i noticed ruby our 5 month cavalier tends to 'slip' when she's sitting on a hard floor and that her right leg slipped much more than her left. As we had to go to the vet's anyway i mentioned this and the vet reckons she has a slipping kneecap (luxating patellar) although not a v bad one. we've been referred to see an orthopoedic specialist (as she's insured for life under petplan) and i'm in the process of organising an appt.

does anyone have any advic efor me for when i go to the appt? i know form my own experrience that hospital type appts can be daunting and its easy to forget to ask the right questions. also although obviously i want ruby to be cared for properly, i don't want to blingly leap into agreeing to have an operation if one's not definitely beneficial.

any advice or thougts greatly appreciated :)

Well my cocker had this at 6 months too and something esle happened with the knees  the vet dident go into it but her kneecaps disolved . she did have a very bad case of it.her knees would actuly click out slightly and we had to click them in.  we were told that the op wouldent make a blind bit of difference . so we agreed not to give her the op.later when she was about 6yrs a few vets told us that the op is great and most recover with fab results . if i had second time round i would have tried the op .
mabe someone else can help on this subject , but when you go ask the vet if its worth the try . write down a few questions you want to ask and ask the vet. i normaly have a zillion questions but id rather have the facts before jumping into things. im sure it will go well what ever you choose :)

ps im glad you got her insured we never got my old cocker insured and for the op we were quoted £2,000 per leg then x rays , drips and lots of other things on top , great reason for everyone to get there pups insured at 6 weeks :D

Hi,

I had a staff who luxating patella and had to have a pin put in to stop it from slipping operation was a success and never had any trouble again he was only 18months old.

Hope all is well

NikiH

i would not have a op on a dog so young wait till it 18 to 2 years old,or wait untill it stop growing,try and street walk the dog and build up the muscle around the joint like swimming will help this no off lead excise,wait and see what the speclist say,and try to wait a bit longer.as long as the dog not in pain.

I would find out exactly what is wrong first because sometimes it is better to have an operation performed while the bones are still growing than to wait until they have finished as the result may not be so good. I am only going by our experience with our Barney (not his knees) so I think it is best to make sure it is his knees in case it is something else. Hope you get the gist :) :)

Gina

PS Besides Barney's other bone problems he did have a knee that kept popping out - he had an op (performed by my vet) and he seems a lot better for it.

My advice is to listen to the orthopedic specialist - he or she will have seen many cases before and will know what the problem is and when and how to treat it.

Dogs can rip their ligaments and do a lot of damage with a slipping kneecap, which can happen at any age. Having had a dog do both kneecaps in I can tell you it is a very, very slow recovery process.   I personally would not worry about your dog's age if the ortho advices an op now.  They can tell looking at X-rays how much growth is left in the bone and can actually pin a bone to allow for growth.  They do really amazing stuff.

Stacey - Mum to Abby how broke the growth plate in her knee at 5 months! (Falling off the sofa, not from a slipping patella.)

yup id wait and ask for the advice . ask him/her of it will get worse as she ages too. you can imagen what its like now but if it gets worse when shes older mabe its worth the op. let us know how it goes :)

i will keep you updated!

poor thing - she's in at our vet's to have her baby canine's knocked out today too as her adult canine's are fully grown down and her mouth's looking a bit messy, esp given she's overshot anyway :(

she was SO excited about going out in the car this morning and even going in with the vetinary nurses (who adore her and fuss her lots), but her little face as she watched me go was so sad! Poor wee critter - anyway, will go and bring her home again in a couple of hours and sure she'll be fine.

Will update on ortho once we've seen him, although it might not be until after xmas now....

merry xmas y'all! have a good one ;)