Shadowmum

Hi, Just thought I'd touch base and let you know that we had a total panic. Well, the leg got rapidly worse, and we'd been to three vets - non of which, when asked, could recommend an orthopedic vet for the operation and I couldn't find one quick enough. We trailed into week 4 of this knee dislocating and Holly just became so dispondent and clearly things were going rapidly down hill. We found a fouth vet. Walked in, he picked her up, gave her a cuddle and spent about 10 minutes just being with her and asking some general questions. He may have not been an expert, but he was a veterinary surgeon. I had some very kind people who were at the ready to find me an orthopedic vet, but I think we hit crisis and knew we had to do something fast. He appealed to us because he was the first vet that took an interest in comforting Holly and building some, although, short sort of relationship and was careful to explain everything - especially to Holly's mum (my 14 yo daughter). So he operated for us the next morning - today. The poor little mite is fine. Not very happy about being confined and perhaps we are overdoing the confinement, but I'd rather be safe than sorry....for her sake. The best news is that the vet said the surgery was 100% sucessful, he's already manipulate the knee and said it didn't dislocate and he is very pleased with the outcome and confident that with the exception of a trauma injury it will be fine (thankfully). I'm very relieved (I have lost a dog - years ago, after an operation because it couldn't take the anaesthetic - the vet then said that the dog must have had something wrong with it's heart ----never the less this has remained with me ever since --- so I didn't fare too well throughout the day and last night was simply painful...sniff sniff). Brilliant news though...She's fine. My daughter's done a little video thing with her web cam and I'm trying to workout if I can put it on somewhere and you can see the poor little sweetie. You should have seen the look on her face when I handed her over to the vet nurse! I called the surgery 35 mins after dropping her off (went to work so I didn't drive the surgery crazy all day) and she said that they sedated her as soon as we left and were preparing her for surgery and would be operating in the next five to ten minutes and said to me that she was very scared, but brave. She got a certificate for bravery. I think they should have given me one - I know I aged 10 or so years today - so much for wrinkle cream. Thanks for all your support and advice. We go back on Monday, have the cast removed, go back 7 days later and have the stitches removed and she's not to do anything much for 4 - 6 weeks. I could do with doing nothing much for 4 - 6 weeks...then in 6 months we go back and do the left knee....then (because I've always been to scared to put her under anaethetic to get it done earlier, but know now that she'll be okay) we'll get her desexed next year. I'm a sook. I know. I couldn't bare the thought of losing her under anaesthetic so put up with cleaning up after her. We didn't have to worry about males because she's always with us - she lives inside and is with us when we go walkies. Thanks again. Heidi.

Sorry to hear you pup is not well. Hope that it works out well - sending wishes to you both. Our 15 month old dog is in quite a bit of pain recently and is very snappish and cranky so perhaps it's not the illness and is more about feeling unwell and being in pain. As your pup is so young and if it is because of the pain and becomes habit forming, I think you'll have a good chance of training it out of him. Best wishes.

Dear angelbrook It's very sweet of you to send such lovely wishes... Holly can certainly use them. Poor little pup isn't having a good time (she's 15 months by the way) and she nearly has a heart attack when she has to go to the vet. When we get about 3 kilometres from our usual vet she knows where we're going and starts to shake all over. When we went to the other vet, where she's been before but very late at night, she'd forgotten and was all interested and excited until we went to the consult room and she saw the metal table - I thought she was going to pass out - she truely swooned.... And, yes I have taken her for visits to our vet and the nurse happily makes a fuss (done that about 5 times) and it made no difference - she was too caught up in fear to understand or realise that nothing bad was happening. I plan to have a good talk to what ever vet does the operation and make sure that we bring her in just in time to be sedated to help minimise her anxiety and see if there is anything I can give her to calm her before hand. I'm going to see if I can find a Chiro as per Gareth's suggestion too and have a talk to them and see what they recommend. I do feel that this will have to be an operation though - she's lame everytime she walks now. Thanks again for your sincere wishes - I'll remember them... Heidi

Yeah we got Holly from a registered breeder - our vet and hers said that she didn't have luxating patella. I'm remembering every little bump and stumble now. I think it's most likely that she's slipped on time too many on the floorboards while playing with our cat. The play tag! One runs, the other follows and then they jump on each other and bounce all over the place and the the other runs and the other one follows...it's quite enchanting to watch - they get along so well, but it also involves many skids across the floor boards and many slips and stumbles. I think she's probably hurt herself during one of these times. I don't know really. She also stumbled on the stairs to the back yard. I can think of a dozen times when she's done something. We are breaking the areas up at the moment so that running around isn't possible and will be get mats everywhere. I've also been told there is a spray you can apply to the paws to help them not slip - maybe I'll make some shoes (don't laugh my Grandfather made his kelpie leather boots so her paws wouldn't freeze when he walked her during winter and then made a special pair so she could walk on ice and not slip (they lived up in the Snowy Mountains) I wish he was still alive - by the way the Kelpie was the size of a calf and lived to 21 years - Suzie - everyone from Cooma to Khancoban knew her). Neither vet x-rayed, the first vet, who advised to let her live with it said that if we wanted to have it operated he'd xray first. This he said because I was saying it was her right leg that was constantly lame and he said it was fine and he feels her left leg luxating. The second vet (one we've used after hours) said that it was definately her right leg and it was out permanently and was grade 3 and her left leg was at the serious end of grade 2. My hubby rang her later and ask a few more questions and he mentioned that our other vet said it was her left and her right was fine, but said he'd x-ray and she said that they wouldn't x-ray it was obvious that it was luxating patella and it was that concerning that they wouldn't need an x-ray to confirm it. I couldn't even find an orthopedic vet on the Central Coast or Newcastle, I don't think I'm going to find a Chiro, but thanks for the suggestion and I will do a 'search' and try to find one. It would be nice to have it fixed with a bit of chiro work. Thank you so much for taking the time to help us. I appreciate it.

Holly isn't having a good day. She badly wants to go for a walk. I took her outside to the small enclosed grass area we have in our back yard and got so excited that she popped her knee out...so in we came. She's by sleeping most of the day and not eating. When she walks she tends to pop her knee out...it's a buggar. We'll see, maybe we'll have to take early action - but hopefully this is just a bad day. I'm going to take her for a drive and carry tomorrow :D I hope that perks her up a bit. Your poor dad. I know with my OH that he gets depressed with the constant pain and lack of relief. His RA specialist says that they'll get it under control. He hasn't so far but it's only been about 8 months...here's hoping. I feel the helplessness and hopelessness caused by the pain and illness lead to depression and that adds so much stress, which of course does not help the illness. Are they going to use the cord blood that you collected when your daughter was born? It must be very hard being so far away but these things can't be helped. Thanks again for your support and advice. Heidi

Just a small note. About three years ago we got a cat from the RSPCA. He was riddled with worms. I got some drontal and put on Advocate and thought that he would be fine (by the way the worms were small - about the size of an uncooked grain of rice - so not tape worms). I thought he'd be all good in 24 hours. 24 hours later there was no improvement. 48 hours there was no improvement. I took him to the vet who said that advocate was okay for most worms, but as a preventative only - it does not cure an infestation (so to speak) and Drontal wasn't specific enough. She gave him an other worming tablet and all was good by his next motion. We use advocate on our two cats and dog and every six months I pick up a worming tablet from the vet - just in case and in between keep an eye on them.

Dear Rommimum, Thanks for your support throught all of this, it's helped to have someone to 'spill' it all to. Holly had her first pain killer last night and her mood certainly seemed to have lifted about half an hour later (perhaps it's my imagination). She is going to miss her walks terribly, but we're going to use the time until her first operation as training time (nothing vigorous). She understands all the basics, but when excited ignores all commands, so we thought we could reinforce some basic training and hopefully this one on one attention, for rewards, will keep her stimulated. We all spend a lot of time with her so she isn't lacking for company, she rough plays with one of our cats so we're going to have to intervene there - she'll miss that. We've already worked out a post operation, recovery set up to limit her capacity to move. When we adopted her we purchased this little fence like set up to divide the house in two so the cats had their area and she had hers. As time's gone by and we don't need to worry about them being together we've pulled it apart and used it for a variety of things - stopping Holly from accessing the kitty litter boxes, around the Xmas tree, etc. So we're going to put a section back together, put her 'tent' (like a canvas transport container with mess windows etc) in it, water fountain next to it and litter box opposite it and enclose the lot as close as we can with the fence. This should mean three steps to water, the litter box and bed and no more. I figure she'll being in that a lot for about 10 days, then she'll slowly be able to increase her time out of it. Our floor is part carpeted and part floor boards and they're very slippery for Holly and the cats when they're running around - heaven help us trying to stop that...I'm thinking that slipping on that while playing with one of our cats was how she probably injured herself..never know for sure. Illness is such a pain. You know that saying "Money can't buy health" - I so disagree with that...it pays for treatment, medications, etc etc. I can't imagine how expensive meds are for Parkinsons, but I know that my hubby is on anti-parkinsonian drugs for a neurological disorder that makes his shake and shudder all night (sleeping around here can be fun at times - I've kicked him out once or twice and taken my daughter in with me - she's too old now (drat) anyway, just that one med is $98 it lasts him about a month. One good thing though is that we reach the government threshhold for their cheaper scripts card pretty quickly - we aren't there yet though so we're paying through the nose for everything - this is ironic - we should have spent enough in about another 8 - 10 weeks. I remember when we first got the card and used it when he needed some more meds for the ra, the medication was $148 - with the card it dropped down to $145 - so much relief I could hardly believe it....I was a bit 'what's the point of this then, but he's on about 9 different meds and some of them came down quite a bit and also toward about August/September we reach another thresh hold and it drops again and one of the 5 specialists he sees even stops charging him and gets it straight from medicare at around then. How bad is your dad's Parkinson's ...I, many years ago started out in Nursing...I remember clearly my patients who had Parkinson's. What I can't understand is why they haven't cured or found something that slows the disease right down. Apparently they've discovered something to slow RA down to practically nothing. My OH's doctor says it'll be about 20 years before it reaches Australia (I think it'll be too late by then- but you never know). Parkinson's is a cruel illness. How do you and you mum cope? how is your dad through it all? Hey I just went to get Holly her medication and I checked the bottle of the anti-parkinsonian meds that my OH takes the cost was $7.75 and above it it says full cost $49.90 but the chemist crossed that out and wrote $98.00. I wonder why he did that, like is it's important to let the customer know that they're getting meds cheaper, or is it a 'remember the real cost won't you?' thing. lol Anyway, better go and give Holly her medication. Thank you so much for keeping in contact and being so supportive and helpful...it's meant a lot to me. Heidi ps: We brought a new fridge on this interest free thing through Harvey Norman about 12 months ago. Through that we now have this lovely 'credit card' type thing Go Go Master (or something like that). We've never used it. Interest on it is astronomical, and we've had the occaisional chuckle about how they try to get you in, but last night I said to hubby that we can access $ on it and if the situation requires emergency - it has to be done now - operation we could use that. Funny how these things come together isn't it. I think I've told you my whole life story now....

I took Holly to a second vet for a second opinion. I did ring before hand and explain the situation and that I was seeking a second opinion. Out vet used to run a 24 hour operation but has stopped that now he is older and refers his 'patients' and their parents on to a group of vets that share emergency treatment between them. We have used the emergency vet - all three different ones over the years. So when seeking another opinion, I contacted the surgery who where we'd taken Holly after hours twice before, once when she did this 'reverse sneezing' out of the blue which scared the crap out of us and a second time when we went on a picnic and she walked and played with me all day and then, just once stuck her head under a bush and I snatched her back out and then when we got home later that day and I was bathing her I discovered about 10 ticks... when I saw one I removed it, when I saw 9 more I had a heart attack and went to the emergency vet. Clearly all was well, but she was just a little girl at the time (5 months old). Anyway, this vet said that her right leg was permanently dislocated and was grade 3 and her left leg grade 2. She said that her honest opinion was that Holly required surgery and fairly soon. She said that we should be planning this to occur within the next 3 months tops and they charge $1200, from what I've researched the cost sounds about right. Our vet said he charged $600 - I'm not sure about that. She also said a lot of things that contradict what our vet said. I think I believe her. Poor Holly was lame 3 times this afternoon. The only reason she wasn't earlier was because I confined her. This isn't good. The minute I took her outside for a 'piddle' he leg popped up. We have floor boards, very slippery, she popped it twice on then and three times at the vet in a 20 min period. Anyway, that is just an up date. I asked if pain killers would keep her going for the next 10 weeks, mainly because of 2 things (I'll be honest $) and because I won't be able to have time off work for ten weeks - I've got my leave tied in with school holidays so my OH has one week with the kids and I have the other, I'm just finishing three weeks off (I wish I stayed at work and saved the leave now). We have two beautiful boys (fur kind - cats) and three gorgeous girls (2 human and one canine - Holly) and a 200 litre aquarium that causes no end of work (lets not go there). Had I have known 12 months ago that this was going to happen, and I thought I took good precautions with two vets telling me she was fine, I would not have put Holly or myself in this situation. As it is, my OH suffered immense pain in various areas, his doctor diagnosed, after many tests, rheumatoid arthritis, a disease where the immune system attacks vital organs and joints - the arthritis side of it is nothing compared to the damage his liver, kidneys and heart are suffering. So I work and work and work and he works and works and works and most of our $ goes to pay for prescribed medication (is is expensive or what) and then I spend free time researching anything that might help and I have no idea how he keeps working while he's in so much pain. As a result of me trying to help him we now take spirulina and chlorella (do not let it dissolve in your mouth - ewwwww) as well as apple cider vinegar, concentrated black cherry juice, glucosimine etc etc...I think my income primarily goes toward medication and trying to find pain relief. I don't mind that... at all. I just wish I wasn't in this situation with Holly... i'd never of taken on a pup if I didn't think I could afford any problems that might occur. At the time, all was fine. I've off loaded now and feel a bit better. Life goes on... Thanks On the better and brighter side, Holly will be okay, we will look after her...She's a sweeties - a bit temperamental at the moment, but that's understandable...I started the pain killers for her tonight - so hopefully she'll feel a bit better in a couple of hours and will rest well. I feel so bad that Holly has to wait

Just wondering if anyone can recommend an Orthopedic veterinarian surgeon on the Central Coast NSW?

We add skimmed milk (powder form) to her meals to provide her with some calcium. We tried raw beef, lamb, chicken, kangaroo - she threw all that up. She handles, at this stage, cooked meat. Our vet believes she'll eventually not handle the cooked stuff either and he wanted us to put her on kibble (Hills prescription diet only). She hates any kibble so he gave us some of the tinned variety...I wasn't surprised when she wouldn't eat that either. I have discussed vitamins etc with the vet and he seems to think that with the powdered milk and vegetable variety that we give her, she'll be fine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I'm slightly more relieved to here that they wouldn't amputate. I'm not sure if it is that our vet isn't confident or he is being very honest ...I don't know. I've researched it and it appears that the operation is 90% successful. Maybe I have to accept that with anything there is going to be a 'fail' rate for one reason or another. I am looking for an orthopedic veterinarian surgeon for a consult. I figure if he/she says 'wait' then I have two opinions that say the same thing. I'm not keen on waiting, she's only young and I feel that surgery on a young dog has a greater rate of success and healing is easier for them than for an older dog. I also don't want her to suffer anymore than she has to or to develop arthritis because of it. We have enough of that here already to know how crippling and painful it can be.

This posting is related to 'Another sore leg story'. I'm wondering if anyone knows of an orthopedic veterinarian on the Central Coast NSW? Any help is really appreciated.

Thanks for replying. I have no idea how she hurt herself - we went on a picnic a couple weeks back (just before this began - it was a hot day and she paddled around in the shallows while I sat with her - who knows - it was a rocky bottom - I spend hours wondering but I know I've never know for sure so I may as well stop trying to work it out). I was sure we did the right thing when we got her and had the vet check for the condition, as well as having the breeder's vet advice that she was fine in this area. At the end of the day I guess it doesn't matter how it happened or if it was genetic - she's our baby now and is part of our family. I could not entertain the idea of getting rid of her - she's been with us for a year now is part of our family (this breeder I was talking to at the vet yesterday said- "send her back to the breeder and go else where"). I couldn't bring myself to contact another vet today. I don't know why. I will make myself tomorrow. Her legs were fine (so far) today. Our vet didn't have issues with her being small, what he said was that in the 30 years he's been a practicing vet he had done 30 operations to correct luxating patella and had an 85% accuracy. I wonder if this is a pretty normal statistic for vets, or is he being very honest as is telling me that he has a 15% fail rate. He said that his belief was that sometimes the whole ordeal is worse than the dog putting up with luxating patella - this bit comes to us most likely because Holly is an extremely sensitive dog - she shivers in terror the minute we drive down the road toward the vet. She's terrified of strangers etc - has been known to throw up for a day after facing strangers (yes we've had every concievable test done for this and yes we've done puppy preschool when she was a pup). She also vomits up any raw meat. Anyway, he also added that we'd have to determine if this was going to be an occaisional occurence, or was it going to be a daily or more than daily event and then we'd need to have the surgery. I'm worried that if it isn't successful that he'll have to amputate. I could live with a dog who has a leg amutated no problems, but what if it's both legs? She certainly fitted in well with the rest of the family though. We have a ragdoll (rescue) who injured his cruciate ligament about 8 months ago, he's doing fine now, he loved all the physio that we did 6 times a day. We adopted a birman so the ragdoll had a friend (he's fine but is a fussy eater). And, my OH's medical history out rivals all of them....OH's hip disintegrated several years ago in a quite spectacular manner and he now has rhematoid arthritis and a variety of associated ailment's so it's not like we aren't used to this. Thanks for following up...it helps to 'talk' about it.

Thanks for replying...we have no intentions of breeding our little girl. Holly is a family member to us and we only want what is best for her and have never considered breeding her. We were well aware that luxating patella was predominantly a hereditary problem so we had that checked by our vet prior to purchase and he gave her the 'all clear' and we had a letter from the breeder's vet also stating there were no concerns in this area. It appears to be 'trauma induced' - we did take her on a picnic with us - it was a really physical day for all concerned, but I never noticed anything that would have hurt her leg...apparently I must be very lacking in this area as she now has a major problem. If Holly is anything, it is excitable...she is extremely 'physical' and excitable...it appears that this has been to her detriment. She has managed to dislocate her knee 7 times since returning from the vets this evening. Basically, every time she moves she dislocates it. It tears at my heart to leave this, so we will be seeking a second opinion, and I agree that early intervention, given that healing etc is always better for younger 'anything' I feel that I've already made the decision. I will now be looking for someone, our way, that can give me a more confident response. I do like our vet, but feel that he was very reluctant about performing this operation...at the end of the day I have to consider Holly's welfare before his feelings, unfortunately. Poor little girl is in pain, on and off, and knows that we are worried. She is constantly looking at me with that 'oh dear' look that worried furries get. My bigger concern is that my vet said he was about 85% successful when he performed this operation. So...what happens to the 15% that aren't successful? What's the worst case scenario after having the operation and it doesn't work? Has anyone experienced this?

We went to the vet. He said it was luxating patella. His perspective was that we should go home and think about whether we want to get it operated on as the success rate for such an operation is around 85%. He said that unless Holly was 85% of the time not able to bare weight on it we wouldn't need, in his opinion, to have the operation. He gave us some pain killers to give her and told us to think about it. I'm now really concerned and confused. I can't see this getting any better and I can't see leaving it being in her own better interests. I hate discount the vet's opinion, he says that mainly show dogs have to have this operation but for other dogs he'd question whether the proceedure was worth it in the long run. I'm thinking as Holly's only 14 months, this is something that will only get worse and will be very painful for her and more expensive for us the longer we leave it. I'm thinking I should ring around for a second opinion. Any advice would be appreciated.

We're going to the vet this afternoon. She's not overweight and we feed her on a diet of food I make - I do three different mixes beef, chicken and lamb (cooked - human quality). To each one add a different mix of vegetables and starches and skimmed milk powder and lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium. I also make her bickies and other treats. What she does is actually bring the leg right off the ground and not use it at all. It looks like an elastic band that was stretched out, has come off and her leg is pulled up. It's happened twice today. This afternoon I was watching her and she's always lifted her right leg a little off the ground when she urinates (we've always said it was because she didn't want to get wee on her fur - she doesn't lift it right up like a male - just slightly and to the side - strange!). Anyway when she did this, it sort of snapped right up and she just looked at me as if to say "OMG, good grief", I massaged her leg and she was right again. She doesn't bunny hop and we've noticed it happens to both legs (not at the same time - to date, thankfully). I guess if that happened she'd bunny hop. I'm hoping it's not Luxating Patella, but have an awful feeling it is. This wasn't a gradual thing either, one day she was fine and the next this was happening once, then again and more frequently. I hope it isn't anything more serious. Poor baby, hates going to the doctor. She already knows something is going to happen, she's avoiding me like the plague. Thanks for responding.