Bella's visit to Orthopedic Surgeon

Well, we saw the Orthopedic surgeon today. Bella has Grade 4 luxating patellas, just as I suspected. He said her kneecaps have never been in the groove of her knee. She was born with them out, that is why she can't jump up on anything and why she isn't in severe pain. She has adjusted to the disablity as she has grown. She has to have surgery soon. If we wait too long, her femur could become curved and have to be broken and straightened. It will be a big surgery for her. 8 weeks of restricted exercise. Its very expensive also, but she is well worth it. I am praying my pet insurance will help pay for some of the expense. Has anyone here had experience with insurance and this surgery? How about recovery? I am so sad for my poor girl!

thats awful, i cant help im afriad, just wanted to say im thinking of you at this time, im sure others who have had similiar experience will be able to give you some encouragement and helpful advice, di

Poor Bella - so sorry you've had this news, but hopefully once she's had her surgery she'll be much more comfortable. Gentle :hug:from us xx

If you do a search on patellas, you should find a lot of threads including several that discuss the surgery itself and recovery. Even just scanning through thread subject headings in this section will turn up a lot of existing info as it is a common surgery and many have had it done.

There's also some info in the Health Library section.

On insurance: they may or may not pay. An insurer may (will probably) argue that at her age this would have been a known problem if seen by a vet. If she was insured after her knees were identified as a problem then they almost certainly will not pay out. Basically anything that existed from her first exam would be excluded, and even if knee probs weren't noted, they may argue that they were clearly congenital and there from puppyhood and would be a pre-existing condition.

Some insurers completely exclude anything congenital -- this is one of the things to check with an insurer before taking out a policy. For this breed, this generally means SM and MVD would not be covered. It could mean patellas but would differ by insurer.

Ring them and talk to them though -- they can tell you their stance. It will be great if you can get most or all of this covered.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! I am going to call my insurance carrier and see what they say. I took out a policy with this company because they do not exclude congenital, hereditary, or breed specific issues. So I am hopeful they will help in some way. I pray they do! :xfngr: