horrible breeder! She would just send him to a rescue and not even pay to fix him, my god she should definetly not be breeding. Please tell us the name of this horrible breeder so we can all stay away!!!

If you dont give that breeder some grief then she will just keep on breeding bad pups and keep doing this to other people.
This is what you should do:
Call her but before you dial push *67
then put in the number. Example: *67 (###)###-####
This blocks your caller ID, so she wont know it's you.
Tell her you live in the next town over ( make sure you know the towns name)
If you dont, do a quick search online of her area code and it will tell you her town and the naboring towns.
Also have a fake number ready to give to her along with a fake name.
Get her address and call the Humane society and report her, or you can do it online at www.stoppuppymills.org and on the SHARE YOUR STORY section fill out her address and you can do it anonimously. Also do a search online for the number of the Livestock commissioner in her area and report her to them, they will go to her house and make sure she has a license to breed ( yes you need a license if you breed more then 2 females) and they will also check out the premises and living conditions.
Please do this, if not for you do it for all the dogs she is treating very poorly.
and also right posts about her and her website sharing your experience, let people be aware of breeders like her. BE PROACTIVE!!!