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Update on Ruby's knee

nursejess80

Well-known member
Well, we went back to the vet on Thursday because although Ruby hasn't been yelping, she'll occasionally limp, or her knee will appear to give out on her. Our vet said her knee was actually out of place when we went to see him, and he said she has a grade III subluxating patella. SO, we're having surgery on Thursday morning. It actually works out because my hubby and I will both be home all weekend with her to help her get over the first few days, which I've heard are the worst. I would much rather get the surgery over with now than risk her knee worsening and causing permanent damage. She's only a year and half, and I hate to put her through this, but I have been trying to reassure myself that this is going to help her more than my letting the condition continue. Our vet and his partners do a few of these surgeries a week (they're a very busy practice), and I have complete confidence in him. Please have Ruby in your thoughts on Thursday. I'll update again once I get her home and settled that evening.
 
If her knee is a III at this age....best that you're going to go ahead and have the surgery done. The first few days are the roughest but you do gradually get into a new routine. You are absolutely right that this is going to help her more to do the surgery rather than allow the knee to get worse.

I'll be thinking of you. And you'll both be fine. She has many many years ahead of her so it's best to get it done now.
 
Good wishes and prayers for Ruby's operation with a full recovery!! Please post and let us know how she came through. :hug:
 
Sorry to hear that you are going through this, but it really is best to go ahead with the surgery especially with that grade at such a young age.

Please try to contact the breeder too, to let them know - sadly some will not be interested, but responsible breeders will want to know so that they can take this into consideration in their future breeding plans.

I'm sure the vets will explain, but there is a quite a long recovery period, where you need to make sure that they can't jump on or off furniture, or run around, so they need to be in a puppy pen {x-pen} at the very least - or a crate.

She will need to go out for toilet breaks on the lead, but no other exercise for at least 3 weeks, then you will gradually start building up the muscles again.

If she's not already trained to a crate or pen, you need to start NOW before the surgery, so that she is used to it.

As a youngster, she is going to be quite bored once she starts to feel better, so have a search on here and on the internet for recipes for filling those rubber kongs, so that she can spend time chewing and licking at that, also for safe chews, such as ostrich tendons if she is ok at chewing those.

They usually shave quite a lot of fur off the dog, their poor wee legs look like chicken legs :( but if you are prepared for that, it helps.

Surgery is generally very successfu.


Sending positive thoughts for Ruby and for you, keep us posted. :flwr::flwr:
 
We all wish Ruby the best. We are 5 weeks post op with Molly and if you need any reassurance, tips, tricks, let me know.

Best thing I did was buy a stroller. It allowed her to be with us in every room without having to move or carry too much in the beginning. It was also pretty small so she couldn't move around easily. We also went on walks so Molly could still sniff and get outside.

Good luck!
 
Oh that's an excellent idea.

I'm sure it would be helpful if you have any more tips to share them...(y) thanks.
 
The only other good tip I have is doggy pjs. This covered the incision and Molly didn't have to wear an "E" collar. Our surgeon sent us home without any covering on the incision, no bandage, nothing. I was a bit concerned, but he said it allowed the wound to heal faster. And I was really amazed how quickly it did heal.

But with the pjs it did protect it a bit and again, no e-collar.

Maria
 
I also have experience with a post-patella surgery dog ~ my blenheim, Kosmo. As a matter of fact it was exactly a year ago (when he was 1 1/2) that he got the surgery done! :eek: He actually got both legs done at once ;)

I have to say, I totally agree with the stroller idea! I got one for Kosmo and it was awesome! :rah: I took him on walks in it so he could still "smell the air" and walked Faithey.

I have a kind of different experience on the "exercise" front, but you should talk to your surgeon. For us, we were encouraged to walk Kosmo a few times a day, even immediately following the surgery. WHen I say walk, the first week or so we would walk about 12 feet and back roughly 4 times a day of course never pulling him or making him do more than he was comfortable with. Then we would walk a little farther, and then a little farther. The surgeon said that this was good to restore blood and oxygen to his hind quarters to make him heal quicker. Of course we didn't go bananas b*n*n* but I followed the surgeon/vet's recommendations. I also found the stroller to be a HUGE help in that department. When we were walking longer distances, some days he could walk 10 minutes, but others he could only walk about 5 . . . Then I would throw him in the stroller and keep going ;) He would just sit down or simply stop walking when he didn't want to continue, and that was absolutely fine with me. For us, all restrictions ended about 8 weeks after the surgery. There were a few times during the recovery period where Kos would "over-do it" and limp a little bit ~ when that happened I would put him on heavy restrictions for about 48 hours and then he seemed to be fine ;)

A year later, he's doing fantastic and I don't regret my decision in the least bit. We went camping 2 weeks ago and he ran like the wind and swam like a champion ;)

Good luck with your baby and I hope everything goes great!!!

Also, I just wanted to add ~ we sent Kosmo to the surgeon with a baby blanket that we had slept with the night before. We did leave him overnight and I thought that our smell/a familiar blanket would comfort him. The hospital was very accomodating to us and they had no problem with that :)
 
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