Post Patella Luxation and Surgery Care

[Ingen]

Hi,

My chow was diagnosed with severe patella luxation on both knees, the right knee has affected her hips causing hip dyslexia on x-ray, but the specialist vet detect no clinical pain on her right hind leg (yet), while the hip on the left seems fine, but he detected clinical pain on her left knee. X-ray shows the femur bone has deform due to the patella luxation (26 degree), supposedly to be neutral 0. The vet suggested to do the left knee first before the more cartilage wear, and eventually the right knee needs to be corrected too.

Hesitated for two weeks as she did not seem to be in discomfort, however it is very obvious both knees have problems as they are very slanted. After contemplating for awhile and talking to the vet, we decided to go ahead with the surgery and today is the day...

Done quite a bit of reading on the post surgery care online, some online literature says to start physio therapy within the first week and some suggested to start short walks daily for 5-10 mins 3-7 days after surgery, but I'm quite skeptical about it though. Would love to hear from anyone with first hand experience on what you have done and what to expect. My main concern is how is she going to relieve herself for the first few days to week as I reckoned she will have problem standing up or half squatting for that matter and what can we do to ease her discomfort.

[WyoChowDad]

I had my Chows knees done several years ago. The surgeries were two years apart. Both surgeries were very successful. When she comes home, she'll have a very large cast like bandage. This should immobilize her knee sufficiently that she should be able to limp outside and she should be able to squat. You can use a belt or strap to help take the weight off. Just put it under her in front of her hind legs and pull up on it as she walks. It works quite well if she accepts the help. My vet was adimit that I walk my Chow after her bandages came off. Do what the vet tells you as rehab can vary greatly depending on the type of procedure he performed. I had great success with my Chow's surgeries. She was 10 and 12 years old respectively and she lived to 16.
I hope you and your girl have the same great results.

[Ingen]

Six days in, going for a bandage change today. She refuses to pee for a good four days and still have poo since coming home. We foresee this to be the biggest challenge ahead, as she's trained to do her business on the pee tray inside the toilet at home and has always been shy about this, and only does her business when we are not looking or when we are out. Although we bring her to the toilet 3-4 times a day, hoping she would do it, we reckoned she just not doing her business with us around...We had to put her on adult diaper to avoid pee getting onto her bandage. Unfortunately, when she finally let it go last night, it was so heavy that the diaper couldn't hold and soiled the bandage, slightly...

I'm quite surprised that she did not show sign of discomfort or pain after going through such a major surgery, can't wait to have the bandage totally removed and the incision healed at the end of week two. At least we only need to worry about soiled flooring and dirty linen