Luxating Patella
Submitted by maggie6612 on July 27, 2012 - 10:41pmLately my 15 month old bulldog has been favoring his back left leg. It seems to bother him most when he first gets up after sleeping or sitting for a while. At first I thought maybe the leg was just falling asleep/going numb under his weight because he sits and lays in crazy positions. Now I am more concerned and think there is a real problem. The limp goes away after a few minutes of him being up. I felt all over his leg and he showed no signs of pain. After talking to a few bulldog owners I think it might be a luxating patella. We have a vet appointment on Monday to have it looked at. But is it normal for this to occur in such a young dog? He was fine a week ago this a recent thing and I am nervous now. Does it always require surgery? And does anybody have experience with this? Or any other ideas of what it could be would be helpful. Thanks so much!
Is he pretty active?
We have had a similar problem with Chester , they thought he had an acl tear. We rested him for a month, no running, getting on furniture and only outside to do his 'bidness' along with an anti inflammatory and he's not limping at all anymore. Your vet will probably do X-rays and manipulate it to see what's going on. Just don't let them try to rush into surgery without trying other things first.
Is he pretty active?
We have had a similar problem with Chester , they thought he had an acl tear. We rested him for a month, no running, getting on furniture and only outside to do his 'bidness' along with an anti inflammatory and he's not limping at all anymore. Your vet will probably do X-rays and manipulate it to see what's going on. Just don't let them try to rush into surgery without trying other things first.
Patella or CCL
but he's young so it could be neither of these. They do get growing pains, called pano. My first bulldog did some limping when he was a year and we did the xray thing and nothing was wrong.
I've had my vet who I love tell me Cleo had a Grade 3 Luxating Patella when she was 2 yrs old. She had already had a knee surgery (CCL), 2 palette surgeries, entropian and spay. Her last surgery she got very sick, 104 temp, so I just said NO more surgeries, not putting her through that. A year later I took her back to the same vet, he had done her CCL surgery so I had him check her knees and she got a "feels great" on both legs. Not a mention of luxating patella and then I reminded him that he had graded her a #3 and wanted to do surgery. She's 7 now and that leg/knee is great. She's getting a little arthritic but that appears to be more in the shoulder then back legs.
So I would definitely not jump into any surgery. I would crate rest, leash walk for a good 6 wks, preferably 8 wks and as Kathy said, no running, jumping, stairs, couches, etc.
Let us know what the vet says, I'll be interested in hearing.
Thanks for the replies. I am
Thanks for the replies. I am not going to make any rash decision when at the vet no matter what the results say. I am hoping it isn't serious. He still wants to play, run, jump and I am trying to limit that. The leg looks fine when he walks I don't see any movement in his knee cap area so my fingers are crossed. I will post on Monday after the vet looks at it.