My poor Sophie
Sadly, I was walking Sophie on Friday night and she went nuts over another dog with people on bicycles. Right after that she was limping. Of course being Easter weekend the vet wasn’t open and I read you could give it 48 hours to see if it was a pulled muscle or something. So I iced it right way on and off for a bit. Well yesterday (Monday) she was still limping so I called the vet and we took her in this morning. She now has Luxating Patella on both her knees. What happens is the kneecap keeps popping out of the joint. And I couldn't believe it; her right leg that she hurt last year did not have the kneecap in place. The vet would put them in and as soon as she sat they both popped out. I feel just sick about this because he said she is probably in constant pain. They stage the level of this problem from 1-4 and he said she is already at stage 3. He said it isn’t anything we’ve done, that it is genetic and we do know now the father is lame in both legs and limps a lot.
He said she is going to need surgery on both legs (one at a time) and last time I checked and it was between $1500 to $3500 a leg. I told my kids they need to hurry up and get jobs so we can set up a Sophie account and start saving for her surgeries. For now she is back on the Metacam for inflammation and pain, and of course I have to keep her quiet, which hasn’t been too difficult. You can see the pain in her eyes and it’s just so sad. She is also getting injections once a week for six weeks and then the last one I think was a month later. These injections are called Cartrophen and are used to treat arthritis and help strengthen the joints. It has an 80% success rate so I am hoping this is the case for Sophie. I read it can increase spontaneous activity, mobility, weight bearing and a significant decrease in pain and discomfort. It also said that overall improvement is seen after second injection but we have to do the whole 7 injections. Apparently it last for about 3 months. So I don’t know if this will be an ongoing thing. I think it may because of the arthritis. She also gets Glucosamine pills daily and he recommends also giving her an Omega 3 everyday.
I feel just sick about all of this. I love Sophie to death but I don’t know how I can ever save for surgery being on disability and loosing that $400 in Oct. I am barely getting by now. Hence wanting the kids to get jobs, but jobs are hard to find. I am hoping they can get something in retail, which of course they don’t want after all my years and horror stories but I explained to them that sometimes we have to take a job we may not like for a while and get some references to move on to better jobs. I am also really trying to push them towards college. My daughter is so sick and upset with school she said she’d work at McDonald’s the rest of her life and I told her trust me you don’t. You will live in poverty all your life like I have always working retail. Oh how I wish I could win a lottery.
Here are the stages/grades. Sophie is grade III.
Grade I — The patella can be manually luxated but easily comes back into normal position. Patient may or may not occasionally carry the affected leg.
Grade II — Patella luxates on flexion of the knee joint and remains out of place until manually replaced or patient extends and rotates joint. Patient intermittently carries the affected limb with the knee joint flexed.
Grade III — Patella remains luxated most of the time but can be manually reduced (placed back into position). Flexion and extension of the knee joint reluxates the patella. Patient transfers most of the body weight to the front legs, bunny hops or carries the affected legs, and appears bowlegged or knock-kneed.
Grade IV — Patella is permanently luxated and cannot be manually repositioned. The quadriceps muscle group starts to shorten, making it difficult to extend the leg fully. Patient transfers most of the body weight to the front legs, bunny hops or carries the affected legs, and appears bowlegged or knock-kneed.
He said she is going to need surgery on both legs (one at a time) and last time I checked and it was between $1500 to $3500 a leg. I told my kids they need to hurry up and get jobs so we can set up a Sophie account and start saving for her surgeries. For now she is back on the Metacam for inflammation and pain, and of course I have to keep her quiet, which hasn’t been too difficult. You can see the pain in her eyes and it’s just so sad. She is also getting injections once a week for six weeks and then the last one I think was a month later. These injections are called Cartrophen and are used to treat arthritis and help strengthen the joints. It has an 80% success rate so I am hoping this is the case for Sophie. I read it can increase spontaneous activity, mobility, weight bearing and a significant decrease in pain and discomfort. It also said that overall improvement is seen after second injection but we have to do the whole 7 injections. Apparently it last for about 3 months. So I don’t know if this will be an ongoing thing. I think it may because of the arthritis. She also gets Glucosamine pills daily and he recommends also giving her an Omega 3 everyday.
I feel just sick about all of this. I love Sophie to death but I don’t know how I can ever save for surgery being on disability and loosing that $400 in Oct. I am barely getting by now. Hence wanting the kids to get jobs, but jobs are hard to find. I am hoping they can get something in retail, which of course they don’t want after all my years and horror stories but I explained to them that sometimes we have to take a job we may not like for a while and get some references to move on to better jobs. I am also really trying to push them towards college. My daughter is so sick and upset with school she said she’d work at McDonald’s the rest of her life and I told her trust me you don’t. You will live in poverty all your life like I have always working retail. Oh how I wish I could win a lottery.
Here are the stages/grades. Sophie is grade III.
Grade I — The patella can be manually luxated but easily comes back into normal position. Patient may or may not occasionally carry the affected leg.
Grade II — Patella luxates on flexion of the knee joint and remains out of place until manually replaced or patient extends and rotates joint. Patient intermittently carries the affected limb with the knee joint flexed.
Grade III — Patella remains luxated most of the time but can be manually reduced (placed back into position). Flexion and extension of the knee joint reluxates the patella. Patient transfers most of the body weight to the front legs, bunny hops or carries the affected legs, and appears bowlegged or knock-kneed.
Grade IV — Patella is permanently luxated and cannot be manually repositioned. The quadriceps muscle group starts to shorten, making it difficult to extend the leg fully. Patient transfers most of the body weight to the front legs, bunny hops or carries the affected legs, and appears bowlegged or knock-kneed.
Replies
I am so sorry hon about your dog. I do understand about feeling helpless when you can do nothing for them. I am crossing my fingers and praying that the injections help her. I had a similar situation with my pug Maggie. Poor baby was sneezing blood and it scared the hell out of me. I was worried she might be really sick. My dear sister was able to help me pay for the vet bill which turned out to only be an infection. Have you sought out any lower cost vets or perhaps a shelter or rescue that might be able to help in your area? I do not know if family would assist as well.
Thank you tlpollard. It must have been very scary your doggie sneezing blood. I\'m glad she is okay now. It is nice to have family help but unfortunately my mom told me before we should have her put down that it is ridiculious to spend that much on \"just a dog\". I even asked her yesterday if the vet bill went over more than I have if she could lend me the difference until Monday and she totally freaked out saying Sophie wasn\'t her problem and that we should have money set aside. I snapped back that I was only asking for a loan for a few days and how can I really set aside money when I just lost 400 dollars a month. Thankfully the bill today wasn\'t too bad and I had plenty to cover it. Now I just have to keep the money aside for her weekly injections. they are 25 dollars a week so not too bad. Thank you so much for your concern!!