Mary,
Dog's bones don't fully set until they are three years old. I wouldn't
schedule any surgery just yet and I would consult a orthopedic
vet if you decide as you would not let a family practice doctor replace
your hip. It is hard in my area to find a vet that isn't out for the
money and wanting to do this surgery. I have two dogs one which is eleven
years old but when she was young our former vet wanted to do that surgery on
her. I researched it and we never did the surgery. (We also found a new
vet) She is fine. If Pixil seems to be limping I would
give her one fourth (1/4) tablet of glucomine 500 mg/chondroitin
400mg/MSM 166 mg (Walgreens brand is what I use) once or twice
a day. With my dog after 2-3 weeks she was
fine. Sometimes I will give it to her up to a couple months after
she quit limping just to be sure. Or you could also try Consequin and walk her short walks every
day, like 4 times for a month and see if that
helps.
Luxating Patella comes in four degrees 1-4 with 4 being the
worst. They can go through their whole lives with grades 1 & 2 and
never have a problem other than an occasional limp. Surgery isn't
usually recommended unless it's a grade 4 and is painful to the dog.
Grade 3 is up for grabs.They usually put them on rimadyl and confine them for
a couple of weeks.
The patella is a disc shaped bone held in place over the front of the
knee joint by a tendon at the top and at the bottom. There is a groove in the
femur that holds the tendon in place. In luxating patella, the tendon has
slipped out of the groove, or in the case of a congential luxating patella,
the groove was not deep enough to keep the tendon in place. Normally the vet
does not operate until the condition reaches grade 3. This is when it is out
of place most of the time but can still be put back in manually. The limp
comes from the knee cap slipping out of place, not necessarily pain.
Once it slips back in they are ok Patellas are made worse by
overweight. Did your vet do xrays? Did you see them? On the
xray, you should be able to clearly see the patella out of place. It is a very
long rehab and you have to keep them in an x-pen for 6-8 weeks. So think
hard on it.
Sorry
this is so long but I hope that helps
Emi
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 11:41
PM
Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] New
Member/Mary
Hello,
My
name is Mary. I am the proud owner of Pixil (name spelled incorrectly,
she is a Pixel but
we want to be able to
I dont know a lot about the lux patellas but
welcome to the group. Pixil is such a cute name!
katie=)
