Hi Laurie,
I have a little 10 month old yorkie scheduled for a surgical repair of a luxating patella on March 13th. I haven't seen one of these post op... how quickly do I start? Laser, soft tissue, weight bearing I'm assuming? To be honest I treated one of these tiny yorkies for a FHO once and it was the most challenging dog to treat just because everything was so small. Slowing that little dog down enough to force him to use the leg was the biggest challenge and I have a feeling it will be the same here. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. This is a new surgeon, first time he's referred to me so I'd love to make the best impression I can.
J.
MPL PostOp
Re: MPL PostOp
You can start right away - same principles (pain management & swelling control to start). Then building onto exercise focus.
Lots of education about what they are NOT allowed to do.
You are right on, the hardest part is getting the little guys to slow down enough to get them to use the leg properly.
My most recent one of these was a Papillon.
He’d come and I’d do the usual, check the leg, the spine & pelvis, laser, measure the thighs… and then we’d go into the exercise room and just see where he was at and what worked for him.
Ironically, when he was about 4 - 6 weeks out, what we found we had to do was trotting as an exercise… and because he was an obedience-trained dog, he knew how to trot. THAT got him using his leg better than anything.
We also had him doing ‘blanket walks’ - (uneven surfaces), 3-legged stands on wobbly stuff, sit to stands facing up hill (which for the little guys can just be a plank of wood with non-slip carpet underlay on it, propped up on the first stair), etc. Just watch him, test things and be creative.
I have no doubts that it’ll all go well!
PS You can take some ideas from the Conservative MPL protocol I created as a place to start.
Cheers,
Laurie
Lots of education about what they are NOT allowed to do.
You are right on, the hardest part is getting the little guys to slow down enough to get them to use the leg properly.
My most recent one of these was a Papillon.
He’d come and I’d do the usual, check the leg, the spine & pelvis, laser, measure the thighs… and then we’d go into the exercise room and just see where he was at and what worked for him.
Ironically, when he was about 4 - 6 weeks out, what we found we had to do was trotting as an exercise… and because he was an obedience-trained dog, he knew how to trot. THAT got him using his leg better than anything.
We also had him doing ‘blanket walks’ - (uneven surfaces), 3-legged stands on wobbly stuff, sit to stands facing up hill (which for the little guys can just be a plank of wood with non-slip carpet underlay on it, propped up on the first stair), etc. Just watch him, test things and be creative.
I have no doubts that it’ll all go well!
PS You can take some ideas from the Conservative MPL protocol I created as a place to start.
Cheers,
Laurie
LAURIE EDGE-HUGHES