Canine Luxating Patella (Trick Knee) Surgery And Recovery - Simon's Story

So your pet has been diagnosed with luxating patella or trick knee or floating kneecap. His kneecap keeps sliding out of its bony groove. Your thoughts are likely as follows:

Is he going to be lame for the rest of his life?

Is surgery necessary?

What happens if your dog doesn't get surgery?

Suppose I elect surgery - how long is the recovery period?

What if the repair doesn't work?

And then there's the financial aspect (sad, but true). Can you afford thousands of dollars in vet and animal hospital bills?

Want to get the answers?

You can surf the net for a few hours and get some of these questions answered.

Or you can read Simon's Story - from the time he was diagnosed with luxating patella in dogs to the end of his recovery period.

Once you finish Simon's Story, you'll know if you should pursue the non surgical route, what questions to ask your vet, and how to make sure your pet has a successful recovery.

Here's excerpts from Simon's Story - Click the pic and check it out!

What To Do When Your Dog Has Diarrhea - The Boyz Get Real Sick!

By this time, I'm used to Alvin's infrequent bouts of vomiting, but this time Alvin vomited AND had very loose stools. Two days later - Simon left puddles of vomit and diarrhea when I left them home for a whole 1 1/2 hours.

What do you do when your dog has diarrhea and/or vomiting? If it persits for more than a day, the dog has a good chance of getting dehydrated. Since that can lead to more severe medical issues, you need to bring him to a vet.

In Alvin's case, the vet checked him for dehydration, gave him a shot to stop the vomiting, and presecribed a special dog food.

He recovered in about 2 days. In the meantime, Simon started with a much more severe case of vomiting and diarrhea.

Another trip to the vet - same treatment with the addition of bloodwork, an antibiotic shot, and an entire day of fasting! Simon fasting? Okay, so he's a little overweight. But Simon not eating is a very unhappy canine. As I write this he is moaning because he had a few spoonfuls of the special dog food and thinks my lunch belongs to him. What a sad face!

Today, Alvin is fully recovered and Simon is on the road to recovery. The blood work showed no pancreatitis (a very good thing)!

Doggie Garden Invasion And Morning Muddy Paws

If you read my post from March 30 (http://designerpuppys.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-that-time-of-year-when-boyz-start.html), you know it's the time of year for doggie garden invasion.

This morning Alvin topped the garden invasion prank (it IS April Fool's Day) by leaping the fence and digging a hole to get UNDER the deck. It's raining, he's muddy and playing hard to get under the deck.

I opened the deck lattice to release him, he ran out and vaulted the fence to his freedom (or so he thought). Simon the Snitch (if you want to know where Alvin has disappeared to, just ask Simon) grabbed him by the ear and started the scolding process.

Meanwhile, I'm late for work and Alvin is all muddy - tracking pawprints across the kitchen floor. It is during these trying times that I wonder if it's time to ship the mutt back to Missouri.

Ten minutes later, he's clean but wet. When I went to change my clothes, the two wonders were calming sitting on the den couch licking their wet feet. Like nothing happened.

After work, I'm buying the green plastic 4-foot fence from the depot!