Andrei Podell

Hello everyone,

Stefan asked me to post an update on Luckie since we went to see the veterinarian yesterday to have her legs re-evaluated for surgery. The appointment went well and the canine orthopedic surgeon seems very knowledgable, experienced and compassionate.

Here is what we found out:

To learn more about patellar luxations (the medical term for chronically dislocated kneecaps), check out this website:

It gives a pretty clear overview of the condition and explains it better than I could.

After examining Luckie, the doctor said that Luckie’s luxating patellas on both hind legs are a grade 3+ out of 4, which means that they are dislocated all of the time, and he can manipulate them back into place but as soon as he releases the patella it re-dislocates. The only thing that would make it a grade 4 is if he could not put the patella back in place manually at all.

Knee surgery is indicated on both hind legs. The surgery basically consists of deepening the groove in the knee joint so that the knee cap is more securely held in the correct position. He may also have to re-position the tendons and pin them in place if they have shortened on the inside of her leg due to the patella being dislocated all the time.

The other thing he mentioned is that with many dogs, this condition is genetic and is present when they are born. As they mature, their bones sometimes grow in a curve instead of a straight line to compensate for the joint malformation resulting in a S-shaped bone structure in the leg. If this is the case, he would want to do a “corrective osteotomy”, where he makes a cut in the bone, straightens it and pins it in place. This could almost double the cost of the surgery.

He can’t tell if the bones are curved without an xray, and he can’t do an xray without putting her under anesthesia because they wouldn’t get a clear picture. So what he suggests is if we decide to do the knee surgery, then they will put her under anesthesia, do the xrays, then call me before they start the surgery to tell me what they see. He said for a lot of people, if the bones are really curved it’s a deal-breaker because they can’t afford the increased cost of doing the osteotomy.

The cost of doing just the knee surgery to repair the patellar luxation, including a followup visit and xrays is around $4K for both legs.

If he sees significant curvature of the leg bones on the xrays, it could double the cost of the surgery…almost $7,000-$8,000. As I said, the osteotomy is a deal-breaker for a lot of dog owners because they cannot afford to pay for such an expensive surgery.

We could choose to not do any surgery on Luckie, but the vet said that if we wait there is a 80-90% likelihood that the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) will rupture and then surgery will be necessary, and on an emergency basis as she won’t be able to use that leg without it. And the cost will be more, because with a ruptured ligament there will be more damage to repair. Seeing as Luckie is only 3.5 years old, she has a lot of life left and it makes more sense to repair it now before more serious complications, like ruptured ligaments, can occur.

The prognosis for Luckie with the knee surgery is good. The vet said he has about a 90-95% success rate, with “success” defined as the owner says the dog is doing good to excellent. He has a lot of experience with this surgery so her small size is not a concern and he thinks that Luckie will actually do better over the long term because she doesn’t put as much weight on her joints as say, a labrador. Also, the pins he uses are porportionally bigger for her than for a larger dog, so they will be plenty strong to hold the joint together. Sometimes with larger animals he has problems with pins not holding. Not a concern with Luckie.

The other, seperate issue that is going on is that Luckies teeth are not in good shape, she has some periodontal disease and after prying her mouth open, I could see that a couple of her teeth are loose and a couple are missing. I asked the vet if they could clean up her teeth at the same time as the knee surgery, but they can’t do that because of the risk of infection, with bacteria from her mouth getting into her bloodstream and possibly causing an infection in the surgical site. So, I did not persue getting an estimate on getting her teeth and gums cleaned. One problem at a time!

The vet suggested that I look into pet insurance and see if there is any insurance plan that will insure her before we do surgery. He said there are a lot of new pet insurance companies popping up and to be competitive, they are paying for things that insurance companies normally wouldn’t. The liklihood is not great, but it’s worth a few phone calls. If there is a chance that Luckie could get insurance coverage, we’ll use the money to pay for the insurance and the deductibles.

I am going to try to take Luckie to UC Davis for a second opinion. She’s been there before (as a puppy to have a liver problem evaluated and to be spayed) and I’m going to inquire about the possibility of the surgery being done at a discounted rate because UC Davis is a teaching hospital for veterinarians and she is such a unique dog. I called there yesterday, and they are scheduling consultations in October, so it’ll be a little while but I think that their expertise will be worth the wait, and it will also give us some more time to work out the funding.

I just want to thank everyone again for the generous donations that have come in so far, and I will be sure to post more updates as we work out the details of getting Luckie the treatment she needs. She is a special little dog, and she deserves the best. That’s for sure.

~Melissa