[DSEP11]

Hi,
We have asked ?s here before and you folks have been great.
We just got back from the vet and our 6 month old Golden
has a bad knee joint... the vet says is likely from a past injury.

I think I know when it happened and it was about 6 weeks ago.
Her right rear leg has been bothering her on and off since then
but has been troubling her since Thanksgiving Day when the family
was here and Zoey ran and played most of the day.

Can anybody tell us how successful knee surgery's are?

And what kind of surgery we should be having done?

Is this a surgery we should be letting our local vet do
or should we seek out the best we can find?

We have Ia State College nearby...but I can only imagine the cost there!

ANY and ALL input/recommendations from folks who have been there and done this/that, would be greatly appreciated.

We are a mess!
Thanks in advance, and sorry if I am not in the correct forum

Dan and Mary

 

[Sally's Mom]

You need to find out what kind of knee injury it is. Goldens can be susceptible to luxating patella which is inherited. I had a golden with a luxating patella(lateral), which had a very successful repair by a board certified surgeon. And they can injure their ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).. it is unusual in a young dog unless there is trauma. You need sedation and radiographs to diagnose the problem.

 

[Cathy's Gunner]

I can't offer any help but will keep you and Zoey in my thoughts and prayers. Sally's mom is a vet so I would take her advise.:crossfing:crossfing:crossfing for a good outcome.

 

[Karen519]

Dsep

DSEP

Yes, ask what type of knee surgery is needed.
My Golden Ret. who was 10 years old at the time had TPLO surgery for her Right rear leg (ACL).

If you do a search on Suture surgery and TPLO Surgery on here, you will find some topics.

 

[Buddy's mom forever]

I have no advice, just wish you all the best. She is so young.

 

[DSEP11]

This is the week we were planning on setting an appointment to get her spayed.
Now this knee problem...

Should we proceed with plans and get her spayed and have the radiographs taken
then proceed with caution from there with Zoeys knee... I hate to jump into
knee surgery with such a young dog as she has some growing to do...just maybe the knee will settle down a bit (she is gimped up but still getting around) Zoey is a very mellow house dog.

Or should we get the knee done first and/or even think about getting the knee done and getting her spayed at the same time if that would even be an option?

My concern is that she has some growing to do and if she has surgery now so young
that she will always be gimped up? I know she will likely never be as good as new but I want her to have the best possible outcome. Hmmmm

Thanks

Dan

 

[mylissyk]

What is the injury? Cruciate ligament tear or luxating patella.

You should you ask your vet about going forward with spay and having knee xrays done while she is sedated.

 

[Sally's Mom]

If it is an ACL tear, my experience is that specialists will wait for a TPLO surgery until growth plates are closed. My Sally had her surgery for her laterally luxating patella at seven months. I would get it diagnosed sooner rather than later to limit any arthritis that could happen.....

 

[Sally's Mom]

I have raised nine Goldens in this house and have never had one with a lameness as a pup!

 

[DSEP11]

I have raised nine Goldens in this house and have never had one with a lameness as a pup!

What exactly do you mean by (a lameness) as a pup?

I can only guess that your saying my pup got injured...
I am wondering whether Zoey'S knee condition is an injury from playing
with my son or an inherited condition showing up so young?

Thanks for your time!

Dan

 

[Sally's Mom]

What I was saying is that the dogs I have raised from puppyhood never limped.. If they played too hard, etc, they were never lame as pups. Sally, who I got from a breeder came to me with a laterally luxating patella. Limping is not normal in a healthy pup. Regardless of whether or not it is a heritable condition or an injury, it needs to be diagnosed so you can do the best for the pup.
,

 

[Sally's Mom]

Sally's laterally luxating patella showed up at four months of age

 

[Florabora22]

If you could tell us what the knee condition is, it would help out with people giving you advice.

My dog Flora had a luxating patella in her left hind knee, and I opted for surgery immediately at 11 months b/c it was bad enough that the vet was concerned about the early onset of arthritis. She recovered well, and her knee has been okay since then. She has regressed and had 2 incidents where her patella luxated, but otherwise she's been in good health there.

Best of luck with you and zooey.

 

[DSEP11]

I will find out more Tomorrow and let you all know...

The vet said the surgery would be around $700 so I am guessing it
is a Luxating Patella as I would think the ACL surgery would be much
more costly? but I really dont know. Just throwing the cost out here
as it may give someone an idea what knee problem Zoey has?

Dan

 

[Bogart]

Not sure if you want to the University for the operation. We have Fort Collins 2 hours away with a Vet School.
But we also have a very good orthopidic Specialty Center here in Colorado Springs and that's where my ZsaZsa was operated on when she had TPLO surgery. I think with a young dog it is importent that you use an experienced Orthopedic Vet. I would not let my regular Vet operate on a pup I think they are missing the Expertise.
If not otherwise advised by the Expert I would get the Knee operation done asap. The other leg gets overused and over long can get busted also.
A spay you can still do later in life this is importent.
Just my opinion.

 

[DSEP11]

If you could tell us what the knee condition is, it would help out with people giving you advice.

My dog Flora had a luxating patella in her left hind knee, and I opted for surgery immediately at 11 months b/c it was bad enough that the vet was concerned about the early onset of arthritis. She recovered well, and her knee has been okay since then. She has regressed and had 2 incidents where her patella luxated, but otherwise she's been in good health there.

Best of luck with you and zooey.

Did Flora have to have 2 more surgery's or did things settle down over time?
If things settled down without surgery...how long was the recovery time?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Sally's Mom]

IF it is a patellar luxation, it matters whether it is medial or lateral and also matters what grade it is. You cannot compare one situation to another.... A patella that "chooses" to stay out will never get better on its' own. It needs to be diagnosed first and forget the "what if's).

 

[Florabora22]

I'm surprised the vet did not tell you what the problem was.

Flora's LP surgery cost $1700 dollars. She has not had any surgeries since then. Recovery time was 6 weeks. The first week was the hardest, mostly because she was very very unhappy. My little girl never really sprung back after surgery. Then it was a challenge keeping her from getting too excited - 6 weeks of limited activity in a young pup is difficult!

But it's entirely doable. If she needs the surgery, then don't worry too much about the recovery. It's all manageable.

 

[DSEP11]

The vet may have told us...but it may have just went over our heads as
we were just glad it was not a hip!!!

But I looked on the paper work the vet sent home with us expecting
some type of info and there is none...that tee'd me of to start with.

We have had big dogs with many problems over the last 20 years and recently changed vets as we had a misdiagnosis with our last Golden
at age 5 that may have been the reason she past on.
So now I am in a situation where I have a new vet that I dont know
very well and having problems with Zoey at such a young age is very unsettling.

 

[Deber]

I would advise you to not stress. Go to a Specialist and get the correct diagnosis. I would hold the spay until later after this is over. I had LP surgery on one of my yorkies when she was 6 months on the left rear knee and after 6 wks she was up and running as usual. Yes it was hard keeping her down for the month, but well worth the results. We just waited and had her spayed at about a yr old & had teeth cleaned at the same time. She is 8 yrs now and never has had any more trouble. Our decision for immediate surgery was to offset the possibility of arthritis in that gimpy knee. Must have worked cause she has never favored that leg since the surgery.

Take the advise of Sally's Mom, she is wise and helpful to us all about these matters.

Just talk to your specialist and they will advise. Cost, I honestly do not remember, we took her to Texas A & M to have it done by their Orth. specialist, but they allowed us to pay 1/2 and the rest in payments.