Please keep Morgan in your prayers and thoughts!

[Wylie's Mom]

Thinking of Morgan and Kellie today, watching for the update.

[Suzy]

Looking for an update from Kellie about Miss Princess Morgan! Thinking of you both today!

[Mom to Hot Rod]

Just checking in too. Hugs and prayers!

[kalina82]

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all the well wishes. They really mean a lot to me and Morgan. However, it turns out that Morgan really wouldn't benefit that much from getting the surgery done. We went in this AM for our appointment and spoke with the surgeon for half an hour. In the end we both decided not to do it. The surgeon said that while he can most certainly do the surgery he doesn't this the benefits outweigh the risk for her at this time. She has grade 3 LP in both legs but since she seems to have been born with bad knees she's never going to be 100% better with the surgery, nor even 90%. sure he can straighten her knees, which in turn will straighten her hocks out so her entire leg is aligned properly but she'll still probably have an uneven gait and arched back. He said that if she was limping a lot of holding a leg up he would definitely recommend the surgery but since she's not doing that he doesn't want to do surgery right now. Plus he said that by doing it now he doesn't think it will prevent anything worse from happening in her future. She still will get arthritis in her knees but its hard to say if it will be worse with or without surgery.

So we're just gonna wait and keep an eye on her knees.

[Ellie May]

Oh wow, poor girl.
You must havve been so worked up over this too.

Do joint supplements seem to do a darn thing for her or?

[ARCHIE]

Hopefully Morgan will do fine. I guess you will really have to watch her
so she dosen't jump off furniture etc to aggravite her knees.
Wishing her well Kellie.

[Patti]

Thanks for the update. My Cali has grade 4 both legs and mild MVD and my vet and I agreed to do a wait and see also. Cali's legs are bent under her some but she has never limped or held up her legs and appears in no pain. Hopefully both Morgan and Cali will do ok without the surgey.

[livingdustmops]

All that worrying for nothing...this is still better than surgery at this stage of the game..

[Wylie's Mom]

Aw Kellie, wow! Well, I sure think you have a very good surgeon there - bc what a thorough, fair, big-picture evaluation that was. Can Cosequin do anything for her, at this point?

[AprilLove]

Hey Kellie, just checking in to see how Morgan was doing and see the update! It sure sounds like you have a great surgeon who looks at the whole picture and not want to jump into surgery.

Give Morgan kisses from us!! We will continue sending good thoughts for you and Morgan

[livingdustmops]

I sure like her vet "first do no harm"! Ann tell her your story about using Cosequin...I got my order..thanks..

[yorkiemalt]

well, like you, I would listen to whatever Dr. H's recommendation was. I trust his judgement and love the fact that he takes all aspects into account before jumping into surgery. wishing Morgan well and hopefully she'll never need the surgery.

[kalina82]

Crystal I've been a complete wreck over this whole thing since last monday when I made the vet appt to see her regular vet for the blood work. I got those results back on tuesday and then it took me hours to build up the nerve to call the surgeon to make that appt. I ended up calling right before the surgery receptionist left. LOL So then I had a week to think about the surgery and all the things that could happen.

Morgan does get cosequin and I do notice a difference when she gets it every day. When she doesn't get it every day I can see a difference in her gait when she's outside running around. So I'll be keeping her on that. Morgan is a slow eater so what i do is every time i fill her bowl i sprinkle one capsule of cosequin on her food and add either coconut oil or coconut chips (depending on what i have). She'll eat some of the food right away but then will pick on it for the next day or so until its empty and then i'll refill it. She doesn't eat the same amount of food each day, sometimes she doesn't eat at all even though she has access to it 24/7. That's just the way she self-regulates. Never had a problem with hypoglycemia thankfully so i don't worry much about her eating habits. Very rarely will she regurgitate bile because her stomach is empty so when she does that i do make sure she eats something.

The surgeon and I discussed what I could do to help morgan out. I told him she was on cosequin and he said that's good. He also said more walking will help because it will build up the muscles in her back legs. He said her front half is more muscular then her back end. Her hind legs aren't terribly atrophied but they are smaller. Building up the muscles in her hind legs will help her. Preventing her from jumping on and off furniture will help as well. I do have pet stairs next to the couch which she does use to get onto the couch but half the time she's rather jump off then use the stairs to get off (like she can't walk to the end of the couch to use the stairs... ). I'll just have to be on top of her more to make sure she uses the stairs.

Patti - Morgan's legs are bent under her too. Her hips, knees, and hocks are not in proper alignment because of her knees and her back is slightly arched because of it. But she's always been like that. I had the surgeon check her when she was 10 months old and he said then that she had at least grade 2 LP in both legs. At that time I did tell the breeder but she decided to drop off the face of the planet and never get back to me. Morgan is also "mildly symptomatic" with her LP and asymptomatic with her MVD. She doesn't kick out her hind legs or limp. I think its just a constant thing that she has to deal with so she doesn't complain about it. she's just used to it, ya know?

Ann, MaryKay, and Cindy - Morgan's surgeon is excellent. He's the same surgeon that Kim (yorkiemalt) used for her pups. Dr. Hunt is very smart and experienced. He's been doing this for a long time and I trust him completely. The other surgeon there, Dr. Singer, I also trust completely. He treated/did surgery on the chi i fostered (Chi-Chi) and my little Mylie who passed away two years ago. Dr. Hunt said sure he'd do the surgery if that's what i really wanted but he thinks at this time, with the way her knees are and with her MVD, its just better not to unless she was showing a lot of symptoms (limping, holding legs up, kicking legs out, constant pain or need of anti-inflammatories).

So I'm quite happy that Morgan didn't go under anesthesia but I do wish her knees weren't grade 3. I feel bad cause when you watch her walk you can definitely see that there is a problem but i think that she's just so used to it that she doesn't complain and just goes on with her life. She's still a nutcase and runs around like nothing is wrong. i've never seen her not do something because her knees hurt too much so that's good i guess. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse then what it is now.

[kalina82]

Oh I should also add that he says there is still a chance that she could rupture her ACL because of her LPs and in that case she'd need surgery. So with that in mind it is better to kept a good eye on her to make sure she doesn't do anything excessive or crazy (like the jumping and bouncing around on her hind legs).

I just wanted to point that out because its something everyone should keep in mind with these little ones with LPs.

[livingdustmops]

Someone posted this a while ago...I have not done any research as no one shows pain at this stage of the game...Thought you might want to read the website.

Thanks for the great update...


http://handicappedpets.com/www/index...og-braces.html