A newsletter reader asked about her maltepoo who has a luxating patella. Many small dogs are born with a groove in the knee cap that is too narrow for the knee cap (patella), so it pops out as the leg bends. Sometimes it is rare, sometimes more frequent. Rarely is there much pain unless the cap gets really stuck outside the joint.
The conventional treatment is surgery to make the knew functional more normally. One way is to chip away at the groove to make it deeper.
This guardian was concerned about how long to wait before surgery. There is no rush as long as a dog is not in severe pain. If the patella does get completely stuck out of the groove, gently massage the leg until it pops back in. One of my early clients in my homeopathic veterinary practice counted the # of times her toy poodle would hike up his leg and some walks were 200 times. She was completely cured.
If you were trained in different healing modalities you could help by using Reiki, T-Touch, HTA, flower essences, supplements, homeopathy and more. If you do not have training in these areas and have a dog with a luxating patella, find an integrative veterinarian or person trained in these modalities with whom to work.
A dog may need homeopathy, Chinese medicine, Healing Touch for Animals, Reiki, Massage, TTouch, Bowen, chiropractic or other approaches. Even ones that do not help the knee will build the overall health of the dog.
When I only had my conventional veterinary training, I could not have offered any options other than surgery. The holistic philosophy has taught me that there is an underlying vibrational imbalance that causes most problems, including congenital malformations like the narrow knee groove and the healing goal is to resolve that imbalance so the dog’s one problem resolves while all systems become healthier. To better understand this perspective, read the first few chapters of Don Hamilton’s Homeopathic Care of Cats and Dogs or the few pages in my book, the Healthy Animal’s Journal (both available at www.ChristinaChambreau.com). Now that the multitude of holistic modalities is available, I can tell you to never give up. Try one after the other, and record the changes with each.
My apologies – I just discovered that my wonderful book, the Healthy Animal’s Journal is not available on my web site. Please email me at HealThyAnimals@aol.com to order one. This will be fixed soon.
Please click on “Post a Comment”, and share your success (or failure) with luxating patellas.
My Pom had a luxating petella in both back legs. One leg was rated a 4 out of 4 (worst possible score). The second leg was rated 2 our of 4. If I remember correctly, surgery was quoted at $1800..
All of my pups are on a species appropriate, complete and balanced raw food diet. In addition to diet, probiotics/enzymes/whole food nutrients etc my Pom, Peanut, was given Standard Process Ligaplex II (I think it was II). I started seeing a new holistic vet in a neighboring town and she recommended prolotherapy for Peanut. I researched this a bit and found that the procedure is used for knee injuries in race horses as well as human joint injuries. Basically a saline solution is injected into the joint area in the appropriate spot. The solution causes inflammation and natural healing (with the assistance of diet and optimal health). Peanut had three injections in each knee over a three month period costing less the $300 total.. After the completion of the procedure I had Peanut examined by two allopathic vets and the results. The leg graded at two no longer luxated and the leg graded a four was now down graded to 1 to 2 and should not cause her any future issues. NICE 🙂
Thank you for sharing such an informative article about luxating patella in dogs. It’s great to know that there are different healing modalities available, including homeopathy, Chinese medicine, and massage. Surgery may be the conventional treatment for this condition, but it’s good to know that there are other options available, especially for those who are hesitant about putting their pets through surgery. I appreciate the holistic perspective and the emphasis on addressing the underlying vibrational imbalance. I will definitely check out the recommended books to learn more about this approach. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
My goal for decades has been to empower people to look from an energetic paradigm, especially learning to do their own energetic healing. And prevention can make a huge difference. One way to get started learning how to prevent any health problem is to take the 5 lesson class – Holistic Health for Pets 101. And sign up for my newsletter to keep learning more. As a DO you can refer your clients to Holistic Actions to apply what you use with them to help their pets.