Surgery this Tuesday Luxated Patella (Help. Any info)

[Lena1]

Hi everyone.

Our 2007 filly Lilly (Lai Lai's Lil Mayem) has been diagnosed with a luxated patella in her near side back leg

She suddenly went lame just after Christmas. Our vet came out and took some xrays & diagnosed the problem.

Apparently not alot of vets here have performed this surgery therefore the xrays were sent to a large Equine surgery a couple of hours from us. I am still waiting to here back from this surgeon (I will be calling them tommorrow if Ive still heard nothing).

We are fast becoming increasingly upset by all this waiting around. Of course poor Lilly is in pain and she is on Bute (which I DETEST using). I hate seeing her like this

If anyone has been through this kind of surgery with one of their babies, we would love to hear how it went, recovery time ect. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

One problem alot of us Mini owners have here in Australia is finding a good vet that has experience in Miniatures. One example of this is when Lilly was xrayed the 1st time, they said nothing looked out of the ordinary. On closer inspection back at the surgery they decided something did'nt look quite right. They rang me & asked if they could come back and do xrays on her good leg so they had something to compare the first xray to

Regards

Karen

 

[rabbitsfizz]

In point of fact a lot of surgery has been done.

Maybe they mean they haven't done this??

Or maybe it has not been done much in Oz??

Anyway Leia (Hobbyhorse) has a lot of info as she researched it all for her gelding, and she can point you in the right direction as I have only had one mare don, and she was very easy, done standing, only one side done in the end, and fine.

Leia's Kody had a far rockier ride and had to be done twice to get a result but he was much older than your filly.

Be careful with Bute, you know that, right??

It is the drug of choice for this condition, but are you using tablets, paste or powder??

It is very hard to get the amount right, and I would be giving Gastrogard (or Ranitidine which you can get over the counter) at the same time to prevent ulcers.

Give the ulcer meds after the bute as the ulcer meds interfere with the absorption of the bute.

Your filly will be OK, she will cope just fine with the pain, especially as you are medicating. so don't worry too much about that part.

I would be looking hard for a Vet who knows what they are doing, though!!

Good Luck, it will be alright in the end.

 

[Lena1]

Thankyou Jane for the fast reply.

Lilly is on the paste, 1ml morning and night. I will go and buy an ulcer preventative.

Ive been told that there are only 2 surgeons in our state that do this surgery. So we will just have to travel. Am a bit concerned as to how long it may be before she is comfortable enough to travel back home.

I know I can put all these questions to the surgeon when I get to chat with him. In the meantime it sure feels good to chat to others that have had this done.

We love & dote on all our little guys but this little girl is the centre of my universe

 

[Minimor]

Jane, Leia's Kody suffered from upward fixation of the patella...which is something different, and the much more common surgery.

Luxated patella is where the patella is displaced to the side--it is dislocated, not locked as in upward fixation. This condition is much more rare.

According to my vet book (Equine Research) treatment of luxated patella involves putting the patella back into place. This needs to be done as soon as the injury is discovered to avoid having the joint capsule fill with connective tissue. It says that recovery is not quick or complete because of the extensive stretching and tearing of ligaments that occurs when the patella is dislocated. It does not mention surgical repair.

I know there are two members that had this sort of thing surgically repairs on newborn foals--Corinne (MeadowRidge) is one--her "Chilly" did not live through the surgery--and there was also someone else. I cannot remember how that case turned out. Remember, though, these were both newborn foals born with luxated patellas and so their cases were a little different from your filly, whose injury was almost certainly caused by trauma.

I hope your vets can get to this surgery very quickly now, and know just how to do it to give your girl her best chance at recovery. Good luck to you--I'll be praying for her!

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Can you not remove it as you would in a dog???

This is a fairly common injury in Rugby players, maybe there would be a sports injury doctor who could give you some help???

I know the patella is the thing that locks the legs, so such a horse would not be able to sleep standing up, but that would not be a hardship in a youngster, surely??

 

[rabbitsfizz]

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlere...i?artid=1686408

Just found this for you, it makes interesting and quite optimistic reading.

I must caution you, as you are probably already well aware, that whatever the Vet says, the conditions that cause this do seem to be hereditary, even if the actual condition itself is not, so she should not be bred form after the operation.

That is probably the last thing on your mind at the moment anyway!!

I do hope everything goes OK, try not to worry too much.

 

[Mulligans Run]

Are they absolutly certain that it's a luxated patella? Our little filly, Temptation, had a locking stifle at approximately 4 months of age (trying to remember) and it resolved itself. Then about a month later the other side strated locking, but locking badly. Our vet manipulated it and unlocked it but as soon as any weight was applied it locked again.

In her manipulations, etc she said it was a luxated patella and would need surgery. We waited for weeks for a decision on what we were going to do as the surgeon that our vet wanted us to use was off rotation.... needless to say the condition got worse. She was dragging her leg behind her and it was pitiful. It was almost frozen in place. We used ice, banamine, DMSO so many times a day - it was quite the ordeal. But the heartbreak in seeing her trying to walk or run was far worse than the treatment schedule.

We finally got her to UGA and the surgeon said it was just a locking stifle. Temptation was so well behaved and easy going that they gave her local anesthetic in both legs and did the surgery while she stood there. They video taped all of it for their students.

I was told the surgery would be around $1800 for the luxated patella and that she wouldn't be allowed home if she was put in a cast. Luckily we only had to have the minor surgery ($300 total) and no casts. She came home that same day (3 hour drive) and is back to normal. Even with the minor surgery there was alot of therapy on our end. Temptation was stall bound for over a month with ten minute walks every four hours, medications, etc. It was tedious and time consuming, but we stuck to it and she's recovered fully.

Sending prayers that your little one doesn't need the patella surgery....hoping you keep us posted.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

First off..find a GOOD vet. Thats the best piece of advice I could give anyone dealing with this problem. Actually Chilly, had it in both her hind legs. We did "attempt" to do surgery. There were 3 vets involved with her. My main vet was out of state , so I used another local vet..she did the MRI and cat scans of her at our local hospital, by this time Chilly was about 3-4 weeks old..This vet was suppose to set up her surgery schedule at another hospital...I waited and waited, finally after another 2 weeks had gone I called the hospital , and they said she had NEVER got in touch with them. (boy, talk about me having a temper..was I fumming at the vet over this one!!!) I called my second vet which I use for anything more in-depth..he had been my god-send of a vet! (he had just returned home from form a conference in Japan)He had me bring her down immediately, and surgery was scheduled for the following day. Everything went good with her first leg, but when he rolled her over to start the second..he lost her. His wife (she is also a vet) and his "surgery" team worked hard at trying to bring her back but couldnt. I had never heard a vet cry, but when he called me he was crying, ..he loves minis and also owns a few of them. He had told me that if I would of brought her to him immediately when she was born, he would of been able to help her, so time is of the essence when dealing with this. The sooner you can get this done the better the outcome will be. She was 7 weeks old when we lost her, and she should of had the surgery immediately, which is what I was under the impression the first vet was going to do, since she was called out when Chilly was only 2 days old! My surgical vet quoted me a price of $2,600.00 for both hind legs. I paid half, since he lost her. That didnt include the MRI or cat scan, done by the first vet. I am not sure if it is DEFINITELY a inherited problem, but I wouldnt advise re-breeding her Mom (if you own her) or breeding your filly. I bought Chillys Mom bred, and after this happened , I found a family who I gave her to as there 4 H pet project, and she is so loved by 3 young kids. I have pics of her on my site under in memory. Good luck , with your precious little girl, and I will be praying for a good outcome for her.

Corinne

 

[Minimor]

the conditions that cause this do seem to be hereditary

I'm curious--upon what information do you base this statement on?
Locking stifle--yes--but everything I've found, even the article you posted the link to above, suggests that luxated patella in the horse is usually caused by trauma. In a foal born with the condition I couldn't say, and it seems to me that the other person who had a newborn foal with this condition mentioned that their foal didn't have the proper shape to the bones in that area--the joint was too flat and so the patellla had no place to "sit" correctly--that would seem like it could be some genetic thing showing up....but in a horse that is a year old or older it would seem to be almost certainly an injury that causes the displacement.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

didn't have the proper shape to the bones in that area--the joint was too flat and so the patellla had no place to "sit" correctly--

That is exactly the problem Chilly had. I also know that the mare to CHilly, had 3 other foals before I bought her, and not a one had any problems. I just didnt feel comfortable re-breeding her and possible having to lose another foal to this same condition. My vet who did the surgery also suggested not to re-bred the mare.

 

[Lena1]

Hi everyone, Thank you for all your kind thoughts and good wishes. Sorry I havnt updated till now but my internet connection is playing up. Im using a friends computer right now.

Minimor, the surgery you describe is exactly what Lilly will be having.

Thanks Jane for the ulcerguard tip, I bought some yesterday. Thanks also for the link its very interesting.

I spoke to the surgeons receptionist yesterday. He wants to take his own set of xrays this Friday. This will mean a 4hr round trip for Lilly (dont get me wrong I dont mind the travelling, I would travel to the end of the earth for this girl). I just know how uncomfortable this will be for her.

I imagine (as I havnt spoken directly to the vet) the surgery would be set for another day which means more travelling for her

Corrine, Im so sorry what you ended up losing Chilly.

I do own Lilly's mom. We retired her after Lilly was born. As for Lilly, she wont ever be bred with.

She loves the show ring and is a real love bug

To us she doesnt have produce foals or be in the ring to be loved.

 

[Lena1]

I forgot to mention that the vets do feel that this has been caused by some sort of trauma.

 

[Lena1]

Lilly goes in tommorrow for surgery.

The surgeon spent an hour with me on Friday explaining everything. We got to meet a foal that had this surgery on Thursday, he looked good and was moving about pretty well.

Im feeling a bit better about it all now that Ive seen the facility and met the staff. Cant wait for it all to be over though.

 

[JourneysEnd]

Good luck tomorrow. Let us know how she does.

ray

 

[shelly]

GOOD LUCK TOMORROW!!!

We will be waiting for news as soon as you get a chance!

 

[Connie P]

I had a newborn foal with this problem several years ago. Took him right in to MSU where they performed the surgery and he had about a six week recovery and has done marvelous ever since. Best of luck to you and your filly.