Tips And Advice For Post Luxating Patella Surgery ~ Large Breed Dog.

[Malakita]

If anyone has gone through a luxating patella surgery especially for a large breed dog, please feel free to share any advice.

Dog is used to being crated already.

Just feeling overwhelmed.

[Tazar]

Hey,

I had a foster dog that had a Grade 3 LP and she had a very shallow groove too. The vet deepened the grove and after the initial period in the crate and time rebuilding the muscle she was great and had no ill effects that I am aware of. She was with me for about 8 months and would clear 5ft fencing and spend her days charging around with my GSD's.

It is amazing what they can do now, just ensure your vet is well experienced on the surgery.

Don't worry you will get through it. What type of dog do you have?

:)

[VizslaMomma]

If anyone has gone through a luxating patella surgery especially for a large breed dog, please feel free to share any advice.

Dog is used to being crated already.

Just feeling overwhelmed.

Hugs to you, first of all. Natural to feel overwhelmed.

I am sure you will manage really well. Try to use the forum as a sounding place if you are feeling worried. Dont have a recuperating dog without talking to others who understand your pov.

Not had experience with a large breed. But did nurse a 6 year old CKCS male ( intact) after surgery.

Like your boy he was used to the crate so he was OK. He got diagnosed about 4 months before the surgery became absolutely needed. He was on a regime of Glucosamaine & Rose Hip syrup. He got taken to a Holistic Vet for this. Post-surgery went fine with recovery well within the Specialist's hopes. He is now nearly 12....

I would suggest checking if your own Vet thinks these supplements might help. Oh, his diet was BARF as well.

[persephone]

Mitchell wasn't large - only about 20 kg .he had a groove hollowed out , and some connective tissue re routed to hold things in place . His op was done by an orthopedic surgeon , and was fascinating (if heart stopping,) to observe.

He was never crated ..just lifted on & off sofas , kept on lead a lot & made more comfortable than usual ;) ..this was done many years ago , and there were no supplements , or physio or anything & his leg was immobilised in bandages for quite some time .Yes, it was a while before things got settled, but that leg was 110% for the rest of his very active life (about 8 yrs or so )

Hope things go well for your dog - look up training tips etc which can be done without much action - invest in treat balls etc ... train dog to toilet on command - and get ready to become enslaved ;)

[Malakita]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I just feel like I am heading for impending doom.

Over dramatic but I just don't know what to really expect/ prepare for post surgery.

I worry mainly as we have 3 steps down the porch for him to go wees. He is an Akita and way too heavy to lift/carry down to the grass.

The vet said he has done 500 odd patellas, that number sounded hopeful....

But no, I am just generally stressed and trying to keep him still for approx 2 months ...oh boy!

[Jumabaar]

Have a look at getting a Help-em- up harness http://helpemup.com

It will help you balance and support him without breaking your back and ensure he is stable as he goes down the stairs. You can leave them on so it also means you always have an easy handle to grab.

[persephone]

can you make a ramp /covered in wet/dry carpet to lay over the steps? :) just needs a sheet of ply ..and firmly attach some rough outdoor carpet . Makeit so it won't slide ..put some rubber stoppers on teh bottom end or something ..and then it's a nice gradual walk :)

Oh - and depending on when the op is - make sure he is nice & lean , it will help a LOT - but with less weight to carry , and not putting on heaps with inactivity ... and anaesthetic use :)

Edited July 2, 2014 by persephone

[minxy]

Hey Malakita, I went through this surgery with my male Akita a couple of years ago. Recovery was longer than we expected, probably about 6 months in Kyojin's case before we were allowed to leave him out in the yard again. At one stage I thought the surgery hadn't worked at all, but then all of a sudden, I noticed just how strong his left leg was getting and his knee never popped out again. It even forced him to use his other leg so much that his right knee never popped out again either!

We kept him confined to our laundry with a baby gate at first which proved to be difficult as he managed to escape a couple of times, so then we had to lock him in there and he didn't like that at all. He got used to it though. I didn't want to crate him in there all day while we were at work, but in hindsight, maybe that's what I should have done.

Just the main thing is to keep him quiet and relaxed. The physio we had at the surgery told us to do some muscle exercises to stretch out his leg which seemed to really help (and got him used to us touching his leg when it was like that) He really limped at first and struggled to walk, but after a while he was pretty good at it. Perhaps those harnesses that Jumabaar suggested would be really helpful. If Kyojin ever needed surgery again, I would get one of those. He's 55kg and I'm only a touch under that, so I can't even begin to try and lift him.

In the end, I'm so, so glad we did the surgery. Definitely was the right call for us. We now have a dog who can finally run around, he can go to the beach, he can play with his friends, kick the soccer ball etc. It used to break my heart watching him fall over and then have trouble walking for a bit when his knees were bad, so I'm so happy that now he can be a normal dog again.

Good luck, it is tough, but in my experience, worth it.

[Poodle wrangler]

Our standard poodle had this surgery at about 14 months. 25kg dog.

Fortunately, no stairs at our place, then.

The vet nurses helped him walk with a towel for support around his belly when taking initial steps.

Crate and go slow... our dog wasn't into "slow" at all!

[korbin13]

Not luxating patella but my mastiff x has had two tplo surgeries and the staff gave me a recycle bag (green woolies one) that had the sides cut our to help her around. Great idea, had the handles and a good wide support. But they advised that we could use it to help her toilet as well. We never needed it as she was really good and we only have one small step.

For entertainment, we used lots of kongs, bones, did a bit of clicker training.

We crated her for the first couple of weeks while we weren't at home but she was allowed to walk around the house while we were home, the other dog was put out when she out due to the risk of a play session. We also set up her crate and put a pen on the side so she had a couple of places to lay down. Yes our lounge looked horrible!!

[Malakita]

Thank you all for your advice! I do feel comforted.

I bought him a Help em up harness. He is used to being in harness as he did sledding. The harness is super terrific and easy to use, really well made. The real test will be putting it on post surgery, abit different now when nothing is sore.

I also got him a big play pen off EBay. Debated and debated between another crate and a playpen. So there goes our lounge, it is literally fenced off :). He doesn't tend to move around all that much so we thought a play pen. And he also has his crate in our bedroom.

Hubby also built him a ramp, which our other dog just loves! She loves running up and down the ramp.

We will think about hydrotherapy and physio too.

Tomorrow is the day. Keep your paws crossed! :)

[Jumabaar]

It is really easy to recommend a Help em up because they really are amazing quality!!

I hope everything goes smoothly tomorrow!

[Malakita]

That was an awesome suggestion Jumabaar! I bought an X large U band.

[persephone]

best of luck for tomorrow :) You are so organised , it should all be a breeze !

[ness]

I would query any unsuccessful operations if any and how they were handled. MPL surgery is normally a relatively straightforward surgery with relatively high success but having had a dog go through the procedure (a 14kg BC so not a toy breed and not a large breed either) with very poor results you can't always presume you may not be left dealing with complications. I was certainly much more upfront asking those sorts of questions when my other girl had her cruciate repaired.

[Malakita]

Just an update on my boy.

He had his surgery yeserday afternoon and it went well. We went to pick him up in the evening and he was drugged up to his eyeballs. Awake at times but too dopey to do anything. We fitted the Help em Up harness on him with some difficulty. He was taking barely any of his own weight. It took 4 of us (hubby, nurse, surgeon and myself) to lift him on to the trolley so the surgeon could wheel him to our car. Getting into the car was difficult! Getting him out at our end was almost nightmarish. But we managed.

He is temporarily next to our bed. Getting him in and out of a crate at present is impossible. Because of the epidural, he has been a bit faecally incontinent and I can't wipe that smell off him. This morning he could barely stand to go out, but he wanted to. The harness didn't work quite so well. The back clips that go between the groin and back legs kept snapping undone with the weight of him. If he helps to stand it is ok, but he wasn't standing so that part of the harness didn't work.

Over the course of the day, the epidural is wearing off. He is standing up on all fours really well in comparison to this morning. We have an appointment in 2 weeks to see the surgeon.

So far so good.