After months of investigation and x-rays from hips to shoulders I think I have found shadow's issue at last. After paying attention to him for a while and feeling around his body I noticed that his left knee pops out of place towards his groin. It does go in place again with an audible pop but the flexing and extending movements makes his knee sound like popcorn and it cannot be fully flexed without it going out of place. This I believe explains his cow hocked stance because the right leg is probably compensating for the balance of both.

More recently he's been stiff getting up and around for a few minutes and he walks more "normally". I believe after all this time this is a result of when my grandmother fell on him and when the issue first manifested itself noticeably we all thought to check the hips for early dysplasia. Im sorry to say it has taken this long to realize the issue but nonetheless my only fear is payment for a now more than likely surgery since this is obviously something that won't go away on it's own. I will do whatever I can and since his hips look good it would be great if he could actually run should he be able to recover from this.
If any of you live in florida could you put me in the right direction? A vet visit will be in the next week or two in order to get an x-ray of his knee, I wan't to get it fixed. He remains playful throughout all this but I don't doubt he's in pain sometimes though he doesn't show it.

Josh, I'm glad you are finally getting to the cause of Shadows problems. Blueeyedghost, Meredith, gave you some vet info in Florida on a previous post concerning Shadow (sorry I have a carbon copy memory of things), I don't remember which thread it was. Try searching your other threads and look for her name, she is a moderator here. She was stationed in Florida a while ago, so she knows your area. If you can't find the info try pm-ing her, I'm sure she wouldn't mind helping you. Best of luck to you and Shadow!!

Btw, I only know of one vet in Florida and he is in the Port Richey area, he is fantastic, but I think that may be a little far for you, let me know if you need his name.

Port richey is only a 45-1h drive. Not impossible. Best if i can get a definite answer on what needs to be done and the best way to do it.

Animal Hospital Of Regency Park Dr. Michael Canfield DVM, if he can't help, he would be able to point you to someone who can, he saved 3 of my cats, with some innovative and specialty surgeries and treatments, that otherwise would have ended with pts my beloved cats far too early. I can't say enough about him, one of the few things I miss about Florida. His staff are incredible too. We went there from the late 90's until 2010, when we moved, same staff I do believe still, went to their web site recently, and sure enough 2 of his vet techs are still there. So I do recommend him.

Also, Meredith mentioned the vets at UF, sometimes Universities are less expensive than regular vets, and I think UF may be closer to you.

Im about mid florida so everything is an hour or two away, all acceptable drives for a vet visit in my opinion. I might give UF a call and see what they say.

Sounds like luxating patella from the way you describe the knee popping out of place. My previous Chihuahua, Glory, has luxating patella. She has a fairly low grade (2) and has not yet required surgery but it can get worse as time goes on and left untreated. Patellar luxation is actually common in Chihuahuas so it's a topic that comes up a lot on the Chi forum. Surgery to repair it generally runs about $1,500-$2,000 per knee. Patellar luxation can be quite painful so if you cannot afford surgery (if PL is the issue here) then at least find some way to help her manage the pain. With my former Chi, Glory, we have her on a supplement schedule to help which it has. Glory now lives with my mother-in-law since she is not good with kids and I now have a 1 yr old and a 2 yr old, she's happier in a childless home and my kids are safe from her aggression...win-win. With PL, keeping them lean to lighten the load on the knee is advised. It is also advised to limit jumping, climbing stairs, etc...stuff that puts an extra, unnecessary strain on the knee. I lived in Orlando a few years ago and unfortunately the holistic vet I used to go to there left the state earlier this year for a practice in VA, otherwise I would have recommended her. I would ask whatever vet you go to about patellar luxation.

Referral to a specialist is in the works, now it's down to how much I can afford to do. I wan't to get him at least walking without as much issue.

Part of the report from the specialist.

Our recommendation for Shadow is surgical intervention for his left rear limb. As his patellar luxation is a grade 4/4,
it is severe, and is affecting his gait. This will lead to pain in the future, and we believe that the best way to try to
improve his prognosis is through surgery. This surgery would be at minimum a trochlear block recession, lateral
imbrication, medial tissue release, and tibial tuberosity transposition. The trochlear block recession is when we
excise a rectangle of bone in the trochlear groove to deepen the groove, which would allow us to place the patella in
the groove and allow it to sit deeper in the groove and be less likely to luxate out of place. The cost of this surgery
would be between $2500-3000. The biggest complication with this surgery would be re-luxation of the patella. If that
were the case, he would require a second surgery to try and fix the problem. This might include changing the angle
of the femur or tibia by taking a piece of bone out of it and plating it