Help/Advice - Luxating Patella

[Kenzo]

Anyone have any experience of this with their little dogs?

We noticed when we got Little Ethel (the next day when we took her for a walk) that she bunny hops and runs with a one of her back legs, never had a dog that has done this before but have seen god knows how many doing it, usually JR’s though.

She doesn’t do it when she walks, or if she sort of trots, it’s just when she runs, hence why we didn’t notice it when we went to view her.

Anyway some people said don’t arrrh worry about it… lots of little dogs do it, if she’s active and doesn’t stop her bombing about and is not limping about the house or showing any signs of discomfort then it can’t be bothering her but I am a worrier and wanted to double check so took her to the vets for a general health check (even though she had had one of these before we bought her) and to discuss it with the vet.

She examined her and explained what it is, said it’s actually in both hind legs but more so in one that the other which is why you’ve only noticed in on the same leg etc. Vet said she will of been born with it as she's very petite and was probably the runt of the litter (which we had presumed anyway).

Thankfully at the moment after checking her legs the vet said she's not showing any signs of pain and many people just leave it be if there not showing signs of discomfort but because she’s young (3 this month) surgery would be recommended because as she gets older it will start to cause her discomfort due to the friction of the bone.

Asked if we’ve got her insured (only just got her a few weeks ago) and it's not something we thought about as yet, anyway because the vet has seen it (well me bringing to their attention), even if we did get her insured now we couldn’t claim obviously, so said if we decide in the future to have it operated on, we are talking £1,500 operation (per leg) but they don’t do it at our vets (prefer to refer her to one that has more experience in that area) which is fair enough.

Surprised her previous owners had not picked up on it

How successful is the operation?

What is the recovery time?

Should one leg be done then the other or both at the same time?

Is that average price?

Basically any feed back would be appreciated.

Any feedback on this would be appreicated, thanks

PS. for those of you who read my first post, house training is practically 80% there...phew!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Not much help at all but just to mention, it is usually conformational or genetic, IE will have been passed on to her by one or both of her parents, riles me when people say 'it is just one of those things' when in a lot of cases it can be screened for.

Hope you get some answers!

 

[Kenzo]

Not much help at all but just to mention, it is usually conformational or genetic, IE will have been passed on to her by one or both of her parents, riles me when people say 'it is just one of those things' when in a lot of cases it can be screened for.

Hope you get some answers!

Yes I totally agree, irresponsible breeders…don’t get me started on that subject, otherwise I’ll go on about that all night.

Thanks for you reply though, we’ll see what we can do.

 

[Echo24]

Knew a dog with patella luxation in both hinds. It was very obvious when she was running as her back legs would fling to one side! (She was a golden retriever). I know they operated on one leg, let that heal before operating on the other but I recall total recovery time was nearly 5 months! I also think it can be a very expensive op. Sorry I can't offer any more advice but I do know the pup made a full recovery. Good luck!

 

[EAST KENT]

Come down to Kent ,it is nothing like that cost!

 

[Faro]

My Beddy/Whippet Ronnie has the same thing. He's 17 months now, and it's appeared within the last couple of months. He's from a rescue centre - a dumped litter - so in his case no doubt he came from dodgy, uncaring breeders, so it's probably hereditary.

I'm leaving it be for the time being, as he doesn't "appear" to be in any pain, although I too have been advised that if the operation goes ahead, results are likely to be better on a younger dog. Luxating patella is usually graded by severity and some vets don't/won't operate unless the LP is of a certain grade - grade 2 or 3.

I've been doing some research on this myself recently, and although I can't quote operation costs, I'm wondering if the price you've been quoted is for the operation which deepens out the trochlear (I think it was) groove? Apparently though this particular operation is now deemed old-fashioned and is only used nowadays as a last resort. More common (and as far as I can establish, with far better results) is an operation on one of the ligaments holding the patella in place, to stop the patella from sliding to one side. I understand that the ligament operation isn't all that expensive (but then again, I've got nothing to compare it to!).

Please let us know how you get on anyway - I'm particularly interested, as one day I'll probably have to make similar decisions for Ronniedog (although I do have the advantage that he's insured).

 

[Kenzo]

My Beddy/Whippet Ronnie has the same thing. He's 17 months now, and it's appeared within the last couple of months. He's from a rescue centre - a dumped litter - so in his case no doubt he came from dodgy, uncaring breeders, so it's probably hereditary.

I'm leaving it be for the time being, as he doesn't "appear" to be in any pain, although I too have been advised that if the operation goes ahead, results are likely to be better on a younger dog. Luxating patella is usually graded by severity and some vets don't/won't operate unless the LP is of a certain grade - grade 2 or 3.

I've been doing some research on this myself recently, and although I can't quote operation costs, I'm wondering if the price you've been quoted is for the operation which deepens out the trochlear (I think it was) groove? Apparently though this particular operation is now deemed old-fashioned and is only used nowadays as a last resort. More common (and as far as I can establish, with far better results) is an operation on one of the ligaments holding the patella in place, to stop the patella from sliding to one side. I understand that the ligament operation isn't all that expensive (but then again, I've got nothing to compare it to!).

Please let us know how you get on anyway - I'm particularly interested, as one day I'll probably have to make similar decisions for Ronniedog (although I do have the advantage that he's insured).

Hi Faro

Thank you for your reply and interest, I will of course let you know how we go on.

My father has contacted a few of his dog folk (he’s bred and shown dogs for over 40 years, but not small breeds so he’s not had personal experience with it) any how, he’d been speaking to various people that have and they said yes it can be operated and is wise to do so due to the age to prevent further issues later on however not all that have been operated on have been successful operations (to the point where it can’t be detected again, yes improvement but still there if you see what I mean) and it seems that most say if it’s not bothering the dog, don’t mess with it, apparently if it is bothering the dog, they will yelp and it’s very obviously it’s bothering them. This is just what has been relayed back to my father however.

Anyway, what I’m going to do is take her to another vets (someone a little older and wiser) that have more experience in this problem, just a second opinion to make sure she’s not currently having any discomfort and to get some more info about the op, meanwhile start saving, I’d rather have it done for peace of mind but at least if she’s ok for the time being, it’s not something we have to panic about.

I’ll let you know what else I find out from this other vet.