Luxating Patella in cats - operation

gettingready

Just to bump this up - has anyone else ever had a cat going through this particular op?

George is still in a crate poor thing, another 3.5 weeks to go.

Saw his vet last Monday and the vet said he was ok but I really wonder as George is not really trying to put any weight on the leg he was operated on, he crawls around somehow

Google is not much good, can not find any recovery info on cats - lots on dogs but not much on cats...

gettingready

Poor George, got another 3 weeks in a cage and then a month or so without going out.. his fur does not seem to be growing back, when they shaved him they left some fur on part of his foot, looks weird....



Booked him to go to vets tomorrow as I do not like the way he pees, very long and a lot of it.. I am worried as my Tiger had kidney cancer and had to be be PTS last year, renal failure.. and Tiger was a ginger boy (in my avatar with Zara)

Eager_Elephant

Hope you get on ok at the vets tomorrow.

I don't have experience of Luxating Patella but my cat was recently diagnosed with Legge Perthes which is also very rare in cats.

They have removed his hip joint on one leg so he just has muscle keeping his leg working and his other joint will have to be done soon as this also has the disease but not as bad.

My cat did not have to spend any time in a cage and the next day he was walking about really normally but could not jump for about 4 weeks.

What operation did they do - have they tightened things up in there or removed the knee joint?
Did you manage to speak to the surgeon? I had a brilliant surgeon who talked me through everything so I knew what to expect.

EE

gettingready

Thanks, yeas I spoke to ortho vet who operated on George they have moved things around and tightened for him, poor thing he is so good in this cage - and he is 1 of my 4 that was out every single day all day so... Hope nothing is wrong with his kidneys though, he was on Metacam for a week

Eager_Elephant

So does he have to stay in the cage so the knee will heal properly?

I guess we were lucky in that all the muscle's in the hip joint seemed to come together really well and just a few days afterwards if it was not for the shaved area you would not have known he had such a major op.

My cat had some liquid a bit like Calpol for kids and if it got past the time when he needed it he started to miaow really loudly and then he would chew the syringe to get the dregs out - I thought it smelt a bit like mouse so maybe that is why he liked it!!!

My cat was also the one who would be up the tree or catching everything in sight, he is nearly back to normal but does not venture far. I was gutted as my cat is only very young and it seemed such a cruel thing to go through.

Hope you get on ok tomorrow. Have they said whether it was congenital or did he have an accident?

gettingready

Thank you - glad your cat is ok...

George is just over a year old so still a baby really. He just started limping one day, had xrays done and this was the diagnosis, it seems to be related to arthritis, poor thing.

Yes, he needs to be on cage rest for 6 weeks following the op, we are half way into those 6 weeks now so still a bit time to go...

*doodle*_2

My boy has just come out of cage rest. He absolutely hated it at first so we carpeted it and placed a blanket on the top and two of the sides. We also put his litter tray in there and another blanket and a few toys.

The cage (just a normal dog crate) went in the living room so he didn't feel on his own and put the radio on when we went out.

To stop him feeling bored, I made an enrichment activity - just a bit of ham in a paper bag but it gave him something to do.

We also used to open the cage and sit in front of it so we could pet him.

It's a horrible time but as long as he feels happy and secure the weeks (seven for us) will fly quickly.

gettingready

George is in an XL size cxage (Zara, my GS would fit in there), in the living room by the window and next to cat tree where the other 3 cats often sit. Also Zara lies by the cage as George is really Zara's cat not mine













He has hif food, water, litter tray and 2 billows and a blanket in there - I do take him out and carry him around the flat and he loves it...

gettingready

*doodle*_2

Your animals are beautiful