Is it possible that a 6 month old toy yorkie can be misdiagnosed with a luxating patella. I ask only because after taking an anti-inflammatory for 7 days, the dog has not once in 3 months shown any sign of it.

THANKS!

As vets are people like the rest of us, it is always possible for them to make a mistake. But in this case I would doubt it, in dogs as small as a Yorkie, operations are not common and as the dog grows it is able to manage. The destinctive 'hop' may return from time to time but as long as the dog is not in pain, you and he should have no problem.

Because your dog is still developing it may have outgrown the problem, extra muscle development can correct the problem by itself. My springer was diagnosed and the vet automatically wanted to operate, I said no because she was to young, I got a second opinion and was told to leave it alone. Sure enough the problem sorted itself out. Having said that keep a close eye out, small dogs are very prone to this problem, it may be that she has done nothing vigerous enough to dislocate it recently, some swimming in your bath (supported not alone) would help build up the right muscles.

Your dog is 6 months old and you have not seen any signs for 3 months. Do I take it then that the vet diagnosed it at 3 months old? If so then all I can say is that I would treat it with a dose of salt! We had a similar problem when a vet diagnosed luxating patellas in an entire litter of 8 week old puppies belonging to a friend! We chatted about it to the college and was told that at that age it is impossable to tell! I've only been able to follow 2 of the litter but both of these spend all winter working and definately do not have slipping knee caps! I sometimes wonder if some vets like to hear their voices. ;)

Regards, John

John,

The condition is congenital and if it is very severe it can be diagnosed at a very early age. Same with severe displaysia.

Stacey

While it is true that both luxating patella and hip dysplasia are congenital, they do differ. A serious malformation of the hip or a misplaced or detached tibial crest may be able to be diagnosed in a young pup. But a certain amount of slackness in the knee is not unusual in the young pup and may well improve with growth, and is best left alone and not over manipulated until the pup is more mature and the bone growth has finished.

You cannot tell reliably at an early age Stacey. The patella ligament is quite loose in a young puppy and can easily be pushed out. That was what was happening with my friend's puppies. The vet pushed the knee cap out then pronounced that the whole litter had slipping knee caps! Because my friend is very experienced she did not accept it at face value. An entire litter is a bit of a coincidence considering that there was no history! We took it up with the vet college and their thoughts were that there is no way of accurately telling at an early age. Certainly not at the 8 to 12 week age where the puppies would be going to their new homes.

Regards, John

John,

I agree that laxness is normal in puppies. However, that's why I said the problem has to be very severe to be diagnosed at an early age. And certainly only an x-ray could confirm a diagnosis - no way would I believe a vet that diagnosed an entire litter with luxating patella.

Stacey

Hi i have a 3yr old staffie who was diaognosed at 18 months old that he had slipping patella in his right hind knee he went to see a specialised who said no operation was needed he was only lame for 3 days he had some sessions of hydrotherpy and has not been lame once on that leg since.Although in april this year he ruptured his cucite ligament on his left leg and ended up having knee surgery too.So maybe your dog just needs to bulid some muscule up on that leg.

Our 22 month old Lowchen has luxating patella in both knees, diagnosed when he was 7 months as grade 2/3. We decided against surgery as the condition didn't appear to be troubling him and the specialist couldn't give any guarantees that it would work.
This little dog is SO agile and SO quick - it's only when I see threads like this that I remember he has the condition :)

My Yorkie was diagnosed with patella luxation at 10 months old. I took her to the vets because she had been hopping on her left leg for a couple of weeks. The vet told me that both legs were affected and he would need to operate when she was 12 months old. I was very reluctant to put her through an operation as it was obvious she was in no pain. She is now 14 months old and I have seen no signs of any hopping since her visit to the vet. I have decided to take no action. I am hoping either the vet was mistaken or her muscles have developed and the problem has righted itself.

Hi,
Unfortunately my Chihuahua was diagnosed with a badly luxating patella at approximately 10 months old. He was referred to a highly respected vet specialising in orthopaedics, a grade 4 luxation was found. As my Chihuahua could not weight bear on the affected leg and was in discomfort, surgery was obviously the only option.
The vet stated that the problem was indeed a congenital one and in his opinion a hereditary thing. The breeder insinuated that the injury was a result of an injury :(
Showed little concern...

Thank heavens for insurance, the surgery cost almost £1000.
Some breeders have an awful lot to answer for :(

Hi Honey,
Unfortunately slipping patella is extremely common in the tiny breeds, and comparatively rare in the large ones. Miniaturisation has a lot to answer for.

The sad thing is most breeders seem to be doing little to prevent the problem, they all seem to say "It's not a problem in my line!"
Responsible breeders in the USA seem rather more enlightened and screening for patella luxation is commonplace...or so I am told.

Perhaps it is time for breeders to concentrate less on diminutive size and more on soundness?
Patella surgery is no fun for the poor dog. Stressful for the owner too. My Chi had to suffer 4 weeks cage rest afterwards, not great for a young pup that needs to be out socialising :(

I couldn't agree more that breeders should concentrate on soundness - in all breeds, not just the tinies. But while there is a market for a particular colour, or for those poor "teacup" varieties, there will always be people to exploit it.
:(

Honey, I completely agree with you - breeders should be concentrating on health and temperament issues than focusing on the 'show' qualities.

I chose the breeder of my dog because she was highly respected in the breed but when I told her of the patella condition she admitted that this was something she didn't check for when selecting the dam & sire. She sold the pup to us as a pet because his bite wasn't good enough for the show ring.
Apparently you can't show a dog if it's had dental surgery but you can if it's knees are dislocated!

To be fair are Patella problems likely in your breed.  It isn't something common in my breed and there is no specific screening test, if parents are fit and don't have slipping patella's and you haven't produced any before then it can be a total fluke. 

hi is there anyone that could help i have a springer spaniel who is a year and a half, he has hip dysplasia and a luxating patella in his left leg, the vet is referring me to a specialist to operate does anyone know if this is the best thing to do, we like to walk our springer for miles and this is restricting us taking him out, after the operation will he be able to walk for miles again.
thanks

hi is there anyone that could help i have a springer spaniel who is a year and a half, he has hip dysplasia and a luxating patella in his left leg, the vet is referring me to a specialist to operate does anyone know if this is the best thing to do, we like to walk our springer for miles and this is restricting us taking him out, after the operation will he be able to walk for miles again.

He will be able to resume normal exercise after he is fully recovered from the operation, once all the dressings etc are off hydrotheraphy is often"prescribed/used to bring the dog back to full fitness without putting stress on the operation sites & also the other joints

I would be guided by the specialist-my severely dysplasic BC never had an operation for the HD but I did build up his muscles with swimming in a racehorse pool

For a Min there I thought John and Jackie were back :-)

ok thankyou, i have been for a few hydrotherapt sessions because the vets i used to go to were not going to operate and just recommended this. not sure if the hip dysplasia is that bad but i think its his knee that is causing the problems.

Patella luxation is usually caused becasuse of the h/d and hydrotherapy will build up his muscles - hopefully that will help his hips and therefore his patella!  Patella problems are graded and I think your vet is very wise not operating - although it is a simple operation in itself, my last dog had this op and it failed the first two attempts the third attempt was successful but an external fixator was used until his knee healed!  

It is a usually successful on small dogs but not medium - large breeds!

I've pm'd you :)

ok thank you just me vet had referred me to a speciallist in blyth to proceed with the operation, and was just wondering if this is the best thing to do, i just want to be able to walk him again comfortably without him starting to limp.

so do you think i should have the operation done, just when i take him out he does not always start to limp and alot of people keep saying that by looking at him you would not even no there was anything the matter with him, he obviously is not in pain.

My cat has had recent surgery for this - apparently it's common in Bengals.  He's as good as new now.  I could see the leg twitching as his knee slipped when he walked so it's been a great success for this.

ok thanks alot, well he is going to the specialist on tues, see what he says.

The specialist is the expert in this field and if he wants to operate then *I would trust his judgement.

ok thanks for all your opinions just alot of people have said to me that he seems fine and is not in no pain so they would not let him operate, but i will see what he says.

hey been to see specialist and he has prescribed medicine for 4 weeks and if there is no improvement he is going to operate. he did say tho that it is his knee that is causing the hip dysplasia and as soon as his knees were fixed his hips would be fine.

I was under the impression that luxating patellas were usually a secondary problem to H/D from what our consultant told us. I can't see that a patella op would fix a dogs hips, in fact it certainly didn't in our last dogs case.

well the specialist says that they are both connected but one could cause the other, and he says in dels case the knee is causing his hips problems and as soon as his knees are fixed his hips will be too. i dont no tho all vets seem to say different things.

Probably because cases differ.

Out of interest what exactly did the specialist prescribe ?
It's just that I've never heard of a medicine that can cure a slipping patella

I doubt that it was prescribed to "cure" it - more likely to alleviate the symptoms.

...but the only symptom is the occasional limp, the dog doesn't seem to be in any pain.

They don't limp without a reason though. If the leg can straighten without discomfort then they don't limp.

Spangler had luxating patellas, mainly in his left leg but also his right.
Whenever this popped out, and it did almost everytime he went faster than normal walking pace, he just held his leg up until we manipulated it back!  I never know to this day how much pain (if any) this caused him as he never cried out, and as soon as it was back he was off on his way again.

But as you say JG they don't limp without reason - so maybe it was painful?

he has only limped very few times and he is a year and a half, and even when he did start he seemed to still want to play. we also used to take him out beating all day long and he seemed fine,he leaps at me all the time and i am convinced if he was in pain he could not do this.  he is prescribed metacam which does not cure it its an anti inflammatary. they are trying to build up the muscle around his knee which will stop it slipping out of place.

>he leaps at me all the time and i am convinced if he was in pain he could not do this.

An animal usually has to be in a lot of pain before they show signs of unhappiness about it. Simple discomfort or mild pain (gashes etc) is ignored as much as possible - often the owner has to search hard to find out where blood is coming from because the dog gives no clues! When you think that children can run about happily with their shoes on the wrong feet (not very comfortable!) it's not difficult to imagine dogs ignoring a twingeing knee. :)

yeah true, the specialist did say too us tho that if we had of been a couple who did not walk for miles with the dog the way we do we prob would never ever have known he had this, we have to exercise him as much as we want (no restrictions like we were told the first vets we went to)for 6 weeks (4 weeks on medication and 2 weeks off) and if he seems fine they are not going to operate.
also could anyone tell me if luxating pateela is normallt common in springers just when we first took him to be checked the vet semmed quite shocked and said she was not expecting that.

Is he having hydrotherapy as well as the metacam? That's meant to be quite a good way to build the muscle up. In Duibh's case metacam actually improved his symptoms so his patella luxated less- strangely enough, so presumably he was inflamed\ sore and walking funny because of it which made it come out more - but not enough. Hope it works for your dog tho'! :)

Not a springer, but I know someone at work with a working cocker that had a patellar luxation op.

no he went to 2 hydrotherapy sessions with my old vet but then i changed and they never perscribed it, they ask if the medication is helping but i cant tell cos i thought he seemed fine anyway, the only thing that does seem to bother him when throwing a ball for him is excessive panting, which i dont know if it is normal or not. (his brother can go for hours with a ball and he is so breathless after about 5 min.)