A little dog with a big problem
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Wan-Wan is diagnosed with luxated patella and is slated for surgery
This morning, my poodle pup Wan-Wan has breakfast, then runs to me for a doggie treat. As she races towards me, though, I notice that she’s running unusually stiffly.
Wan has always had a very strange walk, more like a rabbit’s than a dog's. It’s part of what makes her cute, a series of jumps that pushes her little body from one side to another.
This time, though, she doesn’t seem to be putting down her back right leg down very much. My doggie is limping.
I pick her up and gently feel up and down her leg. She doesn’t react. Perhaps some small, sharp object is embedded in the pad of that paw, but when I check, I don’t see anything. As I press against the paw, she doesn’t show any pain, and I can’t feel anything anyway.
By the afternoon, she’s limping badly, that is, when she moves. Most of the time, she lies curled up on the floor, occasionally glancing up at me, as in, “I’m in pain.”
I think you can understand how bad I feel for the little dog as I see her suffering.
At the clinic, the vet watches as Wan walks across the floor, but the dog isn’t limping at all. She’s smiling, she’s running, she’s dancing as if nothing is wrong.
Nevertheless, we take X-rays of Wan’s back legs, and the mystery is solved.
Both of Wan’s knees are in trouble. The technical name is “luxated patella”, a problem with the kneecaps. Perhaps the ligaments that hold the kneecap in place have slipped out of place. Perhaps the tendons and muscles are too weak.
In Wan’s case, the ligaments slip out, then slip back in again, the reason she limps some times, and doesn’t limp other times.
The kneecaps may have been injured by an accident, but miniature and toy poodles – and other small breeds – are genetically prone to this problem.
The only good news is that I never bred Wan. No puppy of hers will ever inherit this illness.
Wan is scheduled for an operation tomorrow that will align her ligaments permanently in the leg that is the most affected. Then for seven days, she's going to have to stay in a cage to keep weight off that leg, not a comfortable situation for such an active dog.
“Don’t worry,” the surgeon tells me. “Wan is not as bad off as some dogs I’ve treated. In fact, you don’t need the surgery right now.”
“I don’t think we can wait,” I say. “There’s the problem of the nervous breakdown.”
“Nervous breakdown?” he says in surprise. “That’s not one of the symptoms.”
“Not the dog’s,” I say. “The owner’s.”
