So we noticed this weekend (while we were at a friend’s house) that every so often, she was limping—holding her back right paw off the ground. We thought maybe she somehow injured it while playing with their dog, but the next time we looked at her, she was fine—running around and playing with no problems.
We forgot about it until yesterday afternoon, when the limp was REALLY pronounced and she was hopping on three legs. We propped her up on the couch and inspected her entire leg and paw, gently touching every inch, waiting to see if she would wince or whimper (or anything to let us know that was the spot). Nothing.
Her skin looks fine, her pads look fine, her nails look fine, her ‘knuckles’ (are they knuckles in dogs?) were fine—there were no cuts, bumps, or anything that would confirm something might hurt. We inspected between her toes/pads thinking she might have a picker or something in there, but we didn’t see anything. We let her up and she was running around with no issues—the limp was gone.
This continued throughout the night—limping one minute and fine the next. I let her out of the crate this morning and she was fine. I turn around and she’s limping again. I inspected her again—and nothing.We thought maybe she broke a nail tip or something, as she’s started this new jumping thing (when she’s outside and wants to come in, she jumps about 3-4′ in the air against the sliding glass door). But you would think if she broke something, it would be painful all the time, or at the very least, when we touched the affected area. But there’s nothing.
Well…one trip to the vet and, ladies and gentlemen, we have a Luxating Patella.
In some dogs, because of malformation or trauma, the ridges forming the patellar groove are not prominent, and a too-shallow groove is created. In a dog with shallow grooves, the patella will luxate (jump out of the groove) sideways, especially toward the inside. This causes the leg to ‘lock up’ with the foot held off the ground.
In other words, a messed up kneecap and tendons. The vet popped it in and out a few times, and each time he popped it out, she cringed…then he popped it back in and it was fine. Poor girl.
We’re supposed to keep her from jumping and from using the stairs. That’s going to be fun, as she’s crated upstairs but obviously needs to go out…and typicallly has free reign of the house (and LOVES flying up and down the stairs). She is crated during the day (8-5) and I asked if we shouldn’t keep her crated more, but the vet said no, not if you can help it. He said running is fine—just no jumping or stairs. The vet also said that it really shouldn’t be a painful issue, so not to worry too much about her—she just looks really pathetic when she’s limping.
If it gets worse (or doesn’t get better), there are two surgical options—one which cuts the bone in order to keep the tendon in place and one which stiches the tendon together to make it tighter. Here’s hoping we don’t need either.
Luxating patellas are very common in Boston Terriers. That is why it is important to stick with a breeder that does OFA patella testing on both dogs that are being bred. Dogs with a propensity for luxating patellas should NOT be bred – but often are, and then poor little pups end up spending their lives in pain because backyard breeders and puppymills bred dogs that had no business being bred…..
Not that this helps you any, but I hate hearing about yet another BT with luxating patellas.