hi as many of you know i had a dog with luxating patella which in oct were both operated on. however his right leg since getting them done had never been normal. before we got the op he only limped a few times and since having the op his right leg is still lame . i think its worse now than before we had the op and he is walking very wooden. after having him out today he is limping again and i dont know what to do. the specialist originally told us dels legs were totally healed and was fine for full exercise again. after ringing him 5 times to say he was limping again he finally admitted there must be a problem. he told us del would need further surgery at an extra cost. however we have allready paid 3 grand to him so far and i dont see why we should pay extra for further surgery when it sounds to me as if it is something he had done wrong.please let me no what yous think as im just so annoyed as wish i had not had the surgery as i now how a 2 year old springer that struggles to get up the stairs that i feel so sorry for when out with my bitch and his brother as does not seem to be able to keep up with them. 

Stanyer I understand how you must be feeling.  Patella operations can be successful in small breeds but the larger the dog the less likely the success rate.  The limp is probably not the patella luxating, but could be more to do with the knee feeling sore. It's probably worth getting a second opinion to find out exactly what is going on.  Another operation would be the last thing I'd agree to with my dog, unless it was 100% necessary.  From my experience the leg will never be perfect after having a patella op.  I'd definitely think about reducing exercise for your dog, definitley not using staris, and maybe thinking about hydrotherapy.  It seems to me that maybe he has done too much too quickly.  These ops take a long time to mend.

the specialist was ment to be one of the best in the country and does it a certain way that your dog can walk on it immediately after and you need to build the exercise up over 3 months then your dog should be fine. when malcom done the op he told me the operation is very sucessful (99%) and he would be able to run miles again after the op. for the first 3 months we did not even let him off the lead.its been 5 months now and he should definitly be back to normal exercise. i feel it is cruel to keep del and not give him the exercise he longs for. he is not happy in the house he wants to be out. before the op it was not that bad and we could take him out for miles the specialist said by having the op it would prevent future problems. so we agreed and now he limps quite alot. i dont know were to go for a second opinion as everytime i go to my local vets they forward me on the the specialist.

you don't have to keep Del in the house, 2 or 3 half hour lead walks per day, and hydrotherapy once a week will help.  Stairs are a big problem with poorly limbs on dogs, that and jumping onto furniture so prevent these as much as possible. It's being cruel to be kind long term!
Ask your vet to refer you to another specialist, once you have a second opinion you will know what your options are then.

ok thanks will do that. i only went to that specialist because the way he does it the recovery is ment to be fab, really quick. i would not be able to take del out for that long on the lead cos he pulls to much (its our fault cos we never got him used to being on a lead as a pup) when we open the door for del to go out he just wants to run.

It might help to stop the pulling if you use a halti harness.