Leg Problem

[eric29]

My 7 month old lad has had a problem with her leg for about two months then bout 2 weeks ago it started to get worse so i took her to the vet. The problem was with her knee, the tendon kept coming out of the groove in front her knee and caused her leg to lock up for bout three strides. The vet said he sees it in lapdogs alot bc of their consistent jumping but he has never seen it in a larger dog before. I think it may have been caused from alot rough housing with her sister. The vet seemed pretty adament that it is problem in her hips whiched caused it.

This morning I droped her off at the vet to have x-rays and to get spade this morning at 8 and when i called at 4 to make sure everything went ok i was told that they hadent even started on her yet. So shes been stuck in a tiny kennel for 8 hours for nothing while her sister is home with me crying and searching the whole house for her buddy. I am not very happy with my vet right now.

Has any one else had a problem like this or any insight to whether she may or may not have bad hips.

[311Hemi]

If the leg is locking up as you say it sounds like it could be Luxating Petella in that knee (what your vet originally described). While more common in small breed dogs it can and does happen in labs. I would not think the leg locking up has anything to do with the hips.

[LABS4ME]

Sublaxed Patellas are pretty rare in occurance in Labs but do show up on occassion. I would not feel it has anything to do with the hips, though it also does not state that there is nothing wrong with the hips, they are seperate items. 7 month old films will only be about 60% reliable... films at 1 year old will be about 80-90% reliable... 24 months is the standard for evaluating hips.

Surgery is available to correct the knee issue but runs about $1000-1500 a knee....

Good Luck!

Ken

[eric29]

Why would my vet think that her knee problem is a result of her having bad hips. Is the surgery ur talking about where they would deepin the groove that holds the tendon in the knee. He also said that it heals itself over time with lots of excersise. I wont get the results of the xrays for a couple days

[LABS4ME]

1st off her hips would need to be some of the worst ever to 'show' clinical signs at 7 months. Secondly, why would a hip problem manifest itself in the knee? Doesn't make sense. Thirdly, I'd have a small animal orthopedist diagnose and treat any skeletal disorder and not a regular vet... All my 2 cents!

Good Luck!

Ken

[311Hemi]

I did find this on it:

 Quote:

Patellar luxation is caused by congenital abnormality usually at the level of the hip joint and results in abnormal forces on the kneecap, which cause it to eventually ride outside of the groove. The groove becomes very shallow and the attachment of the ligament of the patella may be malpositioned on the tibia bone. If the patellar luxation occurs in immature animals, the tibia and femur bones become twisted.

[tunrevir]

Not a dog expert here but have a PT background and I can tell you that poor hip function can affect both the knees and the low back in humans. Due to the physics in play and the way the hip is normally aligned you produce great forces on the secondary joints on either side of the affected joint. The end result, often includes subluxation, pain and tenderness around the joint, swelling and degeneration of the hyaline cartilage within the joint space. These forces over time will cause arthritic changes within the joint causing further swelling and pain with an accompanied decrease in range of motion and in severe cases joint immobility. I would have the dog checked out by an orthopedic vet and or look into the animal PT clinic at the UofM for possible recommendations. Just a thought. In the two legged population we can often strengthen the vastus medialis of the quadriceps to help stabilize the glide of the patella and even tape the knee to assist in maintaining normal patellar glide. In dogs, I don't know but might be worth a try asking to find out.

Tunrevir~

[eric29]

After going over the x-rays with the doc, it turned out that it was only the problem with her knee. The hips he said werent great but not poor. He said that they are hips that we may have trouble with when she 7-8 years old but as stated earlier it is to early to see the whole picture. His diagnoses to the problem is alot excercise on the leash only, no free running. Idealy he wanted to give her pain medication but with two pups it would not be a good idea bc she would forget about the pain and try to play as if nothin were wrong which could possibly make it worse. He is going to try to contact the u. of Iowa orthopedic to see if this is something that would heal on its own or if surgery should be done asap. If surgery is needed I was told that i would have to separate my dogs for about 2 months. Separate meaning find a whole different household for one and no contact at all, especially no play time. This would be very hard for me to do. It was hard for me to be away from her for the one day and nite that she was at the vet to get spade not to mention how depressed her best buddy was when she was gone for one day.

Does any one think that taping her leg would help at all or have any more advice.

[eric29]

Anyone have any thoughts on wrapping a dogs leg to help stabalize it. I think it could work but not sure

[David Kasten]

My buddies dog has this issue too, except for from time to time shel stand up and her muscle will pop out of place. Got it from falling out of a tree.