Luxating Patella Surgery

[emmily1987]

Hi there,

I'm new here, I'm just desperately seeking advice. After we noticed our kitty Unagi limping for a few days we took him to the vet who after X-rays determined he has a grade 3 (of 4) luxating patella.

The vet stressed that she very strongly recommended surgery to correct it while it was still a grade three before the damage became permanent. Its $2900-3500. Sticker shock but whatever he's our baby, we'll find a way.

She said we would need to see an special orthopedic surgeon they regularly use as no one at the vet's office was actually an orthopedic surgeon, but that they would need to confirm the appointment the next day with the surgeons office, likely for next Tuesday and in the mean time to crate him to prevent him from running or jumping (he's just under two and extremely active).

Today we find out the surgeon is extremely swamped right now and it will be a month until the first available appointment for surgery. I asked if we have to crate him the entire time and she said no just make sure he doesn't run or jump.......... again, he's an active kitty.

Everytime I try to let him out he goes nuts running because he finally can, then I have to put him back in the crate. I feel awful and stuck and don't know what to do.

SO my questions are:

1. Has anyone else been through this?
2. Does that seem like an excessively long time? I found another surgeon who can do it one week sooner for an additional $2000 that we really don't have.
3. How can I keep him from running or jumping off high things without crating him? How do I keep him calm? I don't want to crate him for a freaking month until the surgery and then have to crate him for the 6-8 week recovery.

Honestly... I'm mostly just worried about his pain level and his happiness. Help.

 

[tabbytom]

emmily1987, welcome to TCS!

I have no experience on this topic but here are some threads regarding your queries by some of our members. I hope there are helpful to you.

I hope your kitty get better soon too.

luxating-patella-surgery-or-amputate.373092

anyone-done-the-luxating-patella-surgery.363743

luxating-patellar-diagnosis-a-long-post.386979

luxating-patella-in-a-3-5-month-old-kitten.381869

 

[emmily1987]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I've just read through the other posts. <3

I'm still just trying to figure out if its weird that they said he needed it soon and then said wait a month. It seems backwards. maybe I'm just an over worried mama.

Thanks for the links!

 

[tabbytom]

Maybe you on for awhile and wait for other members with similar experience in this area to response.

 

[emmily1987]

Hi anyone who might be going through what I went through!

So I couldn't stand to watch him limping so I spent hours calling a bunch of different places for price comparisons and availability.

A couple of places could get him in sooner but for like $7k which was just was not possible.

Then I called one of the hospitals by us I had overlooked, at some point I had been told they were expensive years back but in this moment I was desperate.

I'm so glad I did. They quoted me over the phone a couple hundred dollars more if he needed the surgery. They'd do a complentary consultation THAT DAY if we brought our existing X-rays. They confirmed the luxating patella and offered to do the surgery that afternoon as they have a surgeon on staff. They said a month was far too long to wait, that they couldn't believe the other vet said not to crate him in the meantime either.

In the end it actually ended up being cheaper. The higher price included all of the aftercare, follow up visits, X-rays, cast changes and they kept him the first three days in their hospital ward with round the clock nurses to check for things like infection.

So moral of the story? If it doesn't feel right, get some second opinions.

Recovery was HARD but when I think about the fact that if we had gone with the first vet he'd have just gotten the surgery when we were able to release him from restrictions boggles my mind. I'd have lost it.

We crated him in the living room, he usually sleeps in bed with us soo I ended up sleeping in the living room for about a month haha because otherwise he would cry and we live in an apartment. (Tiny apartment, crate couldn't fit in our room)

To calm him during the day, I would play the "Sleep Sounds" app on Alexa. I'd read him the news in the morning in my lap then turn on the app and head to work. In the evenings I'd sit on the floor and he'd lay in my lap while I did stuff on my phone. It was really only super bad the last week when he was ready to GTFO and was feeling good. He started purposefully messing up his crate and trying to escape. I literally just tried to power through it.

He did chew through his cast which I was terrified about but he never tried to lick his wound just did NOT like the cast. He did it a couple if times but it wasn't a huge deal, we took him back and the fixed it.


But then? It was over and now it's about four months later and he's 99% back! He will take six months to a year to be 100% they said but he's doing great! And now I know if we ever have to go through something like this again it'll SUCK but I can handle it. And so can you!!

That's it. I know reason other people's stories was a comfort sooo here's mine.