hi my boy had luxating patella ops 7 months ago. the specialist who did it said in jan that del was fully healed and could now have full exercise. however he does still sometimes limp and would be grateful to hear of anyone else that had this operation to no if there dog ever limps. my local vets say his knee still feels loose but when i take him to the specialists he says its fine fully healed. he does not limp very often but if i throw the ball for him a few times he sometimes starts to limp.

Try some supplements, but maybe video his lameness and challenge the specialist. Where in the country are you?

Yes, I have had a dog who had both knees done and no he did not limp. Ask your surgeon for a second opinion, it could be a different problem but I would not mind betting they did not fully correct the problem. Do you know if they moved the tibial crest or did they just deepen the trochiea? Does the dog seem to be in pain or is it just the movement that is restricted, if the dog comes to you lame and you place the hand on the knee and gently straighten the leg can you feel the patella move back into position.

hi thanks for your replys. well my dog never really looked like he was on pain exactly cos he would still keep walking on . to watch him tho is pitiful. my partner had him out the other day and i was upstairs and seeing him try to get up th stairs was so sad. my parents 16 year old dog could get up easier. i am sure they deepended the trochiea. i cant really feel out but our local vet does say it feels very loose. we have been letting him swim alot and givinh him cod liver oil but it does not seem to be helping. he also walks very strange still one leg points outwards.

Well far be it from me to question a vet but I think they should have moved the tibial crest as well. Strengthening the leg may help but I think I would want to speak in depth to the surgeon who did the work, or did not do the work, and see what he or she had to say.

its really strange cos we had a lot of problems throught recovery witht the leg swelling up and stuff and one leg he would not walk on we kept taking him back and he just kept saying belive me its fine. once we took him down twice in the week (its also quite a drive from were we live) and he just said dont worry about him he is fully healed and when i said to him our local vets said it is loose he said trust me they dont know what there talking about i am specialised in this surgery. i am just so fed up cos he is so young and i wish i had never got it done it was not cheap either it was over 2 grand
x

i am in north in co durham, the specialist was in northumberland.

You could ask for a second opinion, but understand that distance is a problem or I would suggest you could go to one of the vet schools, Edinburgh would be the nearest to you and that is indeed a long way. Is the dog insured?

yeah the dog is insured....thank god. i am just so stressed about it cos i just dont no what to do.

To be honest as your own vet is not too happy with the work done I would tell them how you feel and may be discuss where you can take it from here. You will feel better if you can talking over with someone on the spot, tell the receptionist that you need to discuss your dogs operation with your vet and could she make an appointment to allow you to do this.

Dogs that have been repaired should not still be limping and should not be in pain, there is little point in having an operation that could have cured the problem and have the surgeon not do the job properly. Think I would accept them saying that they thought what they did was all that was needed but admit they made a mistake and the tibial crest should also have been moved. They should then go on the either do the work themselves or suggest someone else.

To dismiss you and your vets concerns it just not on, ask your own vet for a second opinion and if that opinion agrees with you and your vet that the job is not satisfactory I would be inclined to contact the RCVS and inform them of the situation you find yourself in.

I have had a dog that had both legs done and once healed you would not have know he ever had a problem so don't be fobbed off, your dog should be walking ok unless the vet or surgeon can tell you a good reason why he is not.

Edit to say I am trying not to bully you but if you are not happy I am trying to encourage you to take it forward.

ok thankyou very much, i thought this myself as dels legs were not to bad pre op and i am starting to wonder were they even bad enough to have the op, we only agreed to it to prevent it getting worse. i find the vets that referred us pretty annoying too as they dont seem to be that bothered and one time after dels op he had a lot of fluid on his knee we rang the specialist and he told us to rush him to the local vets and get them to ring him and when we went the vet said he did not have time to ring the speicialist and we would have to.

Think I would be taking him to another vet for an opinion; you are not being given the sort of service your insurance company is paying for. It must be difficult for you but I think now is the time to start making a nuisance of yourself, it almost seems that they have the money and are no longer interested.

You could try contacting the insurance company and telling them you are not satisfied, they may or may not help but until you ask you will not know. And there is always the Trading Standards who should also offer you advice.

Feel very sorry for you having to cope with this as well as a dog who is far from well however I hope you have the strength to fight on, your dog still need attention and I for one think those who were happy enough to take the money should be prepared to correct any error or omission.

hi i am going to contact the rcvs today to see what they say, i am also going to ring the specialist again and tell him i am really not happy. i will keep you updated tho and thanks for your advice.

Well done you, strange I will put up with no end when it is me involved but if it is one of my animals all hell is let lose. Hope you can get something sorted soon.

well i conteacted them and they said there was nothing they could do, but we could take him to a vet college (or were they train vets) and get there opinion on it. has anyone done this before.

Yes, it is common if you need a second opinion to do that, think your nearest is Edinburgh though.

really, edinburgh is a good drive from here.good few hours thought they might of had one more local lol. i will see if i can get a number and ring them. i had never heard of doing this before.

They may do but I always think of Edinburgh, Bristol, Cambridge & Potters Bar, guess there may be others but they don't come to mind.

There's a vet school in Nottingham as well now.

ok i will see if i can ring them see what they say
thanks

Just looking at this thread and sorry to hear that the patella ops were not as successful as you hoped.  I know the op itself is a simple procedure and usually successful on small breeds but if your dog is a medium to large breed then the recovery rate is not as high as with the smaller breeds.  And the success depends a great  deal on keeping the dogs as still as possible for at least 6 weeks after the op and then building up from short lead walks (say 5 mins) to half an hour a couple of times a day within about 3 months.  It seems that some consultants don't advise owners how important this healing time and building up the muscles is. 

well we did not take him out for 3 months or some very short leader walks. cos he had both knees done he could hardly move anyway. however the specialist did say that he did the op a certain way were the healing was nowere near as bad. i heard he was fantastic and the best in the north east but i honestly feel like he does not care anymore. watching del limp yet again at the park yesterday at only 2 annoys me. he no walks even worse with both feet pointing outwards,

I'm amazed this consultant doesn't seem to care about the recovery of Del, I know you mentioned you have paid quite a lot of money for his operations, maybe you should ask for a second opinion.

I'd be interested to hear if there is anyone who has had a medium to large breed go through this operation successfully and whether they can walk/run without a limp because I'm pretty sure there won't be many who can.

Yes I have and yes they could

> I'd be interested to hear if there is anyone who has had a medium to large breed go through this operation successfully and whether they can walk/run without a limp because I'm pretty sure there won't be many who can.

Yes, I have and yes, they could

we always kept dels weight down to, for a dog he is quite small at 17.5 kg. if the specialist had told us there was any chance the op might not work i would never have got in done basically cos it was not that bad i dont think to begin with, just thought i was preventing it getting worse.

IMO it is a case of only half the job being done, there are two ways of sorting this problem one will correct the problem if it is just a case of the tendon slipping out of the grove in the bone because the natural groove is too shallow. The other requires that both the groove is filed deeper and the fixing point (a bony projection called the tibia crest) is also moved to bring it into line and tighten the tendon in the grove.

Think (but don't know) that in this case only the groove was deepened and that has not cured the problem completely.

Prognoses is normally good for this operation and the after effects are normally limited to a chance of arthritis in the dogs latter years, that would also happen it the construction fault is not corrected so there is not really anything to be lost in going ahead with the operation. Full recovery does to some extent depend on how much damage has been done before the operation is undertaken, one would expect that.

The dog I owned recovered completely, was of a larger breed and heavier. His gate was normal after the healing period and in his old age no more troubled with arthritis than others who had gone through their live with no joint problems at all

Hi Stanyer

Im really sorry Del still hasnt improved, amazed this specialist wont acknowledge the fact, can you ask your vet to refer you to another surgeon for a second opinion?

North west surgeons in Cheshire are very good, not sure how far that is for you though but may well be worth you travelling.

sounds like your specialist pushed you into the Op far too quickly, as you know my boy had this problem and has now made a great recovery through exercise and building his muscles up, he is sound.  I am so glad I didnt have the Op

On reading on the orthodogs board it is very sad that there are so many cases of dogs having lp ops and tta /tplo that fail and the dogs end up going back and back having more messing about done then the result still isnt satisfactory.
Conservative treatment should always be tried first , this op is a major op.

Of course it depends on the grading of the patella too, a grade 4 or 5 really needs surgery but a 1 or 2 does not, if its going to get worse it will and an expert says only at this stage when it goes to a 3 or 4 should surgery be recommended
In a young dog the growth plates are still moving and they are still muscling up so there is every chance a recovery will be made without the op

I really hope you can get this sorted, sounds like the specialist has just took the money and washed his hands of you. Definately seek a 2nd opinion your boy is still young and deserves a decent pain free life

Let us know how he gets on pls

Beth

I agree with Beth, I would recommend North West Surgeons for a second opinion too!