knee subluxation

[Jakesmom]

Our 2 year old English Cocker girl, Sophie, has been diagnosed with patellar luxation--basically, her knee goes out of joint and she is lame until it gets back in. It is happening frequently, although we can get it back in by manipulating the joint, it seems to be hurting her, so we are planning on surgery. The orthopedic surgeon who is reccomended in this area has told me to plan on 6 weeks of rest for recovery.

I am concerned about how to keep her happy for these 6 weeks. She is a very active, lively dog, not hyper, but very playful and loving, and pretty needy/attached to me. I am worried that 6 weeks of enforced (ie, drugged) rest will adversely affect her personality. She is very sensitive, shy with new people or new dogs, etc. She seems much more sensitive than Jake (our Golden), who pretty much rolls with the punches...

Any ideas?

Jake's mom

[poodleempire]

My little girl had the op done on both her back knees and she bounced back like a trooper!...
Christie was a toy poodle and verrrrrrrrrrrry opinionated,so her 6 weeks of rest where a battle :D ...but it was worth it,her quality of life improved and she was much more mobile and pain free....
Its never going to be easy keeping an active paitent quiet but....i will say Christie did cotton on to the fact she had to 'take it easy' and yes we did have another poodle in the house who intially wanted to play,but he got the message too,and gave her the space and time she needed to get better.
I dont think it will affect your little girls personality being restricted fro a while,you just have to be firm with her,and loving ;)
It will be worth it!

[borzoimom]

Our 2 year old English Cocker girl, Sophie, has been diagnosed with patellar luxation--basically, her knee goes out of joint and she is lame until it gets back in. It is happening frequently, although we can get it back in by manipulating the joint, it seems to be hurting her, so we are planning on surgery. The orthopedic surgeon who is reccomended in this area has told me to plan on 6 weeks of rest for recovery.

I am concerned about how to keep her happy for these 6 weeks. She is a very active, lively dog, not hyper, but very playful and loving, and pretty needy/attached to me. I am worried that 6 weeks of enforced (ie, drugged) rest will adversely affect her personality. She is very sensitive, shy with new people or new dogs, etc. She seems much more sensitive than Jake (our Golden), who pretty much rolls with the punches...

Any ideas?

Jake's mom
I had a poodle when I was young that had this. You do need to keep them off of stairs- that throws the weight forwards or back, off of couches so they dont jump down, and try to control playing and running ( like walking on a leash outside or indoor activites.) But they do heal well. My poodle lived to be 13..

[areias]

My Zoie has the same thing. It's not fun :(. Lately I've noticed she's become increasingly irritable with the other dogs, and that it's taking longer for her to stop limping. And she just turned a year old.

How much is the surgery going to cost you? I haven't discussed that yet with the vet. I'm curious to learn some more about it.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Here's some Posts we've made over the years ...
My Smokey has suffered from "Luxating Patella since he was 1.5 years old ...
We lucked out and managed to Treat and Condition his bum knee to the point where you almost have to know he once had a problem to detect any handicap now. I'm hoping & praying he'll never need the Sir Jury we almost agreed to do.




LOTS of us have Dogs with Luxating Patella, also known as Trick Knee.

My Smokey has it, and several other Folks have Dogs who either suffer from it or have had Surgery to Correct it...
Laurie,
LizBud,
Albea,
Jack'sMom, and there are some others.

Hit the "Search" Button and look for the term
"Luxating Patella" (put the words Inside Quotes)
and then also search for Glucosamine.
Both searches will bring up some previous posts on the subject.

The Glucosamine (either plain, or with "MSN" or with Chondroitin are
common treatments for L.P. (trick knee) and for Arthritis.

Read This Thread for a discussion of these drugs >
Thread "Glucosamine with MSN" (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25024)

These drugs are available from your Vet - at somewhat of a "Pricey" cost;
OR at places like Wal-Mart at VERY reasonable prices.

My SmokeMutt goes from Running Like a Deer on ALL Fours;
to picking up his bum knee and going on just three...
with NO loss of Speed or Agility!

His knee is (WAS) MUCH worse - his was called a Class 3 or 4 -
and it's (WAS) usually OUT of Place.
With the daily 500 mg of plain Glucosamine (Wal-Mart "Spring Valley" generic flavor) - his knee usually doesn't bother him.
I have noticed that at certain gaits or speeds, he prefers to operate on 3 legs and hikes up the bad one so he doesn't put much weight on it.

Every once in a while he must "bump" it or make it *hurt* http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/frown.gif and he'll
*YIP* and stop immediately.
I learned how to *POP* http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif his kneecap back into place and do so
whenever he complains. As soon as I'm done *popping it* -
he gives it an approving "shake" and scampers off on his merry way!

After a day of hard play with Cinder, or a swim, I'll give him a
single Adult Aspirin to help relieve any pain he might have.

And... if you use http://www.google.com (http://www.google.com/) and search for
[ "Luxating Patella" dog ]
you'll find dozens of articles on the Net.

/s/ Phred






"Clicking" sounds more like what Smokey has in his left rear knee -
a "Luxating Patella" = aka a "trick knee" ~

The KneeCAP is loose and shifts off to one side or the other -
and causes *pain* when it happens. http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/frown.gif

Smokey was probably *abused* in his first year (before he showed up
at the Ranch and was "adopted" by Cinder) - and his problem wasn't
noticed for a while untill he started to 3-Leg It whenever his
knee *popped* out.

Doc Mike diagnosed it, and showed me how to *pop* it back into place
if Smokey couldn't *shake it* back into position.
I played Knee Popper for him for a year or so; and we started
giving him Glucosamine 2X every day ...
We're now doing 1,000 mg of Glucosamine every day -
and I haven't seen him "limp" for a couple of years! http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/smile.gif http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/biggrin.gif

The surgery was estimated at $800 - but with a recovery period
of 4 - 8 months (very limited running & jumping) -
would NOT have made SmokeMutt a happie kampur!

The Vet and the Surgeon agreed to a "trial" with the Glucosamine -
IF his knee didn't get any worse - we'd NOT do the surgical repair.
We've been *poppin pills* for 4 - 5 years - and I haven't *popped* his knee
for at least two years! http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/smile.gif http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/biggrin.gif

He's learned to "live with it" - and knows just how to run like a deer and
not *pop* that knee. Most people can't even notice he "favors" that knee!
I'm positive the Glucosamine has helped to lubricate the knee.

You might consider a "second opinion" -
checking for "Luxating Patella" only takes a skilled Vet a few minutes
and is done by "palpating" (feeling) the knee - X-rays won't show much.

And Glucosamine ( SAME over-the-counter stuff you can find in Wally'sMart) -
certainly won't hurt - but it takes several months to begin to show
any improvement.

/s/ Phred




My SmokeMutt had (has) a Luxating Patella - right rear used to go out on him
several times a week when he was about 1.5 - 2.5 years old.

Specialist said he could "fix-zit" with surgery - BUT SmokeMutt would have to
be confined on a http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/eek.gif LEASH for 2 to 4 months ... NO running of jumping at all!

Smokey decided to try learning to live with his bum knee ... which has turned out
to be an almost Total Success!! http://petoftheday.com/i/our_smilies/smile.gif

* He got to where HE could *pop* it back into place whith a shake or a stretch.

* If he couldn't get it back into place, he'd *hop* over to me and hold out the knee
for me to work on. I got pretty good at "Knee Poppin"!

* And he learned how to "condition" the bum knee/leg ...
For a while he did his hard runnin on three legs - tuck up the bum one and
go like the wind on three!
Then I noticed he was "skip runnin" - sometimes on three, sometimes on all four ...
working on building up the bum knee and weak leg ...

At 6 years old - you have to look very closely to notice he ever had a problem. He still
"sits" a lil *phunnie* - that bum right knee/leg splays out at an angle - almost like a brace -
while he sits ON the left one ... but he *RUNS* like a One-Minute Miler!
And it's been over a year since I actuall saw him Tuck Up the bum knee and
Run on Three!

/s/ Phred

[Jakesmom]

Thanks for the replies. When Sophie first hurt her knee, we "rested" her for 3 weeks, and she had no more trouble for about 8 months. For the past week, her knee now goes out for seemingly no reason and she seems quite painful--stops what she's doing, cries, etc, and overall she is less playful and happy, so I think we need to get it taken care of.

The estimate for the surgery and associated hospital fees is in the neighborhood of $1600 (one leg). This is with a specialty orthopedic surgeon. I have read that some general vets do the surgery (or some version of the surgery), that is probably less expensive but I think its important to have someone who has lots of experience doing the operation, especially since she is very active.

I had very good luck with glucosamine for my golden, Jake, who has arthritis and back (disk) disease, but this seems to be a real mechanical issue rather than just pain/degenerative changes. Probably starting it will help with recovery and preventing arthritic changes though.

I'm sure keeping her quiet for 6 weeks will be a challenge, especially since we have 3 floors and she thinks the couch and bed are hers! But, she loves to run and jump and I'm hoping this surgery will get back to it.

jakesmom

[borzoimom]

jakesmom- see if you have a veternary teaching hospital near you. contrary to popular belief, these are the best doctors as teachers, and the students are never by themselves, but the cost is like half..