Puppy needs Knee Surgery

Hi, I am new here, I have been reading post since I got my boy Milo though..Milo is a 10 month old male Ruby. I hate to say I got him on impulse, but I did..I did not do the research on the breed and all there health issues before I got him or I may have thought twice.. I just saw an adorable little puppy and fell in love.. But that's neither here nor there now, because I love this little man with all my heart and wouldn't trade him for the world..So now I adore this dog that Im scaredl will be going through a lot of suffering over his lifetime (I hope not) He has paxtellar luxation now is going to be needing surgery, vet said it just happens, apparently the way his leg grew... BREAKS MY HEART for him.. This is the SWEETEST dog I have ever met... Has anyone had experience with this, I'm most concerned about the recovery for him..Thanks.. I will post a picture if I can figure out how... hope I posted this right also. lol

Hi and welcome, so very sorry that you are going through this with Milo. Sadly it's quite a common problem with many toy breeds - disgusting really as it's very easy [and cheap!] to test for, so responsible breeders should be doing so and removing affected dogs from breeding programs.

If you search on the forum you will find many threads chronicling people's experiences with surgery. I can highly recommend the booklet available as a free download from http://www.topdoghealth.com/home-rehab-guides/download-mpl-home-rehab-guide/ what to expect at each stage, exercises etc

Wishing you and Milo well x

Good luck on the surgery, I don't have personal experience with it, but I think it is quite straightforward as surgeries go. I had a cat diagnosed with patellar luxation, he was a little runt rejected by his barn cat mother. The vet advised against doing anything in his case, and he happily and gimpily lived a few more months before dying of unknown causes.

And on that note, given the early health issues you are already facing, may I suggest you give a serious look at health insurance for your pup. Not all insurance is equal, so please, please research (there are threads on this forum where people go into detail). It won't cover his knee surgery, and probably won't cover future knee problems, but there's still the whole rest of the puppy to look out for.

Is he limping, in pain? My pup was limping and I had a vet tell me that my pup needed the surgery on both knees. Went for a 2nd opinion, and was told to wait, and I used chinese herbs and glucosomine daily. He's 4 now and doing fine -- I never had the surgery done.

If you do a search on 'patella' you should get lots of past threads on exactly this subject -- all toy breeds are at particular risk of having luxatting patellas and many here have had cavaliers go through the surgery. That said there can be a genetic element to them, too. Lots have written about their experience and also, the aftercare, so hope that might help!

Often vets want to wait til a dog is one or two to make a decision on surgery as sometimes the knees will improve on their own and with appropriate exercise (but not overworking them). Leaving them and not doing surgery when it is needed, though, will generally lead to pain as the dog grows older and early onset arthritis. So it is always a balance. I had one dog come through rescue with such a sever untreated patella that the knee had simply locked and was no longer operable.