1. What happens with luxating patella? And how to deal with it?
If we think about the groove that the patella sits on the top bottom of the femur, the little bone is supposed to sit in the groove and then there’s a very strong tendon above it and below that helps keep the knee tracking so that when groove is moving, that kneecap is supposed to stay in there. What tends to happen over a long time is that these grooves actually get worn down to the point where it just won’t stay where it’s supposed to be at all and so for that reason, for many of the small breed dogs, they’re medially luxating patella. Meaning, they go towards the inside of the body and they stay there. Some of them can be laterally luxating or towards the outside of the leg. But the vast majority are immediately luxating.
I think what you want to look at is what’s going to be the benefit of the surgery. Are they able to stabilize the knee to the point where she can use it really well? Does she have existing arthritis in the joint? Does she have arthritis in her hips and her low spine? What I would do is see if some of those other locations if you improve the pain at the lumbar spine or the SI joints with simple rehab things like strengthening the legs. This is where an underwater treadmill may be useful so you can strengthen both the big quads and hamstrings of the upper part of the leg and then also strengthen the back relief pain there. See if that will help her get through without having to do the surgery. Also, this is where you could consider using an Assissi loop if she’s got pain localized to the joints.
2. What should you do when you notice weird stuff with urinary retention?
What I would do is definitely get her urine checked out. If she’s feeling okay, I think it’s okay to wait. I would definitely get a urine sample over as soon as possible. If this is a new behavior, you’re fine until today, obviously. I have not found deep cranberry as effective as d – mannose which I’ve had better success with. Cranberry works really well when the infections are simply due to e – coli or Pasteurella. D – mannose seems to work a little bit broader spectrum so I think that’s a great idea. I think 750 milligrams twice a day for dog Dottie size.
3. Tip(s) on how to make your dog take the 2 a day vitamin
What I would do is just crush it. They make these pill splitters slash crushers where you can put the tablet in there and it squishes them. But I would just kind of take a spoon or something crush it in there and sweep the dust into the food. Generally, when I have to crush a table, I just put a tablet on the countertop take a spoon and crush it that way which seems to work out pretty well. I hope that helps.
4. Willie’s Palladia update
The ALT – ALP elevation is from the prednisone. His proteins are coming up too which is great to see. It sounds like the palladia is doing good things to sort the GI disease out. The total T4 is not unusual because he is so sick and his body is so pressed. The .4 creatinine is kind of unusual but if his appetite’s been “hmm”, that can show up. Liver enzymes are up from the prednisone, and then the total T4 is low because he’s sick. As long as everything is okay there, I think we’re in good shape. If everything’s healing up, that’s really encouraging. But if these gets worse, then that’s more worrisome that the palladia is having an untoward effect so to speak.
I do remember too that we’ve got the flash sale going on. We’re having a switch with shipping companies again. Hopefully, this will be the last time. It’s been an interesting ride. But you get to benefit from the stock that we have available still there. All of these are 20%. The Hista – Paws, Arthri – Pawz, FidoSpore, Mega Spore, Mega Mucosa, coconut oil, calcium citrate, and then we have a few bottles of the Omega fish oil left. Also, the herbal turmeric is at buy one get one free, so check that out. That’s what I’ve got for you this week. Until next week. Take good care of everybody and give them all a bug hug for me. Remember, your pet’s best health starts in the bowl.
