Unfortunately, at our most recent vet visit, we were told that Leia's mild limping was due to the fact that both of her knees in the back are out of place. The vet tried to put them back but they will not return to their position. This makes her about stage 3 of 4 (higher the number, worse they are) of luxating patella in dogs. Anything above stage one (which is where the knee just slips out and back in to place) is normally a candidate for surgery, at stage 3 it is strongly suggested because if not, they will continue to deteriorate and probably suffer with severe arthritis later in life. The only stage worse is where their back legs don't bend. at all and they "cowboy walk."
Surgery can be dangerous. Especially dealing with anesthesia. There are several different surgeries but the most likely one we'd be facing is where they deepen the groove that the knee sits in so it has a better foundation to sit in. Recovery time is 6-8 weeks. The difficult part is that unless the dog is under a year (which Leia is not) they have to have one leg done at a time (which means twice as much anesthesia, twice as much recovery, 16 weeks recovery with a few extra weeks thrown in for the time between surgeries... and the part we're struggling with, it is over 3k per leg... and possibly up to 10k if we discover hip problems too... We're students, and we don't have that kind of money on our own...
For now, we are doing comfort care (glucosamine chondroitin and pain meds when necessary {so far not necessary}) until we can take the next step which would be a specialist appointment where we get Xrays and an expert opinion. Unfortunately Xrays also probably mean anesthesia as it is very hard to get an 80 lb girl (that's right, she weighted in at 82lbs at her last visit and is now on a diet for her joint health.) to hold still for an Xray. It's gonna be a rocky road, but I pray she will be strong enough to see this through. We're doing our best to be strong for her and do all we can to make her happy and healthy. 4 feet or 2, she is our baby girl and even though we've only been together for 6 months I can not imagine life without her. She has met the whole family: our parents, my sister, my aunt, neighbors, all love her.
We'll do our best to do whatever is right by her and as we always promised, we will love her for the rest of her life.
