Pup with bad knee

[Magnum's Mom]

My daughter's two pound Chiwawa has cruciate ligament disease and runs with one of her hind legs up. She runs on three legs and looks pathetic. What is this all about? What can we do for her? She cost $900 with just a 30 day health warranty. She is almost one year old.

[k9Karen]

Are you sure this isn't a luxating patella? (The knee cap slips out of place - it's very common in small dogs.) If it's the luxating patella, surgery is an option, but it's expensive and, from what I understand, requires significant recooperative time. Allie has a luxating patella, and my vet did not recommend surgery at the time it was discovered. He recommended taking the conservative approach with her, but also said that surgery might be in her future if it got worse. I placed her on GlycoFlex (a glucosamine mixture) as soon as she was diagnosed. She still limps (or runs around on 3 legs) occassionally, but the patella seems to be not slipping as often as it did. My vet did not think this would be of any use, but in my experience, it appears to have helped.

If this is cruciate ligament disease, I am unfamiliar with that problem, so I'm afraid I can't offer any help on that one.

[Magnum's Mom]

Thank you K9Karen.

The vet said it is cruciate ligament disease. This was without X-rays, just looking at her. It is so said to see the poor little thing hop around like she does. She is just a little smoocher, always kissing and looking for love.

[k9Karen]

I tried to search on cruciate ligament disease and couldn't find anything at all. I found things on cruciate ligament injury and tears, but not "disease". Do you know if this disorder has another name? (BTW, Angel was found to have an old injury - a torn cruciate ligament - when we adopted her. If it causes her any problems, I'm not aware of them and she does an incredible job of hiding any discomfort.)

Re: the Chihuahua - is this a pet shop dog or is it from a private breeder? If from a private breeder, that individual should have some knowlege of the problem and should be able to offer you some advice. And as for the warranty, even if it were still in effect, it allows you to get another pup, usually meaning the 'defective' one could be destroyed, and I don't think any animal lover could let that happen. I didn't get a warranty with Allie either, but the breeder did offer me a replacement pup after I discovered she was deaf. A lot of good that did - I fell in love with her 2 seconds after I saw her. There was no way I could exchange her for a different dog!