Author Topic: Experience with Luxating Patellar Disease?  (Read 2379 times)

mjjensen

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Experience with Luxating Patellar Disease?
« on: January 30, 2006, 04:10:25 pm »
 Has anyone here had any experience with Luxating Patellar Disease? Sam has developed a limp that started in his left hind leg then moved to his right. Having been through Pano with my newfoundland Molly at about the same age I figured that's what it was and held off going to the vet right away. I took him to the vet today because it seemed to be bothering him more than it had been and I found out he has Luxating Patellar Disease in both his knees and that he needs surgery on the right one to repair it because the knee cap is no longer where it should be. My vet explained to me what the surgery involved and he's scheduled to have it done on Feb. 7th. I was so upset that I didn't think to ask any questions about whether or not Sam would have full use of his leg after the surgery, recovery time, how long he'd have to stay in the hospital, etc. I haven't been able to reach the vet this afternoon so if any of you have been through this with your pups maybe you could answer some of my questions. 

Offline Halo05

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Re: Experience with Luxating Patellar Disease?
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2006, 07:25:23 pm »
Hi,
Halo had his surgery on Jan.5th. He's 15 months old but they needed to do it as he had no use of the back left leg. The right is ok for now. It was congenital. The recovery is 3 months of no running. Leash only. He did get a horrible staph infection there that almost killed him. He was in the hospital for 10 days. Just came home last Tuesday. The bandage was removed yesterday. Its mostly closed but inflamed. If it gets infected again he may lose the leg. I'll cross that bridge when it comes. He was not in pain for the most part until the operation. Just couldn't run hard. I can give you our vets number if you need to confer. They were terrific. They would have perfered to wait until 2 years old. Also, the hips needed to be checked as it can sometimes cause similar symptoms. I will hope for the best for you.

mjjensen

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Re: Experience with Luxating Patellar Disease?
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2006, 09:29:25 am »
Hi,
Halo had his surgery on Jan.5th. He's 15 months old but they needed to do it as he had no use of the back left leg. The right is ok for now. It was congenital. The recovery is 3 months of no running. Leash only. He did get a horrible staph infection there that almost killed him. He was in the hospital for 10 days. Just came home last Tuesday. The bandage was removed yesterday. Its mostly closed but inflamed. If it gets infected again he may lose the leg. I'll cross that bridge when it comes. He was not in pain for the most part until the operation. Just couldn't run hard. I can give you our vets number if you need to confer. They were terrific. They would have perfered to wait until 2 years old. Also, the hips needed to be checked as it can sometimes cause similar symptoms. I will hope for the best for you.
I had seen your posts about all you've gone through with Halo's infection but I missed the part about what the surgery was for. I hope he's going to be OK.
 Sam is only 6 months old but they feel that if they don't do the surgery now there will be a good chance of bone deformities as he grows. They are going to sit down with me next Tuesday before the surgery and give me a rundown of everything that's going to happen and what I need to do. I had no idea that the recovery time would be so long. Trying to keep a 6 month old puppy quiet for 3 month is going to be fun. Thank you for the information and good luck with Halo.

Offline Senghe

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Re: Experience with Luxating Patellar Disease?
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2006, 10:06:02 am »
My friend had to have one of her shar-pei operted on when he was about 8 months old. His knee kept slipping out of place and he would go intermittently lame and you could see his back end was wasting over a couple of months, so they opened him up, deepened the groove and sutured it into place. He was kept to show and breed from, so she pet homed him and his new owner says he's smashing now with no signs of problems and a lovely muscular back end.

However, I'd get a crate and be very strict about no exercise if I were you because if he damages it, he'll be even worse off than if he's not operated on.

I'm a bit worried about operating on a dog who has so much skeletal growth left to do. I'm no expert, but surely this could cause more problems than it will cure?  If possible, consult a specialist orthapedic vet before you go ahead.