One of my cats, Panther, was recently diagnosed with a luxating patella in one of her rear legs. I just took her to the clinic that I work at and we didn't do rads to begin with because the vet thought that it would essentially fix itself within a few weeks, given that we keep her confined.

Well, its been a few weeks and she hasn't shown any real improvement. She limps a little some days, and then other times she'll hold the leg completely off the ground. Both vets at my clinic whom I trusted moved at the same time, so I don't have a vet at the moment that I trust to take her to and I'm not sure what to do. She'll be going in later this week to meet a new vet and see if there's any options, but I'm afraid that aside from pain management or surgery there won't be anything we can do. She's going on 13 and otherwise very healthy, but I don't know how well she would handle that surgery - if I can find a vet experienced with cat patellas. The new vet that we'll be meeting has a lot of experience so I'm hoping she can give me some options, although I don't think she does many orthopedic surgeries.

She seems to have good days and some bad days. Sometimes she'll limp a little, other times she'll hold that leg up entirely (usually after Aspen pounces her to play - which I've been working very hard to keep them separated). I do have pain meds for her, but it gets more and more difficult each time I give it, so I'm the only one who will actually dose her. Since I live about an hour and a half away from home now, I'm not home with her too often (this is also why she hasn't gone back to the vet before this. I wasn't home to see how she was ) and I feel so bad that she's like this and no one else is doing anything to help her. Next weekend I'll be sneaking her into my apartment to live, but I'm still unsure about her.

Any of you who work at a vet or have cats have any experience with kitty luxating patellas? I'm not sure that there are many options aside from surgery, so I have a bit of a sinking feeling. I'm so afraid that they'll just want to euthanize her without trying anything since she's older, but she certainly doesn't act her age and is otherwise in great shape. Any advice?

Any vet that will euth a cat because of a lux patella shouldn't be in practice. Do you have her on any joint supplements? Glucosamine and fish oil will help her joints as she ages. It won't help her patella popping out of place though maybe a smidge. I really hope this new vet can help and know the right approach! I don't know much about feline lux patella, but I will keep Panther in my thoughts! Sending positive vibes your way!

Thanks Brooke. I was hoping you'd see this and know something about it. I do have some supplements for her, but I'm not sure how much it will help with her bad leg since there's nothing that can really help that kneecap stay in place. I don't know much about it, but it seems like there are two types of luxating patellas in cats - one that occurs in kittens/younger cats and one in older cats. The young cats usually grow out of it and can be helped with supplements, not so much for older cats though. Poor baby I can't wait until I have her with me and can really take care of her...

I'm so so sorry. I wish I knew more about treatments and such for cats. I worked under an orthopedic vet a couple years back briefly, but it was mostly dogs and horses. There's a leg brace that they make for dogs to help keep the patella in place, kinda like a splint. I don't know if they make one for cats, it would be hard to keep it on her I'd imagine. Do you have an orthopedic vet in your area? Sometimes they know the right route to take and can give more options, more-so than a general practitioner.

There's a vet who does lots of ortho procedures an hour or so away. I'm hoping that the vet at work will call and ask for his opinion and email rads, if they take any, to save us a trip. My emergency fund is totally depleted right now, so that's another kink in things, although money is only a concern if I go to a clinic outside of the one that I work at.

I thought about checking into splints, but I can't quite figure out how that would work. Cats are so much more difficult than dogs with most things like that. We use a therapeutic laser pretty often for leg/walking issues, but I haven't seen it used on a luxating patella and was planning to ask about that anyways. Any little bit would help, right?

I swear, before I starting working at a vet, my biggest critter issue was an ear infection and dry skin, back when we were feeding Snickers Beneful when I was just starting high school. Fast-forward a few years to when I'm in a clinic and all my pets are going gimptastic on me

Update on Panther -

I got Mom to take her to the vet yesterday evening and we got some good news! The new vet said that it looks like the luxating patella has healed on its own, but she'll have arthritis issues for the rest of her life from it. Some days she'll be normal, some days she'll be a little arthritic, and some days will be bad and we'll likely have to give her pain meds on those days. I just wish there were better pain management options for cats that weren't so hard on their liver/kidneys. But I'll take what I can get She's still coming to live with me this weekend and hopefully I can build up her joints some with supplements or something. It sucks because I'll have to keep Ava at home with my parents while Panther's here, but again, I'll take what I can get.

Thanks really good news!! !