Luxated Patella

Cat, Poquita (our 6 lb chi/pom) lived with this condition her entire 15 1/2 years. At age 7 we took her to an orthopedic surgeon to have her knee evaluated. She was grade 3 in her left leg and grade 2 in her right leg. That very nice Dr told us he'd discourage the surgery in a toy breed with tiny, chicken-bone-like legs. That there was no guarantee and the condition might recur anyhow, plus the chance of post-surgery arthritis that Dr Doug mentioned. Also, you have to weigh the risk of anesthetic and the weeks of crating her afterward. The orthopedist talked us right out of the surgery and suggested we keep her walking with us (she did the park almost every day for 9 years of her life) and discourage her from jumping or any kind of play that would stress her knees. I learned to put her knee back in place so Bud would hold her out in front of him and I'd pop her knee back in its groove for years and years. It always stopped hurting her right away and It was nearly always her grade 3 knee that came out. The vet said making her muscles stronger by walking is what carried her so long. Eventually, she hurt her back eagerly jumping off a camper step and she did take small doses of Rimadyl for that when needed, but her knees were a relatively easy thing to live with.