In Part 1 I explained what the condition luxating patella is, and what we we’ve been doing for our 14 month old dog who was diagnosed with it; you can read that post by clicking here. Our Labrador retriever mix Luke’s technical diagnosis is “medial patellar luxation”, which means the knee pops out to the inside (75-80% of dogs and cats have this type). The other type is “lateral patellar luxation”, in which the knee pops to the outside. What my vet told me that I didn’t know is that the bone above the knee is actually twisted with this condition which is a factor in the knee popping out, as well as the groove it moves through not being deep enough. The twisted knee cannot be corrected without major, major surgery; but the groove can be.
Disclaimer: I am not a veterinarian and I am only sharing what I’ve learned through research and our own experience. If you believe your pet has this condition, you should visit your own vet for professional advice. This post has been slightly modified from it’s original version; mostly just some rewording and formatting changes. I also added some *affiliate links. If you order products through these links we will receive a small commission, and we thank you.
I want to give you an update on Luke before getting into the treatments and prognosis for this condition. I wrote in a recent post that we had taken him off his one month rest period partially on Christmas and fully by New Year’s. We let him run around outside with his sisters (when the conditions in the yard are not too icy). We took the gates* down off the stairs so he can run up and down them freely.
During that rest time we could go days without seeing his knee popping out, though it still did occasionally. Once we relaxed his restrictions, it’s been popping out more. That’s not what we were hoping for. So when I took Sheba to the vet this week, it gave me a chance to talk about Luke with him as well. I updated him on where we’re at and his recommendation was to do the surgery. There is no reason to rush it, but whenever we choose to do it.
Now, let me back up just a bit. What is generally recommended for dogs with this condition? If they are a Grade 1 (which Luke is in his left knee), no treatment is recommended. If they are Grade 2 (Luke’s right knee), surgery is sometimes recommended depending on how the condition is affecting them. In Grades 3 and 4, surgery is always recommended. There are several different types of surgery performed, depending on the Grade. I’m not going to list all of those, but I will tell you just a bit about what would be done for Luke. First of all, this is a surgery that our own vet can perform, and it will cost us between $1500-2000 should we decide to do it.
There are two parts to the surgery, the first being a “trochlear wedge recession”, in which the groove that the patella sits in on the bone (which is too shallow with this condition) is deepened. The second part is a “tibial crest transposition” where the tibial crest is moved and pinned back to the bone, realigning the muscles in the leg. Both parts are necessary for the best results. Our vet has performed this surgery before and so far has had good results with it.
My research so far had turned up the fact that the recovery from these surgeries can be very long and rough. However, I believe those I read had dogs with Grade 3 or 4, where the surgeries are all much more involved. My vet indicated to me that the recovery for this surgery is not so bad (of course that’s easy for him to say…he doesn’t have to live with a dog who generally doesn’t want to slow down). No running or jumping for 6-8 weeks, but leash walks are allowed after a few days I believe.
My first question was: what happens if we put off the surgery? Can Luke’s condition progress from Grade 2 to 3? My vet said no. Some online research did find one website that said yes, a Grade 2 could progress to a Grade 3, but not likely to the worst Grade 4. My vet didn’t mention it but I read in more than one place that dogs with this condition are 41% more likely to suffer a cranial cruciate ligament rupture, especially if they are a higher grade and/or older. They are also highly likely to develop osteoarthritis. Though I’ve also read/heard that even with surgery they can develop arthritis.
Many veterinarians do not think surgery is warranted in a Grade 2. They advise a more conservative management consisting of the following:
- Keep your dog at a healthy weight, preferably on the lean side.
- Keep your dog moving to develop and maintain strong muscle tone. Special attention can be paid to strengthening the back legs/quadriceps muscles.
- Joint supplements. There are many to choose from that work well, we are currently (2016) using Dasuquin*.
- A low carbohydrate diet to benefit the joints.
- Other therapies could include chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy, and Adequan injections.
We are already doing numbers 1-4. We feed a grain free diet and even though we could do better on the diet (raw diet) I think we’re in the right direction there. The only alternative theory of those in #5 I our vet discussed was physical therapy. He’s not convinced of it helping, and he also doesn’t believe that Luke is a good candidate for it because of his fearful personality. We tend to agree with that.
So why does our vet recommend surgery when many don’t? I think he believes it will improve Luke’s quality of life. It’s not that Luke is in a lot of pain now (he seems to only occasionally experience pain when the knee pops out), but the knee does slow him down. He might be playing along and then has to stop because the knee pops out. I think our vet believes why not just fix it and be done with it? Then Luke can get on with a normal life.
So, wow, that’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? As with everything some of the information is conflicting and the answers aren’t simple. We have to do what we think is best. Right now for us that is taking a wait and see approach. We are not going to rush Luke into surgery. We’re also not going to try to slow him down. Right now our yard is icy which is making it difficult for anyone to walk normally out there, and that may be contributing to his knee popping out more. We’re going to let him be an active pup. The only restriction we’ve left up is trying to get him to use the stairs* when going on and off the couch and the bed. That’s good for all the dogs anyway.
We will try to walk him more, with special attention to trying to get some hills in there to help build up those muscles. We’re working on getting him to lose a couple of pounds, and we may try a different joint supplement if we decide the one we’re using now may not be doing good enough. None of the alternative therapies are off the table; however, deep down, I feel like surgery is inevitable, and I’m not sure we want to spend a lot of money on therapies that may or may not work. But my mind is open and no decision is necessarily permanent. We will be taking it one day at a time.
***For an update on Luke’s condition (November 2016) please visit our post: Living With a Dog’s Luxating Patella
**If you are reading this post because you are looking for more information about this condition, please read the comments section below where many readers have shared their own stories. Each story can be a great help to you.**
We are joining the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop. Many thanks to our hosts 2 Brown Dawgs Blog and Heart Like a Dog.
Thankyou for writing this all these years ago, we’ve just come back from the vets and our jack Russell x foxy 1.5 year old has this patella thing, it seems to happen occasionally and then goes back in and she is running again… she is soooo full on I don’t know how we’d keep her quiet for 6 weeks.. plus the $1500 for surgery is hard as our budget is very tight.. I am looking at a brace
Thank you for commenting, Tabi! I’m so sorry about Foxy, it sounds like she might be at the same level as our Luke, with the knee popping out and then back in occasionally. These couple of years later, that is still where we’re at. But every time it pops out, especially if he’s running in the snow, I panic that this is the time it won’t pop back in, or he has some other injury. Luke is so fearful at the vet right now, I just don’t know if we can look at the surgery or not (and the expense of it is tough too!). When I first wrote these posts, I had never seen anything about braces for this condition, but now I think it’s definitely something to look into. Let me know if that works out for you!
Thank you for posting this – I am a brand-new dog owner – I’m 66 and Boo is our first dog – he’s a 3 month old mini-sheepadoodle – very cute and mellow – right now he is in puppy boot camp because he is my first dog I needed someone to start the training as I hate to make mistakes in his training.
Our trainer brought him to the vet for his physical and shots and he was diagnosed with level 2 Patella Luxation. We were shocked when the vet explained it to us. We were also concerned when we went back to the breeder and told them, they told us that they never heard of it, but that the they would take the pup back and gives us another one.
I’m very surprised that the breeder did not know about this as they had a very good reputation, we had heard only good things about them. We are not going to give them Boo back. Fortunately, we purchased pet insurance and it should cover any surgery if needed –
I’ll be following this blog and adding to as we find out more about this condition and what going on with Boo.
Hi John,
You are so wise to bring your dog to a trainer, I cannot tell you how many mistakes I made with our first dogs! But what a tough thing to find out about this condition and at such a young age.
I certainly hope your breeder did not know about this, because any reputable breeder knows that dogs with this condition should not be bred. But of course you wouldn’t give Boo back at this point anyway.
I’m so glad to hear you have insurance! That was one area where we really blew it with Luke. We got free insurance from the rescue when we first adopted Luke – for 3 months I think, but we let it lapse.
Grade 2 is the same that Luke has in one knee, so I will be interested to hear how things progress with Boo. Thank you so much for commenting and telling your story!
I have the dubious pleasure of having two dogs with this issue. My Pom is now 8 years old, and still falls into a Grade 1 on both legs.
Unfortunately, my two year old rescue sheltie was a Grade 1 on his right knee at his yearly exam, and a Grade 2, bordering on 3 on his left.
He had the tibial crest surgery as described above 11 days ago, and it’s been a fairly smooth process thus far. He never lost his appetite, and the incision has healed very well. He finishes his antibiotics and gets the cone off in three more days.
I am concerned that he’s not walking on the leg yet (still hopping on three legs for now), but he seems to have full range of motion, and will touch his foot to the ground while standing still, so I’m still hoping for a great result. Fingers crossed!
Hi Amber,
Thank you for sharing your story. Two dogs – that has to be tough! Tell me, when was your Pom first diagnosed – I’m curious if they’ve been checking it over the years to see no progression?
I am glad to hear it is going well so far with your sheltie. From what I’ve read about the surgery, it sounds like he’s coming along well, and I would expect it to be longer before he started using the leg. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you as well!
Thanks for this informative information, much of which I am familiar with as I have a small papillon, Mango, with the same problem. One leg has already had surgery but the vet has proclaimed that it was not as successful as he had hoped and said he would operate again. After he prodded and pushed my papillon’s post surgery joint and with my papillon screaming in pain, I grabbed my dog and ran.
After rest and gradual leash walking whilst the vet might not consider the op successful so far the problem has not recurred. But now the other leg has the same problem. I took him to the groomer and I didn’t know at the time that he had a sore spot on his tummy which was infected and when the groomer put him in the bath he went crazy and put out his other leg.
After consulting 2 more vets with conflicting opinions my gut feeling is to rest him for 4=6 weeks. This was the recommendation of one vet. Another said that his quality of life would be impaired and the sooner the operation was done then Mango could get back to his old self once again.
Two schools of thought and I am caught in the middle. Reading your post helped me to realise that I am not alone.
Thank you
Hi Carole,
I’m so glad my post was helpful to you, even if it was just for some moral support. Poor Mango with that awful vet, I’m glad you got away from him.
This certainly seems like a condition with no clear answers at times. It does seem that at least trying the rest probably can’t hurt. Sometimes all we can do is go with our gut feeling and hope for the best.
The vets in our office don’t even agree on Luke – one recommends just doing the surgery now and the other says why not wait? We’re still waiting as long as Luke’s knee only pops out occasionally which is still the case. On the rare occasion that he yelps when it does pop out, of course I wince and second guess our decision. Luckily right now that is not very often.
I’d love it if you updated me on Mango’s condition from time to time! Thank you for coming by and for commenting!
Hi I have just found your blog and really enjoying reading it. I was searching for info about luxating patella as our 11 month old golden retriever has just been diagnosed. Our vet has advised surgery and complete rest, we went along with that idea to begin with but as he isn’t getting any worse and in fact it hasn’t popped at all for a few days we have cancelled the surgery and instead are increasing his exercise to try and build the muscles around the knee. We feel it’s the right thing to do at the moment, hope it is!
I’m glad you found us, Liz, and thank you! Sorry to hear about your golden. I think you are making the best decision you can for him. Gentle exercise and try to keep him from jumping too much (though we’ve mostly had to give up on that with Luke – he’s impossible to stop!), and you may be able to at least hold off on the surgery. Oh, and swimming can be great too!
It’s been a year and half with Luke and so far so good. His knee still pops out occasionally but most times it doesn’t even bother him much.
I think that adding a joint supplement (we’re using Dasuquin right now but there’s a lot of good ones out there) really helps, and what I think is most important is keeping his weight down. Luke is lean but very healthy. It’s tough to see these things when they’re so young, but I think they can be managed.
Hi Jan,
Thank you for writing this blog – so much good information and reading everyone’s stories makes me feel a bit better. My Great Pyr 6mo old puppy has been diagnosed with a luxating patella (lateral I think) on her right back leg and I have a feeling it is a grade 3 from reading the descriptions – her kneecap stays popped out but she puts weight on it and races everywhere of course….
My vet took xrays and sent off to an orthopedic surgeon who just confirmed that it is a luxating patella. My vet thinks surgery is in her future, but the question is when is best time to do the surgery – after she has grown a bit more or ?? She is only at about 1/3 to 1/2 of her adult size (40lbs now and will be over 100lbs). He will re-check her in 2 months – it is nerve-making to know what is best. I trust my vet a lot, but a big part of me wants to do surgery now, cause I know it hurts her, but too soon and maybe it will affect the growth of her leg??? Oh geez!
But after reading your blog, I can see that waiting a bit is probably better. Meanwhile, I saw an article that said having them climb daily or swim to strengthen the leg muscles can help – so got an above ground pool set up and am going to start introducing her to swimming this weekend 🙂
Thank you so much!
Mary and Georgina
Hi Mary and Georgina!
You are so welcome, I am so glad that my post helped you. I know that even when we trust our vets, it’s so easy to second guess everything, and the decisions that have to be made can be agonizing.
It makes sense to me to wait for that growth before surgery, but I also know it’s tough to see them struggling. Though dogs are troopers, aren’t they? Luke’s knee still pops out occasionally, and he just runs around on 3 legs. There was one time recently though when he let out a huge yelp. Those are the times that I wonder if we shouldn’t be doing the surgery now. I just always fear that this is the time the knee won’t pop back in, you know what I mean? But the surgery can be tough too, so we are still holding off for now.
You sound like such a great pet parent (hope you don’t mind that term), getting her a swimming pool! I hope she enjoys swimming!
Thank you for leaving such a nice comment, and keep me posted on how it goes.
Jan
Hi Jan,
Just wanted to update you on Georgina’s progress – she had surgery at the end of August and is now running and playing non-stop! 🙂
We waited until she was about 8 months to let her legs grow a bit, and found a terrific orthopedic surgeon – Georgina had a grade 3 lateral luxating patella that was getting worse and her leg needed to be realigned as well. He re-did the knee cap grove and re-attached/re-aligned ligaments.
Ten weeks of healing with no running or jumping was a tough go, but we got through it. She hated the crate (Great Pyr sized crate) and by 3rd day had bitten some of the bars together!! Ended up finding an AKC 6 x 4 x 8 kennel at Home Depot and put up in the living room as a 6H x 4W x 6L (has modular panels so you can leave some out). This made her less claustrophobic and much happier. Mostly stayed in my room with bed downsized to 1 mattress on floor so she wouldn’t jump – OMG what we do for our pups!
But all of the above was so worth it – just to see her acting like a puppy – a big puppy – is wonderful!!!!
Best
Mary & Georgina
Hi Mary,
Oh, that is such great news, thank you for letting me know! I’m so glad you found a good surgeon. I’m sure that 10 weeks seemed long at the time, but it is wonderful that it is behind you now and Georgina is a happy dog!
That is the best and most hopeful news for anyone going through this, so thank you so much for sharing your story here. ♥
Hi there! My boy that we rescued has a lateral luxating patella grade 3. He is a Samoyed and 3 years old. I was lucky enough to get all of his vet records from his old owner and apparently he was diagnosed with this condition at 15 weeks old. My vet mentioned surgery, didn’t want to go that route as I am horrified of the recovery period.
We looked into many holistic approaches to helping him live with this condition including, supplements (organic phytoflex (dogzymes) product from natures farmacy). He is so comfortable with this organic supplement, in fact it is so safe that they double the dose for dogs with injuries; it’s all nutrients they need to help with bone and muscle and joint support. When he isn’t on this product I see a huge difference in his ability to use his leg.
Another holistic route was acupuncture and cold laser therapy. As these helped him with pain even that vet said, these will never cure the issue. In fact he gave me some great information on cutting into the bone and arthritis. You are guaranteed arthritis (not a major amount) when cutting into the bone and we are all guarenteed arthritis for not fixing the surgery.
So; we have had him for about 15 months now, helping him as much as we can BUT it is heartbreaking knowing that he can’t play or run the way he really wants too. There are times when even a long car ride bothers him and he lifts his left that night, which makes for a very moody baby at night. Rimadyl helps with this pain BUT my breeder recommended not using pain meds as pain is a way of their bodies telling them they are doing too much.
Since he is three, already with arthritis we can only imagine how crippled he will feel as he reaches his older years. We made an appointment to have a consult with our surgeon last week and learned when the right time to go for surgery is…
1. His knee is a grade 2-3. His patella sits in groove BUT pops out very easily, in fact I feel it popping in and out with ever movement of his leg (he has learned to pop it in himself).
2. Every time the knee cap pops out (my guy is lateral as is yours) it creates more friction to the bones in the knee creating more and more arthritis and scar tissue to form.
3. We are lucky in the aspect that his ligaments are intact and they would only need to deepen the groove and tighten his own scar tissue to create support for the knee cap. As if now, no screws or pins or fishing wire are needed because his bones and tissue are in good shape.
4. The longer we wait we can’t reverse ANY arthritis and he can blow a ligament (which can be healed naturally)
5. If those other things happen due to us waiting the surgery will most likely be more invasive than now with a harder recovery period.
So with all that being said, most likely we will have the surgery but I am looking into if a brace can help instead! Good luck! Hope this all helps
Hi Ali – thank you so much for sharing your story! I don’t blame you for doing anything you can to avoid the surgery. Gosh, it sounds like your boy has it pretty bad; much worse than our Luke. It’s so tough to make these decisions, isn’t it? Whatever you decide, I’m sure it will work out for the best.
One thing we learned with one of our other dogs, our beagle, is that yes, arthritis cannot be reversed once it has gotten bad. She has arthritis in both back knees and other than pain relief, there’s not much we can do for her.
I seem to remember looking into braces too, but to be honest, I can’t remember what I found. I hope to write a follow-up to this post soon so that is something I will try to look into also. We are still taking a “wait and see” approach with Luke as his knee has not been popping out too often.
I wish you luck also with whatever route you go. I appreciate you sharing your story because I know a lot of people are looking here for information, and every personal story helps.
My 4 year old yorkie mix had MPL and ACL surgery on March 9, 2016. The surgery was performed by an orthopedic surgeon. 4 days after surgery he started to apply light pressure and began walking on his leg. He is doing incredibly well with his recovery. We have blocked all of the furniture so he cannot jump and only take him out to relieve himself on a leash. I know the next 7 weeks will be rough keeping him contained but I can already see that he’s getting used to the house restrictions. I’m glad we had the surgery done.
Thank you for sharing that, Deb! I worry so much about the recovery if we have surgery done for Luke , but knowing that your Yorkie is doing so well makes me feel better. I hope he continues to make a speedy recovery!
Thanks for posting all this research! Tell me, has anyone ever recommended doggie knee braces? and have you tried them? My 14 year old Basset Hound has started just recently to have issues with going up stairs. This started only 4 days after getting her nails trimmed at Petco. I took her to the vet thinking she tweaked her back or something, which I am still not certain might of happened at Petco when they pick the animals up to put them on the table….. BUT anywho – the vet (whom I really don’t like much, but rarely have to see) told me she has luxating patella – – from what I read usually it’s diagnosed early on – and well, this is the VERY first time in 14 years I’m being told this. Which also makes me leary of the $2000 surgery they want to perform. Let alone on a 14 year old dog. So I’ve been looking at knee braces and such – just thought I’d ask if you’d tried any of those?
Can you tell me what supplements you are using? My old lady will not eat any chewable flavored supplements – she turns her nose up – and if she smells it in her dinner she will stop eating. No joke. She’ll go days until I give in and give her a meal with no supplements. *Sigh*
Maybe I need a second opinion?! He gave her a pain med shot and sent me home with tramodol and dasaquin – so we will see. I will definitely continue to walk her (As she seems happiest outside walking) and find some hills to incorporate to hopefully strengthen that leg, if it is indeed the patella causing her issues……
Thanks so much for posting and listening!
Hi Melissa,
I’m so glad that you found my post and it was helpful to you! I have not heard of a knee brace being used for this condition, but it would seem like it could possibly help.
Right now Luke is on dasaquin and that seems to be helping the most. They are chewable though, has your lady taken it? There are a lot of good supplements out there but they are all either chewable or added to food. Does she have a favorite treat like peanut butter or cheese that you could wrap it in? We have also used two other supplements – Natural Stride, which you can get in chews or powder, and Rejenease which is liquid. Our dogs have liked them all, but they are not at all fussy either!
I’m going to be honest here, but I am not a vet and this is just my opinion. I can’t imagine that my own vet would have recommended surgery if Luke was 14 years old. I would get a second opinion. At her age, I would think it was far more likely an injury from the groomer like you think, or that it’s arthritis; especially if you’ve seen no sign of it until now. Do you ever remember her holding up her leg but then being OK after just a bit? A true diagnosis would probably involve sedation and x-rays (Luke was sedated because the manipulation can be painful). Both of our older girls have arthritis, and it caused limps for both of them.
If it were me – and again, just my opinion, I would give it some time if she is not worsening. I’d keep the walks short with only gentle hills. Supplements can take time to work, but the pain meds should help immediately. You just want to be careful of further injury if it is something like that, and bad knees can lead to ligament injuries as well. Not to scare you, but just to keep that in mind not to overdo anything.
Good luck to you and I hope you’ll let me know how you make out. You can also email me at jank@afarmgirlsfinds.com. Sometimes it’s just so good to talk to someone who is going through what you are! Right now our Luke is doing OK – his knee only pops out occasionally so we are still just keeping an eye on things.
Did you decide to do the surgery?
My dog needs surgery for both legs for MLP, it’s $2600 to do both at the same time with a board certified orthopedic surgeon. Bella is a 6 years old mexican hairless min pin and we’ve had her since she was 4 months, has never used her right leg going down the stairs or when she pees. Just this past christmas her leg had swollen up and she cried a lot. Turns out she has grade 3 in her right and grade 2 in her left. All that time we didn’t know and she never knew any different. I just had skin cancer removed and it reconstructed for $4600 about 6 months ago so I dont know if I’m willing to go into more debt, even though yes it could eventually be paid off. She still is determined to walk around and jump on and off the couch. (I recently put up a baby gate so she can no longer jump on our bed which is 30 inches high and the couch is not nearly as high but I was told no more jumping what so ever) Not using her right leg is the only way she can tell us shes in pain. So I guess I’m leaning towards the surgery because it is progressive and if she ruptures her CCL shes going to need the surgery either way. I’m unsure because there are drawbacks but seem minimal. I never knew being a dog mom would be so stressful.
Oh, I feel for you! I also can’t believe how stressful it can be to be a dog Mom (we’re dealing with one of our other dogs and cancer right now).
We have not decided to do the surgery – yet. Luke is only 2 years old now and his knees only pop out occasionally, and don’t seem to cause him much pain. But I am pretty sure down the road we will be doing it, at least for one leg. As he gets older we will worry more about him rupturing the CCL as well.
Our vet advised us to do the surgery, but we are just opting to wait. But if he was in pain we would do it sooner (he was only a Grade 1 and a Grade 2).
I am surprised they advise doing both at once for Bella. it seems like recovery would be pretty rough that way – but maybe with a small dog it could be easier.
We have staircases for both our bed and one of our couches (though Luke won’t use them all the time). Has your vet advised joint supplements? I think they have helped Luke a lot.
You will figure out what is best to do….good luck. I’d love to hear how you and Bella make out.
Yeah we decided to do the surgery but shopping around for the best price. There’s a higher success rate if you take care of it early. I’m worried since we didn’t know all that time from (4 months old to now)that it might be too late for her. Our orthopedic surgeon just said she needs surgery but im not going to force you into it. We can’t afford this surgery but we can always make up for it later. I have no idea what we will do if it doesn’t turn out for the best. Going into more debt is crazy.
I’m so glad you told me that about taking care of it early. I wanted Luke to be a little more mature (less active) so it would be easier to keep him quiet; but I guess we’d better be careful of waiting too long.
I know it seems crazy to go into more debt, especially when there are no guarantees. But we pet lovers can sometimes be a crazy bunch, can’t we? Just joking there – hoping to make you smile a bit during what I know is such a tough decision making time. Please keep me posted on how you make out – you can also email me at jank@afarmgirlsfinds.com if you just need some support.
Dogs with these problems are allowed to go on walks but I wouldn’t over do it. They can not run, jump or play until surgery is done.
I think it depends on the surgeon whether or not to do surgery on a grade 2. Have you had the time to get a second opinion?
Bella has always been high energy I thought she would be less active as well the older she got but nothing yet, until this problem occurred of course.
I found out for both legs the anesthetic takes about 1/2 an hour and surgery will take about 2 hours.
He doesn’t want to do one leg and then wait to do the other one because she could compensate her weight on the other leg and the muscles from the operated leg will atrophy. Along with the dog not feeling comfortable to use it thus slower recovery. Plus it’s better for the patient one anesthetic, recovery period and heals faster.
I trust this specialist (Dr. Malnati in FL) he doesn’t seem pushy to do the surgery since it’s not an emergency and the quote he gave us is good for 6 months. I’m not telling my husband that because I want to get this done ASAP. I’m the worst dealing with stress and overthinking things. My biggest fear of course is her not waking up from surgery. I’ve never felt a greater love for a dog, I’d be devastated if she went to doggy heaven so soon.
I’m sorry to hear your dealing with cancer. Is it with your dog or yourself?
What kind is it? How do you cope?
Maybe this link will be useful to you if it’s for a pet.
http://journeyspet.com/quality-of-life-scale-pets/
I was recently reading something in regards to high carb diets link to cancer in pets. Who knows. Nothing is quite what it seems. It would be awesome if the internet could only have factual information.
Anyways ttyl
That does make sense as to why they want to do both legs at once. Since Luke was only a Grade 1 in one knee and 2 in the other, that’s another reason we’ve decided to wait.
I know just how you feel – I overthink things as well and worry so much and stress myself out even more. Anesthesia doesn’t worry me too much….we’ve never had an issue with it, and good vets do all the blood work ahead of time to be sure there are no issues.
Our golden retriever has cancer. She’s had two surgeries this last year to remove lumps, but it’s a difficult cancer to remove completely and they are sure it will be back, as well as possibly spreading to her lungs. Right now she is doing great, but we just don’t know how long that will last. I got a great book about it and we have her on a special diet (yes, low carb) now.
Thank you for sharing that link, that will be very useful when we get to that point.
Keep me posted on Bella!
So I asked him if it was dangerous for her to under for 2 1/2 hrs and I guess that made him mad. Because he referred us to somewhere else and won’t do the surgery. So now we will be spending more money and they most likely won’t do both legs at the same time. There’s a guy whose retired but goes to other vet clinics and does surgery I don’t think he’s board certified. Not sure if it really matters or not.
Well, it sounds to me like you dodged a bullet there, then. Any vet who has a problem with questions doesn’t seem like a good one to me. I am not sure about board certification, whether it matters or not? Good luck, I’m sure you will find the right one to do it.
No surgery will bring the dogs legs back to pre injury levels yet some say otherwise. Haven’t done surgery he said there’s a great
Chance the CCLs will rupture and need more surgery…that MPL surgery can be a multi surgery type process. So we are stuck in limbo. How’s treatment for the cancer going?
Yes, I have heard that Even if you have the surgery they will still be prone to arthritis as they age as well. The rupturing of the CCL is what worries me the most, so I imagine we will do surgery at some point. Unless Luke decides to become a mellow dog which doesn’t look too likely at this point!
Right now our golden retriever is doing very well! She feels great and we hope that lasts for a while….but we are finding more lumps on her. Thank you for asking about her!
You’ve done a great deal of research, and I appreciate you taking the time to write such an in-depth post for all of us. As soon as I saw the photo of the stairs and the couch, I thought “I’m sure Luke just jumps right over those!” Please continue to keep up updated through this process, know many are sending positive thoughts and prayers your way, and don’t hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do… Take care my friend.
Yeah, I’ve mostly given up on the stairs, and am just happy if either Luke or Cricket uses them occasionally (Sheba will have nothing to do with them, it took her months to decide to use the stairs up to our bed.
Thank you so much for your support, Cathy, it really means a lot and is greatly appreciated.
That was a lot of great information, thank you for explaining everything so well you did a great job on it. You have to do what you feel is right for Luke and you are with him every day so I would say if he is having more “bad” days then “good” days then it might be time to think about the surgery so nothing further happens like the possibility of a ACL tear and arthritis. Always hard when it is a in between state and not quite sure which way to go.
Honestly, I think I’m ready to say that the surgery is the way we should go, but my hubby is more reluctant. But I think in time we’ll know what’s right and we’ll be able to prepare ourselves for the recovery period which is really the scary part for my hubby. For me, scary is “surgery” but for him, scary is trying to keep Luke quiet when our two girls still want to go, go, go!
Never easy to know what to do when there are many different options and opinions…i think if you trust your vet and know them well enough then go with the advice..quality of life is so important and oh boy keeping him still..like i said before we have been there…urghhh but the outcome for us was great 🙂 loves Fozziemum xx
Thank you, Bev, that does help. We’ve been with our vet a lot of years now and that’s because we trust him and believe he always advises what he would personally do, but he’s never pushy either. We may just need a bit of time to get ourselves ready for the recovery period! xxoo
It’s always tough when you have a lot of options that can lead to so many different outcomes. We’ve been there, with a different kind of canine health decision, and what I can say is that for me, when we finally did make a definitive decision, I felt a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. I hope that whatever you decide, you find peace with it! 🙂
I do really think at some point that we’ll figure out what is best. There are no guarantees no matter what we do, so really all we can do is try to figure it out and then do it and hope for the best. I do think ending the indecision would be a relief though as you said!
You’ve certainly done your homework and that will help you make the best decision for Luke and your situation. I hope his knee “holds out” for quite a while longer without absolutely needing surgery.
I try to get as much information as I can when dealing with something like this. Our vet is great but he hasn’t dealt with this condition a whole lot, so he certainly doesn’t know everything about it.
I may feel like surgery is inevitable, but I do think it would be easier if we can wait until he’s a bit older.
Always thinking of you sweet Luke. Sheesh! What a cluster-cunundrum! lol is that a word? Anyways, I am so sorry your going through all of this, your such a good pawrent and you sharing about all you are learning i’m sure will help others as well.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thank you, Jenna, I do hope this might give someone some information they might have been looking for.
I don’t know if that’s a word or not, but I like it! 🙂 And it certainly suits what I’m feeling….it’s difficult sometimes when the answer isn’t clear. But I think we’ll figure it out in time.
I would think his age would be a factor for surgery so he can live a long, full life. Poor pup!
I think you are right about that, Emma. If he was older it would be a different consideration and might be easier to just let it go. But on the other hand, would the recovery from the surgery be easier when he’s older and has settled down some? That’s something else we’ve thought about.
Thanks for linking this up to the blog hop.
It’s never easy making the decision for someone else. Have you considered a brace? I’m not even sure it would help, but when we were trying conservative management with Sampson’s ACL the holistic vet said a properly fitted, designed brace would help. Just throwing it out there.
I’m sure whatever decision you make will be the right one for you.
Thank you, Jodi. I remember talking about a brace at some point with someone, and wondered if they even made leg braces for dogs with this condition. It could definitely be something worth looking into.
Poor Luke 🙁 and your poor budget too. I think your vet is very trustworthy and has never steered you wrong before. However, I think you’re smart not to rush into a decision. Will keep our fingers and paws crossed for Luke.
Thank you, Sheryl. I do trust our vet, and I am glad that he will be able to do the surgery if/when we decide to do it. We don’t see eye to eye on everything, but I think he knows his stuff and always recommends what he thinks is best.
It is hard when you have to make a decision without being sure of the outcome. I wonder if a second opinion might be worthwhile to give you perspective and maybe help with making your decision? I am trying to remember whether Luke was neutered and at what age?
Thanks so much for sharing this interesting post on the hop!
The thought of a 2nd opinion did go through my mind. My biggest concern is that the next doctor would want to do a thorough exam as well and that means more manipulation of the legs and probably anesthesia again. I hate to put Luke through that a second time.
He was neutered at about 5 months old.
I can understand that.