Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

jojolow · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 2

Hi! I'm new to this site and I have a 9-month old mongrel.

About 2 months ago, my dog started limping occasionally for no apparent reason. It got worse eventually, as she got less active is losing her appetite and now she has little or no interest in anything at all.

Took her to the vet for an X Ray and defined it as a Luxating Patella (well i googled up the term, but it does mean the dislocation of the knee cap) on both her hind legs.

It would cost me a whopping 2K to get both her legs fixed in a private clinic. It will be impossible for me to afford this surgery, but is there a cheaper solution or a non-surgical way to fix this problem?

varanus · Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 472

Local dog, not a very common dog to suffer congenital patellar luxation. But of course depending on what is the lineage. Any trauma happen recently? Is your dog fat?. In door or out door? What kind of flooring is in your house?

In most of the cases, there are surgical management and conservative(medical) management. Medical management involving supplement your dog with joint support (synoquin, cosequin...), weight loss, controlled exercise, change in flooring, pain killer. Where as surgery involve correction of the defects.

If you are worried about the cost of surgery, why not discuss with your vet. Tell them about your concerns. I believed there is no fix protocol in a joint management. It is always tailored made to individual dog as well as the dog owner, taking into consideration the extent of the joint problem, breed of dog, husbandry, and of course financial capability of the owner.

You might want to try the medical treatment first to see the response of the treatment first. There is no rush in the surgery in this case. Patellar surgery should be delayed as late as possible, with 2 exception, Grade 4 patellar luxation and heavy dog. Otherwise you are safe. But your vet is the one who know your dog the most, do discuss with them before you commit yourself to any treatment choice. Have them explain to you the pros and cons of surgical vs medical treatment.

jojolow · Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 2

Thank you very much for the advise varanus.

My dog weighs 15kgs at 9 months, and is not a fat dog. She is kept indoors, with the occasional walk, and the floor tiles are a mixture of normal tiles and terrazzo.

I have since consulted 2 vets so far, one just told me to go for surgery, the other said that surgery may not alleviate the problem entirely as the hind legs of my dog is not exactly.. straight.

Trauma... She slips and falls quite often on slippery surfaces as she's always in a hurry to go everywhere. Would this have been a contributing factor? So far, I've been told the situation is a birth defect.

Despite all that, she seems to be normal - running, jumping and climbing though not as actively as last time.

Both the vets i have visited so far have not been able to give me a convincing diagnosis of the situation, which brings me here to this forum.

Is there an experienced orthopedic vet that I could visit, at least to get a clearer picture and more options besides surgery?

I'm currently in KL and do not mind traveling within the country to seek another opinion.

Appreciate your advise.

varanus · Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 472

We are here to share and give opinion. Not advice and consultation and these needed to be have a service charge. Just joking. But really, just to share our experience and voice our opinion. Nobody is hold liable for opinion given. Whatever given in this forum, please consider it properly and discuss with your vet and do more research. Don't just follow what others said blindly.

There are many vets quite experience in orthopaedic surgery, in particular Dr Rashid in UPM, but I think you need a referral letter. Dr Yeoh from Tmn Megah and Dr Phua in Kuantan are both very good. Dr Prem in brickfield is famous as well.