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=)
