Luxating Patella

getcarter

I was told last week that my pup may have a luxated patella (she needs to go and have x rays to confirm this).

Has anyone had any experiences with this?

My other query is re the vets. people have said to me you should go here or there to see this or that vet, how do you choose a good vet? Just go with your usual? choose an orthopedic specialist? I will be doing flyball with the dog (if everything goes OK) when she's older don't want to take the chance of not having the operation done properly and the leg not working properly.

Ok, I'm starting to ramble, if you've got this far could you share any opinions with me?

Thanks

getcarter

Just an excuse to post a picture!

She's the fawn coloured one.

Artytarty

Aw, one of my cats had this many years ago.
If it is the same thing, then my vet operated on his knee and carved out a deeper trough into the bone at the underside of the patela.
He was fine and made a great recovery, it never dislocated again.
I still remember, we werent long married, and it cost £84 in 1985!
That seemed lke SOO much money then.
Hope your pup is Ok, and the vet can sort him out for you too!

ali-t

My staffy needed this op a few years ago and it was an orthopedic surgeon who did it. the op was much cheaper than I thought it would be <£400 and the recovery time is as important as the op. It is literally cage rest for weeks with very little else.

My staffs leg still pops out every now and then if she has been digging on the beach a lot, running on very hard ground and she occassionaly gets stiff too. I also have to cut her toe nails on the leg that was done much more often as she still doesn't use it as much as the other legs. TBH I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for the difference in nail growth as she looks perfectly normal when walking.

Once her wound had healed I took her to hydrotherapy every week to strengthen the muscles and although she isn't perfect now she is much better than she was. I put off the op for a while and tried various exercise (including intensive hydrotherapy) to build up muscle round the joint to hold it in place. none of that worked and I had to get the op for her anyway.

As it turned out when she had the op, the cause of it wasn't due to a structural problem with her leg (i.e. bad breeding) but was trauma induced and this linked to when she was running on frozen group one evening and came back limping.

Good luck with your decision and if you have any specific questions about red staffy's getting the op I may have the answers

getcarter

ali-t

Thanks for your reply, at the moment she is booked in on friday at our local vets, he seems to do quite a few of these on dogs and cats. How did you cope with the aftermath and keeping a bouncy dog down?

Pictures would be helpful......:D any excuse for a red staffy fest!

ali-t

How did the op go? My staffy was 5 at the time so not a bouncy young pup. she was also an only dog at the time so cage rest and comfy duvets with lots of pigs ears and bones kept her quiet.

It was quite horrific to begin with as her leg looked butchered with staples in it but it didn't bother her as much as it bothered me. She still has a scar on her leg where the hair didn't grow back properly but apart from that she is ok.

hope the op went well and your dog is recovering. I can't work out how to put pics on here so still no pic.

getcarter

Sorry - operation has been moved to wed now! She is used to the crate so that's something - i'm dreading trying to take the other dogs out without her though!

getcarter

Well, she was put under, had x-rays, had all the vets in the practice poring over them and manipulating her leg.

The upshot is that they are not sure enough of the diagnosis to put her through it.. more pills, back in 9 days maybe referral to a big orthopedic surgeon in Solihull.

Got to keep her on the lead until then though.

ali-t

It might be worth trying other things like glucosamine and chondroitin and hydrotherapy to strengthen the leg rather than having an op.

getcarter

The vet did say that as she got older there was a chance the muscles tightening up would keep everything in place.