It was the beginning of summer last year and we were planning to take the dogs to a park with a little lake. Chaos had proven he could swim pretty well but Ares had never been in the water. We figured we better be safe and get him a life jacket, so off to the pet store we went to pick one up.
We walked into the store and headed toward the aisle we were looking for and all of a sudden Ares let out a blood curdling yelp that stopped us in our tracks. I knelt down to him and immediately saw that his hind leg looked weird and he wasn’t putting any weight on it. Naturally I panicked and picked him up thinking something was horribly wrong. The store we were in had an onsite vet clinic so we rushed over and asked if we could be seen. Luckily there was a doctor available so we brought Ares in and set him down and magically he started walking normally. So at that point I was thinking maybe I was going insane.
The vet felt around his leg and told us that most likely I was not insane and Ares had a luxating patella. What the heck is that? Yea, that’s what I said. It just means that his knee cap popped out of its socket. Cringe. Well to us humans it sounds a lot worse than it is.
Many small dogs, including Boston Terriers, are prone to this happening. Essentially the grove that the knee cap sit in is too shallow which allows for the knee caps to slide out of place if the dog moves just the wrong way. Ares naturally squealed when this happened because it doesn’t feel good, but the pain quickly subsides and the dog is actually able to pop the knee cap back into place on his own.
The vet suggested x-rays and anti-inflammatories because the joint most likely swelled from the trauma, increasing chances of the patella luxating again. We don’t cut corners when it comes to the health of our dogs but as the vet was giving us the prices I realized two things. One, that the prices were outrageous compared to our regular vet (nearly double), and two, he was referring to the wrong leg! So we declined on both and decided to just take Ares home to rest and talk it over with our regular vet.
But rest is generally not in Ares’s vocabulary too often. He sleeps at night and he does take naps if we are home but they are short and always on his terms. So expecting to get him to rest on a nice Saturday afternoon is like trying to nail Jello to a tree; pretty much impossible. Of course he had to start romping around with Chaos and then that horrible squeal sounded through the house again. He limped for a minute or so and then just started walking normally again like it never happened. Unfortunately it did happen again the next day so we took him to our regular vet.
After examining Ares thoroughly and having us explain what was happening, she concurred that it was luxating patella. But she said x-rays were not necessary and recommended a few anti-inflammatories for a few days to get the swelling down so it would not keep happening. But if it did continue to happen we would have to talk surgery.
Well, Ares being Ares, it did happen a few more times. Our vet was concerned because he was so young and generally luxating patella is something that happens more frequently in older dogs as the ligaments stretch and become looser and less able to hold everything in place. Of course some dogs are just born with a very swallow groove for the knee cap and therefore genetically predisposed to luxating patella. And it could very well be the case with Ares. She sent us home with a few more anti-inflammatories and our fingers crossed that it just needed a little more time to heal from the initial injury.
Surprisingly, no more luxating patella after about a month from the first time it happened. Ares hasn’t slowed down one bit but at least he’s not getting hurt anymore. It’s nice to be able to check one thing off the worry list but Ares is our little genetic bomb so you know this isn’t the last you’ll hear of his medical issues.
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