Luxating Patella

[MM3]

Hi Cynthia,

Thank you for sharing your first hand experience with this. I am so glad the other kitten recovered and is doing well. After working things out with the insurance company I plan to pursue surgery if that is what's needed. Hopefully it all gets taken care of in the next few months, I would hate for her to develop any longterm issues with arthritis. I have come across very few who have experienced this with Savannah cats so it is very helpful.

I hope to post an update soon after we work everything out with the insurance company and see what the vet has to say. Thank all of you for your informative and kind words.

This forum ROCKS!!

 

[Patti]

Hi Pam,

Thank you for responding. I will definitely try to keep her away from high areas. I have uploaded some pictures of her to my album named Keva if you would like to see her .

Keva is a real cutie!!!

 

[The Kasbah]

This forum ROCKS!!

You are super welcome. I'm glad that my "share" was helpful to you and wish you only the best with your baby! Please do keep us updated!

 

[The Kasbah]

Hi Cynthia,

Thank you for sharing your first hand experience with this. I am so glad the other kitten recovered and is doing well. After working things out with the insurance company I plan to pursue surgery if that is what's needed. Hopefully it all gets taken care of in the next few months, I would hate for her to develop any longterm issues with arthritis. I have come across very few who have experienced this with Savannah cats so it is very helpful.

I hope to post an update soon after we work everything out with the insurance company and see what the vet has to say. Thank all of you for your informative and kind words.

you are very welcome. Please keep us updated. Wishing you all best. Based on my experience you are heading in the proper direction and should be able to get things straightened out!

 

[morbius]

My little boy had luxated patellae. Find a good orthopedic surgeon and if you can afford it, have it done sooner than later. My boy had a grade 3 on the right and a grade 2 on the left. My surgeon did the grade 3 on the right. He would not do both at the same time since it would render the cat lame during recovery. If you don't have it done, early onset of degenerative arthritis will ensue and you could end up with a lame cat later on. I will say the recovery period was rather long (@ 3-4 months). However, once healed the leg was very good. It became his good leg and you could see him favor that side when he ran. His left side would only pop out occasionally and I decided not to have that side done. I think as he aged the left side became better and upgraded to a grade 1. Very Costly procedure. I think it cost me 2700. He was supposed to be caged for 6 weeks after the surgery. Well, try to cage a young Savannah for that long. After a few days I let him out and took my chances. In the cage he would go ballistic to get out. When he was out he would lay on the couch and sleep most of the day. In the end it healed very well.

 

[The Kasbah]

My little boy had luxated patellae. Find a good orthopedic surgeon and if you can afford it, have it done sooner than later. My boy had a grade 3 on the right and a grade 2 on the left. My surgeon did the grade 3 on the right. He would not do both at the same time since it would render the cat lame during recovery. If you don't have it done, early onset of degenerative arthritis will ensue and you could end up with a lame cat later on. I will say the recovery period was rather long (@ 3-4 months). However, once healed the leg was very good. It became his good leg and you could see him favor that side when he ran. His left side would only pop out occasionally and I decided not to have that side done. I think as he aged the left side became better and upgraded to a grade 1. Very Costly procedure. I think it cost me 2700. He was supposed to be caged for 6 weeks after the surgery. Well, try to cage a young Savannah for that long. After a few days I let him out and took my chances. In the cage he would go ballistic to get out. When he was out he would lay on the couch and sleep most of the day. In the end it healed very well.

Our boy had severe issues with both rear legs and our vet opted to do surgery on both at the same time. Our boy WAS confined for 6-weeks total and slept most of the time. He was placed in a pet home 8-weeks after his surgeries and his new owners have reported he is very agile at this point! It is costly and yes, without the surgery, the risk of degenerative arthritis is almost a given. Tough situation for sure. Glad your boy is doing well!

 

[morbius]

Our boy had severe issues with both rear legs and our vet opted to do surgery on both at the same time. Our boy WAS confined for 6-weeks total and slept most of the time. He was placed in a pet home 8-weeks after his surgeries and his new owners have reported he is very agile at this point! It is costly and yes, without the surgery, the risk of degenerative arthritis is almost a given. Tough situation for sure. Glad your boy is doing well!

I find that very interesting. Both at the same time eh? And my vet wouldn't do that. Servo would kick, claw, and constantly scratch to get out of the cage. Funny though, any time we went somewhere or to the vet, he would get right in the carrier for me without a fight.

 

[The Kasbah]

I find that very interesting. Both at the same time eh? And my vet wouldn't do that. Servo would kick, claw, and constantly scratch to get out of the cage. Funny though, any time we went somewhere or to the vet, he would get right in the carrier for me without a fight.

Our boy was confined to a 48" long pop up wire dog crate for six entire weeks...so it was hard for him AND us...but the end result is that it DID effectively curtail his activity and prevent him from stressing the joints of his hind legs, as, although it allowed him some movement, being contained like that stopped him from jumping up on anything (or down from anything) that could have messed up his surgery. We got him out and let him stretch his legs wearing a walking jacket and harness, but otherwise, he was in that crate.

It did seems kind of cruel from time to time, but fact is, six weeks of being confined now entitle him to a lifetime of running and jumping...and therefore, to me, at the end of the day, it was well worth it.

 

[Spangle]

Hi ,

I am new to Savannah Cat Chat and had a question regarding my 5 month old F6 Savannah. Recently I noticed her hind right knee appeared to be popping in and out when she moves around. I read up on sprains and came across something called a luxating patella, where the knee pops out and it looks exactly the same. I am just trying to see if anyone else has come across this and what their experience was. I am taking her to the vet soon to have it looked at. I read that only surgery can fix this and if this is in fact what she has then I am leaning towards surgery, but I just wanted to know how others would or have handled situations like this. From what I can see she doesn't seem to be in a lot of pain as she still runs and jumps, but I can see her constantly limping on it when it pops out frequently. Any thoughts, comments, or advice would be very helpful and much appreciated.

Thank you!

hiya . my f7 boy Zeus had this last year at about the same age 4 months, and when he was 6 months old i had surgery on him, he had both back legs done and I had to carry him around for quite a while. The surgery involved removing of knee cap, cutting a groove in the bone that should be there already but too shallow in this condition, then a bit of bone was taken fromabove knee and used to secure knee cap, pins and screws inserted and that was it. Zeus is fine now and jumps and runs around , you would never know he has had it done, and the whole time he was unable to walk after his op he would sleep in my bed in my arms and in the night he would gently pat my face and I would take him and support him in the litter tray , and he never once had any toilet accidents, he was brilliant. ONE THING THO ...BE PREPARED FOR QUIET A HORRIBLE SIGHT WHEN THE SURGERY IS DONE AS IT LOOKS HORRENDOUSE. but if you dont have it done, he will slowly get worse and be in more and more pain until he cant run or jump and for a savannah that must be awful. Iv put some pics of op, the other cat is his brother RA who would keep him warm and look after him when I was doing stuff, and then how he is now, on my chair Zeus in middle with brother Ra behind, then F2 Maya on left and F7 Snow Bengal Leo on right..

,

best of luck and let us know what happens but im glad I had my Savannah operated on..

 

[ramiov]

hiya . my f7 boy Zeus had this last year at about the same age 4 months, and when he was 6 months old i had surgery on him, he had both back legs done and I had to carry him around for quite a while.

Hi Spangle,

Thank you so much for all the information and pictures. I am glad everything worked out well, it is nice to hear.

I recently came back from the vet and he said Keva has a grade 2 luxating patella on her right hind leg. He also found that her right hip was out of place, hip dysplasia . Despite all of this, she seems okay when looking at her and doesn't seem to be in pain. Given this, the vet is against doing surgery and continues to say that if she gets worse and we see her right knee or hip causing her to limp all the time, then he would consider surgery. He also said the age of 7 months is too young to perform the surgery on her. Personally, I like to take preventative actions and would like to have surgery done so it doesn't become worse. I am getting the x-rays and going to have another vet give a second opinion. I was just wondering what others thoughts on this are, should I wait until it gets worse like the vet says or take action now?

Thank you all!