Yes!! She highly recommend that surgeon to me. I want him to take a look at Cali and see what he thinks we need to do. She said he has worked on tiny dogs before.

For me, this isn't a matter of money or the surgery or anything else. It's a matter of one thing and one thing only ... ANESTHESIA. Cali is a great risk because of her tiny size. I want to find a highly skilled surgeon that has A LOT OF HANDS ON EXPERIENCE with TING DOGS and that the outcome was nothing but total SUCCESS. I don't just want any old vet working on my precious little girl.

She is going to live and be well again. I refuse to accept any other outcome. She is not going to die, I won't let her. I won't let this damn LP or anesthesia take her from me. I lost one dog before her time was up. I'm not losing another one.

Now that you mention it, I do have a few questions. :p What did you think of the vet? Was he/she confident? Were they very knowledgeable about LP and how to treat it? What about grading LP, were they able to correctly and properly grade the LP the first time?

Anything else you know about them would be greatly appreciated too!! THANK YOU!!!

jen, i feel terrible about this.. just think possitive like i told you over the
phone ok.. anything you need , im here for you girlfriend... you can cry
on my shoulder anytime and you know i will be crying too... cali will be ok, i
just know it.. shes a little tuff one.. .

Thank you babe. You've been such a big support to me during all of this. I know you've been going through a lot yourself but you always manage to cheer me up when I'm depressed. THANK YOU for being my friend!!!

I'm assuming then you're going to see Dr. H....not his partner.

Dr. H is very confident! I'll tell you the truth, first time I met him I disliked him greatly (and that's an understatement!) Felt he was arrogant and very short with us. Of course it wasn't the best circumstances....I was there with my maltese, Grade 4 due to injury and we had waited the weekend to see him. I was literally sick with worry and it certainly wasn't a great time to "judge" someone.

By the time we went back for Chan's 8 week final check up and Dr. H came in the room and basically spoke to Chan I felt a little better. I believe he truly cares about his patients.

Little did I know 3 weeks later Chan's other knee would also give out and Dr. H would be operating again. This time we had to bring him in at 11 pm and obviously Dr. H is not there, the emergency hospital Vet admitted him and kept him until the following morning until Dr. H could examine him. I only agreed to leave Chan because I felt he was in so much pain and would do better with IV pain meds.

The emergency Vet was so nice and I was sooo hysterical, he called down one of Dr. H's night nurses, June and she kept Chan upstairs in the surgical ward instead of the busy ER. Speaking of June, she is the night time nurse that you can call ANYTIME during that first night Cali is there. She is the kindest, most reassuring woman I have ever met. I could never thank her enough for taking care of my babies.

Anyhow, the following morning Dr. H called and said he had examined Chan and yes he most definitely needed another surgery. I was beyond hysterical and he was kind, comforting and told me he would take care of Chan and he'd be as good as new.

Chan's first surgery was April 06 and his second was June 06.

Just this past December, my yorkie Phoebi was attacked by a neighbor's pitbull. Long story short I was told by my regular Vet that both her Grade 1 knees were now Grade 4's.

I waited almost 2 weeks, until January 2 for Dr. H to come back from vacation. I could have used his partner, whom I've heard is equally as wonderful but since we could keep Phoebi comfortable I chose to wait. My husband and I figured he did such a wonderful job with Chan that we didn't want to risk a different surgeon.

So just this past January 2 we brought Phoebi in and upon examination he felt only the right knee needed to be done. I never doubted his "grading" one bit. You'll be shocked....he literally moves the knee and in less than 5 seconds he's made his diagnosis.

Her surgery was done that day and again I can't speak highly enough of the entire staff. Right down to the receptionists.....everyone is lovely and caring. I did have the opportunity to meet Kalina for a few minutes at Phoebi's final check up. (she was a sweetheart) :D

Now I will tell you the surgery is expensive BUT when I take into account the care she received by a Board Certified Surgeon I somehow can justify the price. In actuality when I break down the bill to "his" cost it's right in-line with some of these "so called" surgeons who operate with no additional training on their part.

Part of the expense is the overall care Cali will receive. There is a fee for the overnight nursing care and room and board. My thoughts were I'd rather have someone watching my babies overnight rather than some other Vet who goes home. Dr. H's patients are very comfortable after surgery....they give some good drugs! :D

When it's time to discharge and go home, a Vet Tech will spend considerable time with you reviewing all medications and rehab instructions. That in itself is very comforting! I will tell you also that he's a nut about following his instructions but in the same breath, thanked me when both Chan and Phoebi went in for their final check ups. He told me it was apparent in their condition that I had followed his instructions to a "T"! (and I had!)

If there's anything else I can answer don't hesitate to ask. I don't think there's anyone (human or furry Dr.) that I would recommend more highly.

Oh....I'm close by, if you need anything just call!

Kim

Wow, what an excellent review!! THANK YOU so much!! Your review was so helpful!! :thumbup: :thumbup:

I hope it all works out Jen.

(Yorkiemalt) Kim is AWESOME!!! She has some of the BEST LP advice, and she is always there if you have any questions. ;)

Jenn, I am so very sorry for both Cali AND you. Having a little one who is sick and in pain is very trying. I will keep you in my prayers. If I had a suggestion (maybe it has already been offered) I would definately go for a second opinion to a vet who specializes in small breed dogs.

I am very surprised that your vet didn't find the LP earlier. One of the first things my vet does (boy I love Dr. Amy) when I take one of the Yorkiekids in for a check-up of any kind is to hug them up and start feeling for lumps and bumps and knee issues.

The vet automatically assumed I knew she had LP in both legs. He said it was so unbelieveably obvious but I never put 2 and 2 together. I just thought that she walked funny because of her roached back. I didn't think it was LP. :(

what a nice review of us!! Dr. Hunt is very confident and i would trust my dogs to no one else. He is such an excellent surgeon and i trust him completely with my animals. Sorry he came off as arrogant but the man does know his stuff.

Jen, everything Kim said about the care and treatment is true. She's been to see Dr. Hunt so many times and i did get to meet her once (oh and she makes awesome cookies! YUM)

its probably the other way around. she has a roach back because she walks funny because of the LPs

I am just so very sorry that you are having this heartache. I hope that you find the solution you need from this very impressive sounding Dr. Hunt.

good luck to you!

That would make more sense. :( My poor baby.