January 10 2012 - The Trick Knee Causes Trouble

Our journey began on this day. My boyfriend of four years, Chris, took our dog, Bunny for her nightly walk as they usually do. When they came back, Chris said there was something wrong with Bunny's left leg. She was limping and holding her leg up. It broke our hearts to see her in pain. She is our companion, our kid and my familiar. She goes everywhere with us and with me to work everyday.

We knew this was going to be trouble and headed toward the animal emergency room. By the way, my name is Pam.

Pam, Bunny and Chris

Chris and I rescued Bunny from the Long Beach Shelter in Nov. 2009. She was around a year old. They said she was a poodle mix and called her Bunny because she hopped. She seemed to like that name so we didn't change it. The vet I took her to said she was most likely a mix between Poodle-Maltese-Bichon Frise. A week or two after we brought her home, we noticed that she skipped or "hopped" when she walked. We took her back to the vet and they did an xray. He said that her legs were fine and the "hop" was just something she did, like a personality tic. We believed him and thought nothing of it until the night of the emergency room.

Bunny Nov. 2009

Our trip to the emergency room was a game changer. The vet on duty was young, but completely knowledgeable at her job. They took an xray and introduced us to the words "luxating patella." In short, it means that Bunny's knees slip out. When they do, she skips or hops to put it back in place. It's been happening for so long that on this night, her knee would not go back, the emergency room vet had to "put" it back. Ouch. They sent us home with an information sheet about luxating patellas, some pain meds, no running, jumping or playing, follow up with her regular vet as she will need surgery and a copy of her xrays (that was nice). The bill was $320. We went home and started to research and made an appointment.

Luckily, we had crate trained Bunny for the first year we had her. Only at night. We still had the crate in storage and brought it back out. Bunny resisted the first couple nights, but became used to it again. After a week, when it was time for bed, she would go in her "bed room" to sleep. 

If you are in the Long Beach area and your pet needs an emergency room, go to Long Beach Animal Emergency. They are good at what they do.