Well, it has happened... We are experiencing something new with our Bella. All these years having pets and this is new to me. I took her to the vet yesterday after noticing that she was limping quite a bit and holding her right rear leg up from time to time. I will be doing my "homework" now about patella luxation and doing some research to find our best local surgical options to repair it. So far I have been getting estimates of anyway from $900 to $1500 for the surgery and aftercare. I am not as price conscience as I am quality oriented.Bella is our Maltese mix rescued dog that we have enjoyed and loved for about a year and a half so far. I do not want her in pain, even though our vet described her as a "tough cookie" after putting her knee back in place only to have it pop back out yesterday. She barely even flinched. That's my girl!If you have any experience with this condition feel free to share your information. Dr. Doug I hope you will chime in.Thanks!

My vet told me to use glucosamine and fish oil pills.Twice a day really helped our Newfound

Our vet also recommended fish oil. He has also recommended Phycox HA, a joint supplement that includes glucosamine and MSM among other ingredients. Our 11 year old bichon mix is also on rimadyl for arthritis. We are careful not to let her "over-do," because it tends to encourage the patellar luxation. She has good days and bad days, but overall the treatments help. We spent $2800 last year to have a benign tumor removed from behind her eye, so we are not anxious to go the surgical route again.

Had it done on my 11 year old sheltie/border collie mix in 1998 and he was fine afterwards - never limped or favored his leg. At that time I paid $600. We lived in a coach house condo and the bedrooms were upstairs. My hubby carried him up and down the stairs faithfully for weeks until my vet told me it was safe for him to do the stairs. Yes, I would have it done because for us it solved the problem and Mike never had anymore trouble. But of course you have to make that decision. Whatever you decide, I wish the best for Bella and hope she doesn't have any more trouble with her knee.RitaAndy the sheltieand Nicky, the wonder horse

Luxating Patella is one of the most common orthopedic problems we see. It's very common in small toy breeds, especially poodles.Congenital problems are due to poor conformation in the rear legs and a shallow patellar groove in the femur. Surgical correction involves making the groove deeper, tightening collateral ligaments around the knee and possibly rerouting the patellar tendon by moving the tibial tuberosity (the prominence on the front part of the knee just below the patella). Anybody who has done carpentry can imagine the procedures here; saws, drills, screws, rasps working with bone rather than wood.The glucosamine/joint supplements do not correct the luxation, but can delay arthritis.Luxations are graded from 1 to 4 (1 being mild and 4 being severe). Surgery is recommended when grades 3 or 4 are present.I have gotten a lot less aggressive about surgery on these guys. I usually recommend surgery when there is persistent pain, other joint damage - like ACL or cartilage tears and when there is such severe deformity that normal walking is an issue.I have found that any joint that has been invaded with surgery WILL develop osteoarthritis in the future. The reason for surgery is to delay the onset and/or severity of the arthritis.Small dogs (<40#) usually do well with doing nothing. However, the joint is less stable thus more prone to injury. Their behavior can often exacerbate these issues (jumping up and down on their back legs). Rapid direction changes while running can lead to other joint damage - like ACL - when the joint is less stable due to the patellar luxation.This is not a straight forward easy decision. There are pros and cons without even considering the financial aspects.Doug, DVM

Thanks everyone.Dr. Doug, that is the same article our vet printed and gave to me before I left yesterday. Great minds think alike. :) We like her and appreciate everything she does but she is not an orthopedic surgeon and it seems everyone specializes today. There is another vet that does this type of surgery routinely, she comes to their clinic two days a week, I am planning to consult with her on Friday. I called someone a friend told me about and talked with a vet tech there. I am gathering information and hope to get a better idea of what grade Bella is before I make the decision on when to set up a surgery for her. Bella is taking a low dose of Rimadyl and I will have the necessary x-rays done before I make a decision.I really appreciate the approach you described for me. Thank you so much Dr. Doug!Any other owners have a pet that had the surgery done? Feel free to chime in.

Luxated Patella | Good Sam Community

sher9570
Explorer
May 18, 2014
Can't add a thing as I have never had this problem with our Poodles or Poms but I wish Bella all the best...after reading through all the post I would agree with your conclusion, I too would go conservative on the treatment.

Sher
CatandJim
Explorer
May 15, 2014
Yes indeed Dr. Doug, as usual you are correct. The orthopedic vet that we saw for the "grading" of Bella's luxation did a very thorough exam of her back leg(s), watched her walk, jump, and stand on her hind legs, and then did an x-ray. I feel confident in his diagnosis.

She is about 3, maybe 4, years old now (a rescued dog so we are not completely sure). I am hopeful that she will respond well to supportive care and we can avoid surgery.
HeyJude
Explorer
May 14, 2014
dturm wrote:
HeyJude wrote:
I think my Gunner has LP and I have been giving him Dasuquin MSM and some other supplements with coconut oil. I haven't had him diagnosed yet, but noticed with the supplements and having stairs to get on and off of my chair he is doing much better. My concern is he is only 10 months old! How do they diagnose it, does it require anything more than an x-ray?

Often time X-Rays are not necessary to diagnose patellar luxation. A physical exam with palpation of the knee will reveal if the knee cap is dislocated or can be dislocated with digital pressure. The X-Rays will aid in evaluating the stage of luxation and conformation of the knee.

At 10 months old, I'd advise to get him in to a vet as there are several developmental bone problems that should be ruled out as they can present life long problems. Addressing them at this age can reduce the life time impact.

Doug, DVM

thank you
dturm
Moderator
May 14, 2014
HeyJude wrote:
I think my Gunner has LP and I have been giving him Dasuquin MSM and some other supplements with coconut oil. I haven't had him diagnosed yet, but noticed with the supplements and having stairs to get on and off of my chair he is doing much better. My concern is he is only 10 months old! How do they diagnose it, does it require anything more than an x-ray?

Often time X-Rays are not necessary to diagnose patellar luxation. A physical exam with palpation of the knee will reveal if the knee cap is dislocated or can be dislocated with digital pressure. The X-Rays will aid in evaluating the stage of luxation and conformation of the knee.

At 10 months old, I'd advise to get him in to a vet as there are several developmental bone problems that should be ruled out as they can present life long problems. Addressing them at this age can reduce the life time impact.

Doug, DVM
HeyJude
Explorer
May 14, 2014
I think my Gunner has LP and I have been giving him Dasuquin MSM and some other supplements with coconut oil. I haven't had him diagnosed yet, but noticed with the supplements and having stairs to get on and off of my chair he is doing much better. My concern is he is only 10 months old! How do they diagnose it, does it require anything more than an x-ray?
CatandJim
Explorer
May 14, 2014
Bella is a "grade 2" so it has been suggested that we take a conservative approach and do supportive maintenance while watching for changes. I will be taking her to our holistic vet ASAP. I hope to see Dr. Heather for a consultation soon, as she is expecting a baby in a few short weeks. I think a natural approach with perhaps some supplements will work to Bella's advantage. She doesn't do as well as some of our dogs in the past on Rimadyl, it adversely affects her appetite.
CA_POPPY
Explorer
May 02, 2014
CatandJim wrote:
I am consulting with a surgeon next week and will have many things to consider. Thank you ALL for sharing your experience. Bella is a happy, active dog. We walk up to 2 miles several times a week. Her limp is occasional and doesn't last long so I am not sure what level her LP would be.... She has responded very well to the low dose Rimadyl and hasn't limped at all for a few days. However, I don't want to keep her on that long term. So much to consider.....

It will be interesting to hear what the orthopedist says. As for Rimadyl, we never gave Poquita pain meds for the LP as the limping always stopped as soon as we put her knee back in place. LP Dogs develop some arthritis when they're older, whether or not they have surgery, so we eventually got to that anyhow. When we finally had to use Rimadyl for her back (which was probably let down by her weak knees) we used a minimal dose, even 1/4 or 1/2 of the lowest dose, because she was only 5-6 lbs. Both the vets we had for her were quite comfortable prescribing Rimadyl, although originally there was so much negative press on the web. It's all about quality of life. Our old country vet was concerned that if the dog was "feeling no pain" they would jump off the sofa and/or play in a way to aggravate the condition. While that attitude has changed in post-surgery cases, he held to it in chronic states like this. It's good that we all get to listen to the options, knowing our own dogs, and make the best decisions we can based on all the info. I got to the point that I could see in Poquita's eyes if she needed pain meds. She always "told" me. Good luck with Bella. I'll bet she will be fine with whatever you decide.
CatandJim
Explorer
May 02, 2014
I am consulting with a surgeon next week and will have many things to consider. Thank you ALL for sharing your experience. Bella is a happy, active dog. We walk up to 2 miles several times a week. Her limp is occasional and doesn't last long so I am not sure what level her LP would be.... She has responded very well to the low dose Rimadyl and hasn't limped at all for a few days. However, I don't want to keep her on that long term. So much to consider.....
nabi
Explorer
May 02, 2014
Izzy has Lp...we had her X-rays assessed by radiologist at the University of Guelph and the university of PA..the radiologist in Guelph recommended surgery..the radiologist. at uni of Pa recommended we wait and see how she managed...take supplements and have her build her leg muscles up by walking up hills of at least 45 degrees...and if we did go the surgery route to make sure it was by a board certified surgeon . We have been lucky , Izzys problem has never worsened..but If she does require the surgery we will have it done in Mexico by a board certified ortho surgeon for a 1/3 of the cost here and momma can have a nice vacation by the ocean .
Tin-bender
Explorer
May 01, 2014
We have a BC/Sheltie cross we adopted at 1 year old within a couple months she blew out her left knee playing with a ball on the lawn. What can you do, $900 later she was good as new. Wife started her in Flyball and a year later she blew out the other knee playing with a ball in the driveway. Well another Grand and she was as good as new, again. She went on to have an 11 year career as a Flyball dog earning her "Iron Dog" award among many other honors. She is now 14 and still runs in practice to help train young upcoming dogs and handlers, granted not as fast as she once was but the attitude is still strong.

No sign of joint problems in hips or knees, some arthritis in her spine and front legs but is still very active but in shorter intervals.

From our experience the surgery works very well.
Good luck with your puppy.
Tinbender