Snick has LP PLEASE share your experiences
 

Hi everyone...

Went to our annual vet visit yesterday and came to find out Snickers has LP in both his rear knees. I'm so very, very saddened by this. A few days ago my dad picked Snick up and Snick let out a little yelp. He has been hobbling and gingerly walking and not himself since then. The vet confirmed grade 3 in one leg (the one he is ginger on) and grade 1 in the other. We are just so beyond devestaded.

Please share with me your experince. Snick is on glucosamine supplements now as well as an anti-inflammatory (remydel-not sure of the spelling.)

My husband and I are going to get a 2nd and 3rd opinion from an orthopedic specialist but our vet did say surgery was an option.

So very sad...:( Thank you in advance...
-Vivian

LP
 

Hello:
So sorry to hear that your little Snickers has LP.
It seems that the grade 3 will need surgery soon, but the grade 1 could wait.
I have seen many dogs with this who have had surgery and with great success and very quick recovery times. It might be a good idea to do both if the dog is young, to prevent another surgery later. It can be fairly expensive i know and hope you will be able to handle that.
However, it is a shock to hear the news, but the problem is very treatable and a common surgery for our little yorkies.
Good Luck with the other opinions and with your furbabe.
Kindest wishes,
Marg

I'm sorry to hear about Snicks. :(

Mom to Hot Rod has been through that with Hot Rod. I'm sure she could answer many more questions than me.

Aww, I'm sorry to hear Snickers has LP. I agree with Brit, check with Mom to Hot Rod. Oh, and also Amandawash - she went through this at the same time and her husband is a vet (he didn't do their surgery, though). Best wishes to you & Snicks.

Thank you for the sweet wishes and words girls. I have a pit in my belly knowing my sweet little guy is in pain. Makes tears come to my eyes, he is just too sweet to be hurting.

If anyone has experience with home remedies and/or homeopathic successful cures, PLEASE SHARE!!!!

I woke up every hour last night just to kiss Snickers..l know I have to be strong for him. I will be. I just love him so much.

Super Sad!!

Vivian:(
ps...we have already reduced all the jumping oppotunities, and even shortened his walks:( Just enough walking to get him to poop.

Oh Maggie!! You're so sweet! I am hoping so much Apple does not have it. If we have to have surgery we will do it at Christmas time when I have time off so I can be there for him 24/7. I will go and look at Hot Rods Mom's threads. Thank you so much!!

xoxo-
V

Hi Vivian, Definitely understand what you are going thru.

Here is a link to my thread once Hot Rod came home from surgery. The pictures are a bit graphic so just prep yourself if you are up to seeing them.

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

Having said all of that, I am very, very glad that we had the surgery. Hot Rod is still healing 7 mos after surgery and may very well take several more months but his little knee is as tight as can be! We just saw the vet several weeks ago and she said that it felt great. The surgeon told us that he would not develop arithtis from this either. :) It was a very long recovery (6 weeks) but all so worth it--now in hind sight, lol. We really didn't have much time to think about it all (thank goodness) so we didn't go back and forth on deciding. Literally from diagnosis to surgery was 6 days! The surgery was the hardest part and once we were able to pick him up and hold him, it was all better.

I would make sure that your surgeon is well qualified. Ask questions, and write everything down because trust me, you will not hear/remember half the things the surgeon will tell you and especially once you have him back in your arms. ;):rolleyes: Thank goodness hubby was there. Do not feel shy about finding out how many surgeries the surgeon has done. We were very fortunate in that our surgeon had worked on friends dogs so we had a heads up to start with.

feel free to pm with questions or just need to talk about it. I can appreciate it being so hard in deciding to go thru it. I can honestly say that I am very happy to have done it. :) Bo

Sorry to hear about Snickers. It is so hard to see them in pain. I hope you are able to help him as soon as possible. He is in our thoughts. Get well Snickers!

BO!!!! (MOM TO HOT ROD) :love: Thank you so, so, so, so, so MUCH!!!!! You're so kind!!! I will look through all of Hot Rod's history when I get home from work. One question:

Can you explain Hot Rod's limp to me before the surgery please?? Snick walks and hops arounds fine, and then all of a sudden will left his leg and skip over it. He will left it I think when it is in most pain:(. He does not cry out, but he has been subdued for the pasy 4 days and I know he is hurting. He still perks right up for his walks, but it no longer my little bullet zooming everywhere. :(

Thank you for everything, and mostly your kindness and support!!

Love-
Vivian

Thank you so much!!
xoxoxox-
-Snick & Viv

Vivian,
Our Shelby had LP surgery on both back knees......... you can read about our experience by searching my past threads.
She went to an ortho vet in Cincinnati and I was pleased with his work. She also had physical therapy for awhile (and still does occasionally). She is doing wonderfully, but sometimes she gets a bit "stiff" in her hips because her muscles get tight (she was walking "bow-legged" before).
Good Luck with Snickers....... it was a long road, but I think surgery with a good experienced ortho surgeon should be considered.

Thank you for telling me about your baby's surgery!!
-Vivian

Well, prior to surgery, Hot Rod just didn't want to walk. I literally had to pull him out of the garage. And if we made it out, he would walk a little, then just sit down and I would have to literally drag him. He had done this once before when he was a baby. We were playing at home and all of a sudden I caught him out of the corner of my eye sit down really quickly-out of character. I quickly called the vet and off we went. At this point in time, she felt a grade 1 lp. She said that it may or may not progress. His glands were also very impacted so she kinda thought it was that more so. He was probably 18-10 weeks old then.

It turned out at the time of his surgery that I'd started a thread about him peeing in the house a couple times, another member said that it could be a uti...that is really why we went to the vet. He did have a uti and I mentioned the sitting and not wanting to walk. He also would pick his leg up from time to time and kinda skip every once in a while. He didn't seem to be in pain and he and Maggie would run around like terrors.

For us, it was more of him sitting-he loved!/loves to go for walks. She took the first set of xrays and that's where it all began. She could not tell if his leg was shorter than the other and she originally thought that he might have a hip issue. She hadn't sedated him for the xrays so she said that they were not the best indicators. We took those to the ortho surgeon and he wound up taking some better shots. The hosp we went to takes appts on Mondays and leaves tues open for surgeries, so we only had the weekend to talk about it and we'd decided to go ahead with it if that was what was recommended. So once the ortho gave us the facts, we took all of 30 seconds and said yes. As I said, we knew the surgeon by friends recommendations and we'd been to that hosp before for our cat and I liked them for that reason.

It is a hard decision to make so I would say go with how you feel once you get all the information and facts. I would tell to follow the ortho vets instructions to a t and ask questions if what he says does not sound right or make sense. It was the hardest thing to keep him confined/still for 6 weeks but in the scheme of things, nothing compared to all the freedom he has now. :)

Thank you so very much for explaining all of that to me. I can see some similarities and difference between the situations. I'm going to see how Snick does on the meds and supplements. Then I will see a specialist, probably more than one actually.

Thank you a million times over!!
xoxoxox-
Vivian

Viv....I am so sorry.:( I have no experience with this but looks like you are getting some great help.

Hugs to you and your baby! Good luck with this.

Max and I are going through this right now to.
I only saw the one vet I don't care for much. She said he has stage 2 in his back left leg.
I need to get another vet opinion and an ortho vet's opinion.
I am so stressed out and sad by it all that I just can not bring myself to do it right now.
He does not seem to be in ANY pain at all so I hope have a little time to pull myself together.
I just have SO MUCH going on in life (4 girls and 3 of them are teens!).

I am sorry to hear about Snickers.
Get more opinions before you decide what to do :aimeeyork.

So sorry to hear about Snickers!! Here's our LP story:

Bailey has LP but is only a level one. She limped a little when she was 8 mos. It never seemed to hurt her, at least she never yelped. The vet confirmed that was still a level one and that surgery might be an option and that I should talk to an ortho. Oddly, she never limped again - so we never escalated it an ortho.

As the vet explained LP to me - she said that jumping off furniture was not going to aggravate it (seems odd, I know) - however, running the fence (the run and sudden stop action) as well as going UP the stairs could cause the knee cap to slip out.

Several others have had more extensive exposure to LP than I have - but I wanted to share my vets comments with you.

Best wishes to you and Snickers!

Snickers
 

Hi again Viv.
I know you are interested in others' experiences of LP surgery and outcomes.
If you really want to know the gory details and don't mind the blood, you could look at a wonderful rescue web site. I know them very well and adopted my yorkie from them some time ago. the site is " littledogrescue.com " the sub section is "Sick bay", and the little dog Susie I know very well and is doing so well, and was walking about after a day or so and never looked back!!! If you want to see something really cute, look under ' available dogs' at the little Maltese Kiley who had open heart surgery, it will melt your heart. This rescue is wonderful and the rescuers are so caring.
Hope your little Snik's is doing well and that you resolve the situation soon and make her better. I feel for you and her, it is so sad when our little ones are sick.
Warmest wishes, and get well soon snickers.

very sorry to hear about ur little furbaby ,, sorry if this sounds rude but how much would an op on the knees cost,

I don't get it!!!!
 

Kaji was diagnosed with grade 3-4 LP months ago by 2 different vets. Yet, he isn't showing any of the signs others have discribed. He doesn't limp or favor a leg. He walks fine and never seems to be bothered by anything other than my leaving for work. He's one, so the first vet I spoke to just said that due to his age it will not bother him for some time so I had a bit of time to think about possible surgery for him. But after reading your posts I am utterly confused. Your babies are all around his age or a few months younger and seem to be bothered by grade 1 LPs. Maybe I need to see a different vet?

Max is 1 1/2.
Seems like there are a number of furbabies this age lately on the boards who have LP.
Is this when it shows up?

Snick is not showing progress after 3-4 days of meds and supplements. I'm worried, he is limping more and more and that leg. He is shivering a little today and I know he is in pain. He's eating less everyday. We plan to see a specialist this weekend. I'm worried. I just don't understand how all of a sudden this could just pop up. I would think we would see some sort of hobbling or skipping beforehand. It all showed up after my dad picked him up funny. :(

If the specialist says go for surgery we will.

:(:(:(:(:(:(

-Vivian

I'm sorry. They can go for a long time not showing any symptoms that we can see. Dogs are so very good at hiding pain. You started him on glucosamine? That usually takes a few weeks to build up in the body and start showing results. But if my baby was in a lot of pain, I don't think I'd wait that long to get him relief, either. I've very glad you have an appointment with the specialist so soon. How was his bloodwork results?

Bloodwork came back PERFECT Bonnie!!! His teeth look incredible as well, only needs 1 to be taken out which could potentially happen with LP surgery if we go that route.

I hate this....it's killing me. My heart is breaking, my husband is a mess. He means the world to us.....

-V

Thank you so much for your kinds words and this website. You're so sweet!

Girls...from what I have read, after LP surgery, the patient must rest, confined for almost 6 weeks with limited exercise etc. Look at this website:

Sick Bay

Read the few stories on LP...how can these dogs be walking the next day? Can that truly happen? If so, it gives me hope, b/c not only does Snick suffering make my heart ache, but so does thinking of the pain he will go through during recovery.

I'm a mess........

What an interesting site. I'm going to have to go back & look at it more closely.

I know how hard it is to get an lp diagnosis. I am keeping you and hubby in my prayers. And, of course Mr. Snickers.

LP
 

Hi Viv:
I am so pleased you saw the LDR website. I suggested it to cheer you up as I know for a fact that Susie the yorkie WAS walking so soon and did not seem too be in much pain even then. You have to be careful with them jumping etc after the LP surgery, but the pain issue did not seem a big deal with the dogs I know of on LDR. I hope that if little Snickers does have to have the surgery that she will have the same quick recovery as I have seen many times on the LDR site. You of course have to get an expert Vet in LP surgery on little dogs, so I am sure you will check that out if need be. It always amazes me how little the small dogs seem to suffer with pain after surgery, compared with humans!!!
So try and be brave and trust the Vet whatever he suggests. It will be OK!!! I know how you feel though, I used to lose my mind whenever my little Yorkie had to have ANYTHING done - even shots!! I only wished it were me not her, but usually she would perk up very soon and I would be still shaking. LOL.
Good Luck and we will pray that little Snickers gets well soon.
Hugs to you both.

LP
 

Hi again Viv.
Sorry Snickers, I see I had your sex wrong. You are a little boy, hope I didn't offend you.

You're too sweet to offend anyone, I don't mind at all that you thought Snick was a Snickerette:) Thank you so much for your well wishes!!

xoxox-
Snick & Viv