Luxating Patella

[Hickey007]

Reagan is about to go back for a check up in a couple of weeks for her 12 week after surgery check up, the last one. I'm so happy, but then we have to decide when to do the other leg.

I will say our vet, well not our regular vet, the surgeon will only do one leg on a dog no matter the size. It is not just recommended at his office he will not do 2 at once. He wants one leg to completely heal before even considering the other leg. I'm not saying my Dr. is a God and is the end all I'm just saying that there are some out there that do not agree with the 2 legs at one time. I actually went in thinking we were going to be able to do 2 at once. I had read online that smaller dogs are ok to do 2 at one time and trust me since so many of you were able to have 2 done and it turned out ok it would've been sooo nice to save some money. But I completely trusted him and really like him and the rest of the staff.

And as far as the cast, Reagan had a cast, well I would call it a bandage, we were able to cut it off at home, for 3 days after returning home. They said it was ok to remove it sooner if it got messy. She did great with her recovery too. While standing she would just use that other leg for a while but for walking she was using them both a heck of a lot more that I thought she would. She is also one of those dogs who scratch after they go to the bathroom. She was doing that with both legs about a week after we got home, I always made her stop though I was scared she would injure it.

[Breny]

Good luck to your baby!!!

My own personal experience is with my Rogan. 14lbs, purchased from a BYB Rogan was our very 1st Yorkie purchased. I'm glad I was able to take him out of that enviroment!

He had LP in both knees and we had BOTH done at the same time. TWICE.

The 1st surgery the groove in the bone was not grinded down enough so a 2nd surgery was needed After the 2nd surgery, the 1st night Rogan pulled out ALL his stitches in his one leg - it was horendous for me and I couldn't handle it. (I went to the floor and almost passed out Hubby had to take over for me) His poor leg was WIDE open as it was a LONG incission. It was a very trying time, but everything has worked out great and he's good now My boy walks alittle funny but other than that you'd never know.

I wish you luck and I hope everything goes well with the surgery!!!

[Breny]

Originally Posted by Breny

Good luck to your baby!!!

My own personal experience is with my Rogan. 14lbs, purchased from a BYB Rogan was our very 1st Yorkie purchased. I'm glad I was able to take him out of that enviroment!

He had LP in both knees and we had BOTH done at the same time. TWICE.

The 1st surgery the groove in the bone was not grinded down enough so a 2nd surgery was needed After the 2nd surgery, the 1st night Rogan pulled out ALL his stitches in his one leg - it was horendous for me and I couldn't handle it. (I went to the floor and almost passed out Hubby had to take over for me) His poor leg was WIDE open as it was a LONG incission. It was a very trying time, but everything has worked out great and he's good now My boy walks alittle funny but other than that you'd never know.

I wish you luck and I hope everything goes well with the surgery!!!

I wanted to share some pics of Rogan with you

[Hickey007]

Those are some cute pictures Breny. I love your little boys grin.

Oh and while I'm thinking about it. For those of you who have had pups that have had the surgery already, was the meds that you brought hom liquid or pills? And if it was liquid how in the world did you get them to take it?

[nicolamaher]

In reply to your question 'Hickey007', Poppy was given Metacam drops, which I put a piece of ham and she was more than happy to eat it.

[nicolamaher]

Update on Poppy. On Thursday there was improvement in Poppy and she was walking on her leg so much better, by Friday lunchtime she seemed back to normal, she had an appointment with the Orthopaedic Surgeon on Friday anyway so I still took her to have her checked over and discuss the options available. He examined her and asked some questions and I explained that she had generally been so much better on her leg, he then advised I give her another week of rest and another week of Metacam and if she is still struggling a week later I was to bring her back. He was very pleased with her recovery. Today (Thursday) she is 100% better and therefore I will not be taking her back to the vet. I am so pleased that she has recovered without surgery, what a relief.

[Hickey007]

Originally Posted by nicolamaher

In reply to your question 'Hickey007', Poppy was given Metacam drops, which I put a piece of ham and she was more than happy to eat it.

I'm jealous. Reagan had a total of 3 kinds of meds, all liquid, with her surgery. It worked out with the different times that she needed to take them she was having to take meds three times a day and taking 2 kinds each time. The first day she took them ok but after than it was like I was fighting a bull to get them down her. We tried putting them in food, different kinds of gravy, cheese, peanut butter, you name it we tried it. I think she was on to the food thing after a day or two. So then I tried just holding her down but you know you hate to be too rough with them anyway but especially right after surgery and she put up quite the fight so I was really scared of hurting her. This is the part that I am really dreading for the next go round on the other leg.

I'm very happy for the both of you that she won't be needing surgery. I'm sure that was a relief.

[Tinkerbelle1]

Originally Posted by yorkiemalt

just out of curiosity Tinkerbelle....did you go to an Orthopaedic Surgeon for the surgery? It's odd that they'd have put casts on as the knee is a major joint and has to move as soon after surgery as possible.

Sorry it took so long for my reply I was tied up with the PattiCake train.
Yes I took Bella to an orthopedic surgeon. They put the casts on to limit her movement so that she would heal better. The casts were on for about 10 days then it was PT and slowly increasing walking.

Jay

[yorkiemalt]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle1

Sorry it took so long for my reply I was tied up with the PattiCake train.
Yes I took Bella to an orthopedic surgeon. They put the casts on to limit her movement so that she would heal better. The casts were on for about 10 days then it was PT and slowly increasing walking.

Jay

I thought it was 3 weeks with the casts....either way never heard of it. Sorry she didn't heal 100%.

[rxybabe17]

I was just reading through this thread and I wondered if anyone could give me some advice. My vet who is the surgeon too told me that Lola needs to have lp surgery. I had her spayed last week and he took the xrays while she was under to make sure there wasnt any abnormalities and see if one was worse the other. He said the right is much worse and if I do the surgery that one should be done first.

So anyways more question is should I let her have the surgery. She doesn't show any signs of pain the only thing is her back in a little humped over and they said that was from her knees hurting her. She never picks her legs up or does anything out of the ordinary. She is almost 17 months old. He said the reason she isn't showing any signs of it hurting her is bc she has had it for so long probably that she has just gotten use to it. I have only had her for a couple of months. I just don't know what to do. Before I have the surgery I want to make sure its worth it, bc it is going to be hard for me to afford right now. If it is something that really needs to be done I am going to do it. He made it sound like it really needs to be done, but I just don't know. I don't want it to cause her pain later in life. I want to for her what is best. Thanks, sorry for such a long post.