Luxating Patella

[Liz]

Wishing George a speedy recovery

You can get a self heating fleece from PAH they are wonderful as they keep the heat any cat builds up and retain the heat they are also washable we use them with our oldies and ill babies and find they are fantastic

[Anka]

Thank you - hope he will be well to run in the garden comes spring, he so loves to do that - catching flies and bees and the likes....

All in total from the first op - it will be 5 months (!!!) of him not being able to go out apart from the 10 min trip I took him on last week to the garden....

Fred does not like to go out at all but Teddy and George spend most days in the garden... he is taking it so well but I still feel sorry for him, he is not even 18 months poor thing and its like his childhood (kittenhood?) has been taken away from him

[Tiggy's Mum]

Poor George Hope he makes a speedy recovery 

[Anka]

Picked up George at 5.20pm today, brought him home, he ate A LOT and went to sleep - he is on metacam so a bit dizzy poor thing...

Vet and nurses were laughing that he must be a first cat to be purring like mad and demanding cuddles while he was being shaved and also while he was being put under anaestetics....

His both sides are shaved now but I put his cage by the radiator as trying to cover him after the first op did not work of course by radiator makes sure he is not cold especially in those bald places... and both his legs inside and out and belly andpart of his back are shaved now....

Vet said op went well so fingers crossed all will be good with him now... 10 day till stiches come out/check up and lampshade off - those will be longggggggggggggggggg 10 days as being wobbly on his legs and with the lampshade on - I pretty much have to feed him as he has problems getting to his dishes, and I tried different ones and still no good so pretty much feeding him...

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Its usually very warm in the hospitals, too warm even for me!

So pleased that op went well 

[Dawn F]

bless him, he will probably be sleepy tonight anyway - hope he gets home tomorrow

[Anka]

Thanks Gill....

Spoke to the vet, he said George's operation went well, he is staying overnight at the ospital and they will call me in the morning after assesing him to let me know what time can I pick him up tomorrow....

Poor thing... with that shawed off bum and stuffed on painkillers, hope he is not cold... At home his cage (well, XL size cage that fits Zara) stays by the radiator and cat tree and the other 2 boys sit on the cat tree and Zara lies next to cage to keep him company and now he is there all by himself poor little one

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

The very first post on this thread may be of interest. Lynn was a vet nurse.

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,3376.msg54891.html#msg54891

[Janeyk]

Poor George, hope all goes really well 

[Anka]

Just found the other thread :

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,36425.msg647356.html#msg647356

I am so confused to be honest, read a lot about cats not needing surgery for this... George's vet said it was stage 2/3 and he needed this op

Found some other threads on here referring to LP too but none where a cat actually had an op....

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Poor little chap and hope the op goes well for him 

I too am sure I have seen this term on Purrs before and will do a search in a minute.

The costs seem incredibly high, especially the  xrays, cos Ducha had xrays just under a year ago on his broken foot and I thought £100 was a lot for the first one with the others coming in just over £50 each.

So pleased you have good insurance.

[Anka]

Thank you - apparently this is very rare in cats, mostly happens to dogs... my poor little boy

[Dawn F]

I'm sure someone else has experience of this, possibly Lesley from Eight Lives rescue - it definitely rings a bell with me - anyway I hope it all goes well, it is always horrible when you are waiting for a call

[Anka]

JUst dropped George off at the vets and will be waiting for a phone call when his surgery is over at some point in the afternoon.

George is insured with Argos Platinum, 7000 per year which anyone would have thought should be enough for a cat, that was te best cover I could find at the time anyway.

His bill so far was 4436 and todays operation estimated at 1700-2000. He will also need an Xray 6 weeks later which is about 400 from what I remember and... the 7k for this year (till June2012) will be almost gone...

I just hope the op goes ok and that nothing will be wrong with this little boy for a while following the op

[Anka]

One of my cats, ginger boy George was limping a bit some time ago and after Xryas vet diagnosed luxatng patella in both back legs.

George had an operation on one leg on the 20th September, was on cage rest for 6 weeks and the follow up xray showed that his leg is healing well.

I did not want him to have the second leg operated on soon after the first but he started limping on it really bad so booked him for the second surgery for tomorrow, that is today - taking him to the vets for 8am.

So that will be another 6 weeks on cage rest, 1 week of it in the lampshade collar. And his first side did not really grew back the fur yet and now his second side will be shawed, may nee to get him some pants for the skinny/bald bum of his.. poor little mite.

He was just over a year old when diagnosed.



Before the first op, the vet told me about 6 weeks cage rest but I did not know at the time that this is followed by anoter 2 weeks "room rest" and then another 4 weeks "flat rest" with no going out so the total time really adds up to 12 weeks. I was only told thet when we went for a check up xray after his 6 weeks cage rest.

Has anyone else's cat had this operation?

I can find a lot of info on the net about dogs with this condition but not much about cats really.

I wonder what is the true recovery time? I mean - will he be able to walk completely normal, run etc? At the moment his back is arched all the time when he walks (8 weeks after the surgery) and I am not sure if this is due to the operated leg or to the leg that needs to be operated on in the morning?

Any personal experience of this condition in a cat?

Thanks a lot