From The Start

When we were told that Dizzy had a Luxating Patella that required corrective surgery, the first thing we did was Google it. I knew a little about the condition and the surgery as I had childhood dog who had both legs operated on at different stages of his life, but I was too young to fully understand the ins and outs of the operation and the recovery. We were very surprised to find so little “owner experience” out there. The bulk of results where links to veterinary papers and complicated medical journals. What little information we could find (and understand!) only succeeded in scaring me more & I found it very hard to prepare for something we knew very little about. So, we decided that we would create our own “Dizzy diary” in the hopes that someone else might find a little reassurance or shared experience if they need it, like we did.

Dizzy became part of our little family on 20th February 2012. A rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who we adopted from Four Paws Animal Rescue, he was handed in to the charity by a previous owner – the only reason I think they gave is “he eats poop”. Lovely.

Dizzy settled in brilliantly with us from day one & the next 18 months where pretty event free. Health wise, he was in good shape (and as he was only around 2/3 years old at adoption, that’s just as he should be!). So apart from the occasional upset tummy (aside from his penchant for the occasional bit of poop, he is also partial to taking a drink from the odd muddy muddle – you can imagine the results), we where only ever at the vets for routine check-ups and vaccinations.

And then we noticed he had begun to kick his back legs out to the side when he was running at full pelt and after a slightly longer then normal walk his back legs where stiff. Eventually, he began to stumble running up the stairs. It took two goes to launch himself on to the sofa and more than once he screamed in pain at the lightest knock. He was happy in himself though, still enjoying his walks & full of beans most days. Aside from sometimes taking a days rest to recover from a big run, he wasn’t suffering, until one evening in July of last year, he took a bit of a tumble off the sofa while playing and yelped like we hadn’t heard before. It was straight off to the vets the next morning with a sad & limping Dizzy dog.

After a quick examination the vet told us Dizzy had a Grade 5 Luxating Patella in his left leg and in his opinion, it required surgery. He recommended a four-week course of Metacam (an anti-inflammatory pain relief) and if there was no improvement, he would refer us to a specialist surgeon. Two months later, after no improvement with the Metacam, a second opinion from another local vet & a little wait for the referral, we went to meet the specialist surgeon for the initial consultation.

The actual appointment itself was relatively quick – a short examination and a few laps of the car park with the surgeon watching the movement of Dizzy’s legs, before we where advised that x-rays where required to check the exact placement of the joints and to ensure there was no damage to the Cruciate Ligament. As the examination was so uncomfortable for Dizzy, there was no way of manipulating the leg into the necessary positions while he was conscious, so I would have to leave him there for a general anesthetic. Thankfully, the x-rays showed no ligament problems at all and a fairly standard operation procedure was needed, involving shaving away part of the kneecap socket to make it deep enough for the joint to sit in & pining the bone in place.

It was now just a case of waiting for the insurance company to pre-authorise the procedure. We where in for a bit of a wait due to bits of paperwork going missing & then the Christmas period but eventually, we received confirmation by mid-January that our insurers would cover the operation and we could go ahead and book it in.

The date was set for the second week of February & I couldn’t have been more nervous!