# Temporary Relief From Luxating Patella ?



## SOCA (Aug 14, 2011)

Lily's playmate Pepe ( also a Chihuahua ) has been diagnosed with luxating patella ( rt. rear leg worse than left ). No problem for a quite some time but recently he has hiked his right rear leg on a couple of occasions. It's my understanding that when an episode occurs that you can relieve it by manipulating the leg ( maybe straightening it ? ). Can someone please explain this procedure. Thanks much !


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## Jerry'sMom (May 5, 2009)

I wouldn't move the leg. Especially not knowing how. Rest, not allowing jumping or climbing stairs, and limiting activities may help.
But, most importantly, Pepe needs to be seen by a Vet to reevaluate his condition.
That is not a guarantee surgery is needed, but it should be ruled out. Hope he improves


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## Deme (Aug 18, 2009)

Hi 

Sorry to hear your boy has LP, my lad had this in both knees and needed surgery, I never even give a thought to massaging the leg or anything, I just got him straight tot he vet asap. I am a right mummy and worry over the littlest thing if either of my boys are hurt or anything.

Myself I would be scared to interfere with the knee in case I done further damage, so if I were you I'd rest my boy as much as possible until I could get to the vet and take their advice.

(((hugs))) for your boy


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## Nancy (Feb 4, 2009)

They can usually fix it themselves...thats why they lift the leg up and even hop...My vet never suggested I do anything to my Jose's back legs and he is about a level 2 maybe even a 3 in one leg...I know some have surgery at a level 3 but he isn't bothers by it much....the very odd time he hops for a second or two...


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## LeStatKelly (Aug 25, 2011)

I rescued a x breed puppy about 9 years ago, I think chi x terrier? he has lived with my mother since about 2 months after rescue as we had to have him vacc'd, neutered and vet checked.

He was diagnosed with luxated patella in his right rear leg to the point that his leg is constantly raised and he cannot use it to walk with but he does use it to scratch his ears etc.

The vet at the time said he was not in any pain and that unless he started to have pain that there was no need for surgery!
He's almost 10 now and has not needed surgery as yet.
He is around 12lbs in weight though so not as small as a regular chi.

I was't aware that there was anything you could do to alleviate the condition I certainly wouldn't be manipulating Robbin Bobbins leg as that would cause him pain I think.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Yes, there is a surgery, it can be quite expensive. If he is not putting any weight at all, that shows he is in pain. Ask her vet about surgery. It could help his quality of life to be able to walk on all four legs again. I'm sorry the vet didn't mention the surgery to you much earlier.


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## LeStatKelly (Aug 25, 2011)

Robbin Bobbin's leg doesn't reach the floor so he wouldn't be able to walk on it whether he had surgery or not. I did know there was surgery for luxated patella but I didn't know there was any other treatment as such!
He's not holding it up as such simply because it is not long enough to use.

He has 6 monthly check ups along with his yearly vacc's so see's the vet regularly.
When he was a pup surgery was mentioned but the vet, and the vets partners, assured us that it was not neccessary at that time and each time he sees the vet they say he is fine.
They said the only surgery that would be viable would be an amputation!
I rehomed him with my mother on this advice so effectively Robbin Bobbin is not my dog but if they advised amputation, or any other surgery, for him my mother would definitely go with their advice.
He is insured so the expense would not be an issue if the vet said it was a required surgery!
He even had an aneasthetic for his teeth and my mother asked at the time if the leg needed surgery 'while he was under' to save him having two aneasthetics but was told it still was not neccessary....that was 18 months ago.


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

Oh, well, that was a lot more information I didn't have when I made the first post. You had said the reason he wasn't using the leg was because of the LP. The new info kinda changes everything.  I have a dog that mostly only uses three legs, but she can use the bad one to scratch and steady herself getting in and out of the dog bed and sometimes walk on slowly. Was he born with a bad leg? Twiggy was run over, that's what caused her bad leg.


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## LeStatKelly (Aug 25, 2011)

Sorry I didn't give more info originally I don't often see Robbin and haven't much experience other than him with LP. Stupidly I thought that all dogs with this issue had 'short' legs. With rehoming him soon after rescue we didn't do much research at the time other than take our vets advice.
We were told by the previous owner that he was born like this but we were also told he was a labrador x terrier, which he obviously was not even then, the mother was a tall jrt that she had at the time!
The vet who saw him agreed that he will have been born this way but as we don't 'know' for certain who the father is we will never really know.

I will get a pic of the old boy, especially his leg, when I go to my mothers next.

When we rescued him almost 10 years ago now our vet, who we still use now, thought he was probably a chi x terrier as I had also thought. We had him seen by a chi breeder back then and although he's quite tall for a chi x, she thought the same. It was around the time chi x's were poplular back then as well.

Apparently the last time my mother had him checked, about 8 months ago, the vet said he is getting a little arthritis in his back legs due to the problems he has. She hadn't told me that recently!
He is now on mild painkillers for the arthritis which will obviously now be giving him some pain that I wasn't aware of. The vet has told her if the pain gets much worse it might be as well to amputate the bad leg to see if that will alleviate 'some' of the pain. This is basically the advice we got when we took him to see the vet as a puppy so obviously my mother is expecting to have to have the amputation done in the next 12 months or so.

He's almost 10 now but runs round like a puppy and other than the leg issue and a couple of teeth removed he's never ailed anything in his life so should sail through an amuptation and won't miss the leg at all I shouldn't think.


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## SOCA (Aug 14, 2011)

Thanks much for the input. Pepe was brought to a vet ER hospital a couple of years ago when he first displayed LP symptoms. The vet there showed us how to relieve the leg contraction ( by straightening the leg ) but since we can't recall the exact manipulation process we don't want to utilize it. Since then Pepe had been symptom free up until a week ago. Now he pulls up his right rear leg ocassionally as he runs. No indication that he is in any pain so we will watch it for now. He is overweight now. We think that maybe this contributed to a relapse.


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