Luxating Patella surgery?

Oh your talking to the Queen of knee surgeries... MY Westies Louie has had both knees fixed for Luxating Petella... and TPLO... so all in all 4 surgeries. His first one was at the age of a year and half. He is a Westie.
 
My BEST ADVICE I could ever give you or anyone considering this is ...DON"T LET  A REGULAR VET DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go to a Specialisty clinic and see an orthopedic specialist to do this. I mad the mistake of letting my Vet that I no long use do the first surgery. To this Day Louie seems really bothered by that knee. The other one 3 surgeries were done at the speciality clinic and we had GREAT results And they are so up to speed on pain management and after care.
 
My Scottie Alley who is in this picture by my screen name had 2 knee surgeries at the specialisty clinic also... TPLO.. is what she had also... that is when  plate and screws are put in to realign the knee. She is a rescue.. Louie is a rescue....
 
Alley was bothered by hers and it was needed right away for her... Louie use to skip and his knee would go out of place so it was needed right away for him.
 
Now my Westie Mattie has a luxating patella but its a grade 2 and she isn't really bothered by it so Im not going to do anything about it... Its when you get a grade 3 or 4 or when you dog is clearly bothered by it that you need to do something.
 
But again.... I would only let a specialist do this!!!!!!!!!!!!! I learned the hard way...and feel bad about it to this day.....

The other night, she was walking on 3 legs, which has never happened. The vet said her knee was totally dislocated and when he tried to put it back in, it would move out of place again because there was some swelling. We went home with an anti-inflammatory and I have been keeping her on ground level (no jumping or stairs).
She seems to be pretty much back to normal. Though, the vet said if it continues, we should consider surgery.

 
I wanted to add by what you wrote here that is sounds like surgery is in the future for sure....Unless your activities are mild...
 
We are hikers in this family.... 2 miles a day to keep my guys happen and content and in shape. They would go nuts without lots of exercise but that is the breeds nature.

My golden retreiver, KayCee had to have both knees operated on, the first at 16 months, the other just a little over a year later.    This condition happens far more often in smaller dogs and that is probably a good thing as the larger heavier dogs are more likely to "undo" the surgery with their weight and being over active to soon.

Before surgery they will a blood panel to make sure her  kidneys and liver, etc are working properly.  I had this done a couple or days before surgery both times.

Okay the first time KayCee had to be inactive for 4 weeks.  Having her litter mate brother and an older golden made it a little harder for her to be tied to sofa leg all day, but it had to be.  I would take her on leash out to do business 4-5 times a day.  After about 2 weeks I was able to to take her for very, very short walks, like down the drive way to the driveway of the house next door and back.  Gradually they got a little longer, but not much until she was 'released" by our vet.

Her 2ed knee was much worse and took more procedures as the ACL had to have a lot of repair to it also and she was in a spllint for a week.  She could not get up or down with that splint on.  I kept her on a blanket in the livingroom and drug it outside, get her into a sitting position and use an old christmas table cloth as a sort of sling to carry her back side around while she did her business.  And then I would get her back onto the blanket and drag her inside.  Once the splint came off I no longer had to use the sling.

This time she had to be inactive for 6 weeks. Because she has senstive skin and got bad razor burn, I smeared her skin with aloe vera gel seveal times a day and it not only helped heal, but it also soothed her bare skin.  And because she couldn't roll around on her back, get exercise, etc, i massaged her spine and leg muscles several times a day and boy did she enjoy that.

She was like 2 years, 4 months when she had her last surgery.  She could not even get onto the sofa or bed and she couldn't really run as that knee would go out all the time.  She turned 7 on Aug. 19 and she jumps onto all the furniture, she runs and plays with the other dogs and enjoys life without pain.

HOWEVER, chances are arthritis has already set into your dog's knee.  I put KayCee on Glucosamine/MSM after her first surgery and added the SynoviG3 chews joint supplement I get from my vet. I do believe these have really helped her.  With your little girl, I would talk to the vet about joint sups, what, and how much. 
 
And I just started her recently on the Knox nutrojoint.  Callie uses it and I have heard great things.  i also give it to my almost 12 year olden for his arthritis.
 
Good luck and i think your little one will be better off having the surgery.


 

If your dog was old, I would lean towards managing it conservatively, but a young dog, I'd probably opt for surgery.  I second the advice to have an orthopedic surgeon do the surgery.  If you do opt for surgery, follow the post surgical recovery and rehab instructions to the letter and don't let your dog do too much too soon.