Recovery From Lp Surgery?

[Michelleva]

About 3 weeks ago my dog underwent surgery for a luxating patella. She came home with good pain relief in the form of a patch stuck on her butt area, as well as AB's and an anti-inflammitory tablet.

We were so surprised in her recovery for the first two weeks. You would have never thought she had a problem, she was happy, walking well, eating well and resting well. Then last Saturday, her recovery seems to have gone backwards. All weekend she would put no weight on the leg at all, and this week, she's slowly improving again. She's at the point where she will walk but it seems to be quite painful/uncomfortable for her.

She was checked at the vet last Saturday, and had an injection. At the time he checked everything and said its all in place, she's just done too much. I 100% followed the vets advice on recovery, but now she's worse than she was in the first week. A friend who is a vet nurse thinks she probably felt little pain in the first 10 days or so, so acted normal, then when the pain relief stopped, she decided that it hurts to walk, so I'll just hop instead.

Has anyone else had a dog go through this surgery and have a similar experience? I think its gone the reverse of how I expected it. The vet is confident she'll make a full recovery, its just going to take time.

She's getting pretty bored in the crate now, but I do bring her out and walk her around the yard and house, as well as let her sit with me if I'm watching TV or on the computer.

[montall]

Tallulah had this surgery at the same time they did her broken and crumbling hip (almost three years ago,) and she still doesn't put all her weight on that leg all the time. When she is in full flight or walking she uses all four legs but I notice her hopping on three a lot of the time (mostly when the grass gets a bit long) and when she jumps up on you with her two front feet that back foot is more often than not off the ground. I don't know whether it's her knee or her hip that she is favouring but I suspect it's the knee. She doesn't appear to be in any pain and it certainly doesn't slow her down any but she definitely favours it.

Another thing I have noticed with her is that she sort of leans and her balance is not too great. Again I don't know if that is the hip or the knee but for this I suspect the hip. I reckon one leg is slightly shorter than the other now, and again that would be the hip, but that might be why she just finds it easier to use three legs a lot of the time. She was only about 10 months or so when she had the surgery. Hopefully your dog will recover completely in time. Swimming is good exercise I was told to stop the leg muscle shrinking a bit. Unfortunately Tallulah hates the water and even if she didn't we don't have a pool. In the early recovery days I used to put her in the spa bath (not turned on ) and make her paddle for exercise but like I said she hated it so I gave it up.

[Rottifan]

I fortunately havent had the problem and havent had to go through the cruc ligament surgery but know alot who have and alot who have avoided it as well. A friend had a 6mth old chihuahua that began walking on 3 legs, the operation was suggested by the vet and booked in. After the recovery time the dog still walked on 3 legs. After thinking it through the owner decided that it was clear that whatever was causing the dog to walk on 3 legs had not been addressed....therefore it must not have been the cruc ligament which was causing the dog not to use that leg.

Dogs only stop walking normally because it hurts to do so. Because it hurts they adjust the way they walk to avoid pain. What was causing the dog not to be able to walk properly was pinched nerves in its back....xrays do not show nerves so will not correctly define this as the problem. Clearly it was not the cruc ligament because that problem was fixed by the operation so there were no problems there. My friend took her dog to the animal chiropractor I use in Qld and had pinched nerves released. The leg was unable to be put down due to referral pain down the leg from pinched nerves when it tried to use the leg properly. After nerves were released, pain instantly disappeared and the dog began to walk properly.....her owner was ecstatic but very disappointed that she didnt see the animal chiropractor BEFORE having an operation done that was not needed. It seems quite common that this happens. There are lots of testimonials on the animal chiro's website that I use 'jamieson' and its so so common that this is overlooked as the cause of the symptoms. It might be worth seeing one to eliminate that. Crating doesnt help alot either, the dog needs to be on a non-slip surface where it can move around at its own pace with no encouragement from humans, for example in a pen adequate to the dogs size. Resting and not moving will only cause muscle wastage. Remember that swimming and any other exercise when the dog is not able to use the leg due to pain will only mean that you are toning muscles to hold the dog out of alignment. Once the dog is in alignment(nerves released) then the dog will be able to move properly and not in pain and THEN the exercise will work to tone muscles to hold bones in place. Hope this info helps!