# Papellar Luxation (Loose Knee Cap)- anyone delt with it?



## DarkMoon (Nov 26, 2009)

I ended up having to take Nubs to the vet today. Dummy decided to break one of his back teeth in half while chewing on an Elk Antler. :curse: So off I rush him to the vet and while we are there I have them take a look at his knee since he is still limping on it.

The vet thinks me has Papellar Luxation or a loose knee cap. While he's under tomorrow getting his tooth pulled :curse: they are going to take x-rays of both of his knees and hips for me. Kill 2 birds with one stone. I'm not sure what is going to happen if he does indeed have Papellar Luxation. Has anyone had a dog that has this? Does anyone know anything about it? I'm doing a bit of research on it, but there is not much on how active a dog can be with such an issue.

Any thing is much appreciated. Also keep Nubs in your thoughts as he goes under tomorrow morning at 9am.


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## FloorCandy (Feb 19, 2009)

Do you mean luxating patella? If so, this is common in pugs and EBs, you can research it by searching in breed specific forums for those breeds. I have a family friend with a pug with this, and it had surgery at like 2 years old, and has been fine since.

Luxating Patella


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## DueceAddicTed (Sep 28, 2009)

I don't know anything about this ... all I know is I love Nubzie to pieces so he will be in my thoughts ... Sorry I can't be much help here ....


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I have had two dogs with this. Tasha was an agility dog and had a grade 3 then about 4 years later I had to get it repaired. She was running agility again 3 months later. They do good after surgery but normally a good vet can tell you right away if the patella are slipping. I hope it is a luxating patella vs a torn ligament but I will pray for a clean bill of health for ya. It is a simple surgery if you have to get it done but usually you don't need to get them fixed unless the are coming out frequently. If the vet wants to do surgery then get a second opinion. Good luck!


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## DarkMoon (Nov 26, 2009)

performanceknls said:


> They do good after surgery but normally a good vet can tell you right away if the patella are slipping. I hope it is a luxating patella vs a torn ligament but I will pray for a clean bill of health for ya.


She is pretty sure that is what it is, but she wants x-rays to be sure. I really honestly do not like the vet that we saw today. Normally I request one certain vet (love him and he loves strong breeds) but since this was an semi-emergency (it could have waited but not too long) I took whoever they had open first. I don't like this girl since she doesn't care for big dogs.

We will find out soon, he should be out by 11am, and they are going to call me when he is out. I'm hoping for good news all around.

And thanks for the information. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too early. I hope it is nothing. Nubs enjoys jumping, running and pulling a lot. I'd hate to see him have to give it up.


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## tablerock (Oct 15, 2009)

I do not have any experience with this, but if you are uncomfortable with the vet due to her preferences in dogs...I would highly suggest talking to the vet in the office you are most comfortable with. Ask him to evaluate the x-rays and give you the evaluation with her or without her.
JMHO...Sara


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## DarkMoon (Nov 26, 2009)

So an update!
Nubs went into surgery this morning, and came out like a champ minus one bad tooth. The vet tech that brought him out couldn't help but to tell me what a "good looking boy" I have and "what a great personality" he has. If he thought his personality was great when he was half out of it, just wait until he's wide awake. I was quite shocked that he wanted to eat after a few hours of being home. Darn dog ate 2 cans of dog food (a half at first, then a full about 1hr later then a half about an hour after that to make sure I didn't over-do his stomach)

So I got to see his x-rays of his hips and knees. His knees are in PERFECT shape. There is nothing wrong with the bones at all. The doctor that did the surgery had to go back in for an emergency surgery but her notes had said that she didn't think there was anything torn either. So I need to just keep up what I'm doing and he should be just great and back in shape very very soon.

The bad new:
His hips. His left hip is in perfect condition, but his right hip is a different story. There is no signs of any HD in either hip, but there is signs of some wearing on his right hip where the femur meets the hip (i think that is correct) nothing that will keep him down and out of activities, but it may be a sign of early arthritis. They don't think it's the reason behind his limping, but they can't say with 100% certainty that it's not. 

So that is the deal. No real clue what is causing the limping, but we at least know it's not bone related and they are pretty confident that it's not something torn. So now is just the waiting game. I guess I just find it odd that even after 4 days that I'm still not seeing a huge improvement on his limping. It's not as bad as it was Monday but there is still a pretty good limp when he first starts walking on it, but it straightens out pretty quickly to no limp at all.


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## MoPulldogs (Dec 30, 2008)

DarkMoon said:


> So an update!
> Nubs went into surgery this morning, and came out like a champ minus one bad tooth. The vet tech that brought him out couldn't help but to tell me what a "good looking boy" I have and "what a great personality" he has. If he thought his personality was great when he was half out of it, just wait until he's wide awake. I was quite shocked that he wanted to eat after a few hours of being home. Darn dog ate 2 cans of dog food (a half at first, then a full about 1hr later then a half about an hour after that to make sure I didn't over-do his stomach)
> 
> So I got to see his x-rays of his hips and knees. His knees are in PERFECT shape. There is nothing wrong with the bones at all. The doctor that did the surgery had to go back in for an emergency surgery but her notes had said that she didn't think there was anything torn either. So I need to just keep up what I'm doing and he should be just great and back in shape very very soon.
> ...


If you don't see any improvement after keeping him confined for a week, I would see if I could get a consult with a good Orthopedic Surgeon.

I'm in the midwest, but I have had really great luck with the Drs. at Cornell University (NY) answering questions. Usually they will answer e-mails, I had one specialist take the time to call me and answer all of my questions personally. Even forwarded me info from a Global Conference he went to in Sweden!! If you could get a digital copy of the x-rays maybe they could take a look at them ;-)


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

YAY I'm Happy they didn't find anything wrong with his knees. I have had dogs tear muscles and get all kinds of soft tissue injuries, crate rest and time should help. If not go to a specialist to a second opinion. Just watch his hip and keeping him in shape and conditioned will really help later on. Vixen has mild HD and she is 10 years old and in shape. She has never had any issues with that hip and is as active as a two year old.
Keep us posted on how he does.


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