Cat Luxating Patella: incision area

Hi,

Our cat has had surgery for a knee injury and seems to be recovering
well (story below). Her incision area looks flush to the skin when
she's sitting but it bulges out a bit when she's standing. Is this
normal? should we be concerned about an infection? Our cat is not
currently taking any antibiotics.


Our experience below.... hope it helps tell you a bit about what to
expect if you have to go through this.
--------

Our cat (Tibul) had an accident about a week and a half ago. She caught
her leg on a cord and tore/stretched the ligaments attached to her
patella. We had the vet position her patella correctly on her knee...
then it slipped back out and we brought her back to the vet... then it
happened again all within a day. At that point it was blatantly clear
that Tibul needed surgery because the knee was not likely to heal
without surgery.

We found a 'board certified surgeon' (they have additional training)
and they were able to take our cat into surgery very quickly--we didn't
want to leave Tibul in pain for anylonger than she needed to be. We
were allowed to take Tibul home just 6 hours after surgery. She was
very groggy at first... and still ****ed at having gone to the vet...
she hates vets with a passion! We were not given any post operative
antibiotics as the surgeon said it was unneccesary--'the surgery was
clean and she was given antibiotics during the operation'.

We managed to clear out the guest bedroom except for a desk and a
window sill that we piled with boxes (to prevent Tibul from trying to
jump up). Looking back it might have been a good idea to keep her in a
4 foot square dog cage or something to restrict her ability to move
around too much. Her pain killers (3 days worth) were obviously strong
as she was walking comfortably the day after her surgery... this is
different from the experiences I've read about other people's pets that
underwent this surgery. Now over a week later she is limping
significantly more than she was last week at this time. She does put
weight on the knee and sometimes walks normally BUT after she stretches
or moves in a funny way she goes back to an obvious limp or
toe-touching (not actually putting wieght on the leg).

During the first week I made an effort to check on her at lunch every
day (a mad drive from work to home and back again). She managed to get
her elizabethan collar off and pull one stitch out... which led to some
bleeding and another visit to the vet. They cleaned the area and said
that the one stitch wasn't worth knocking her out and adding an
additional stitch. We were fine with this solution as it seemed like
the least stressful thing for Tibul. She must have bled a bit again the
next day but we cleaned it with peroxide and let be. We were told to
keep an eye on the area and look for redness and swelling.

That pretty much brings us to today. Her scar looks normal when she's
lying down (flush against the skin) and they are not painful if we
touch anywhere near the area. When she's standing the incision are
bulges out a bit from the rest of the leg. There doesn't appear to be
any redness so we're not too concerned about infection.

Stitches come out in another few days or so. I'll update this in
another week or two as things progress... hopefully it helps give
others a sense of what to expect if their cat undergoes the same
proceedure.


For anyone searching for this topic: Patella luxation slipping kneecap
surgery

wrote:
Hi,

Our cat has had surgery for a knee injury and seems to be recovering
well (story below). Her incision area looks flush to the skin when
she's sitting but it bulges out a bit when she's standing. Is this
normal? should we be concerned about an infection? Our cat is not
currently taking any antibiotics.

As long as the area isn't swollen, red or hot to the touch, and the cat
is behaving normally, it's probably ok. If any major doubt, call your
vet, of course!

Thanks for adding keywords to the end of your post. I started doing
that to make searches easier for anyone looking for specific info. I
think it's a really great idea. (Obviously!)
-L.

In the event that they start recommending anti-biotics (hopefully not),
remember to give you kitten pro-biotics to rebuild the good organisms.
Anti-biotics kill everything and that's not what you want -- and they
can leave you kitty more vulnerable afterwords.

Stan
www.Kitten-Pictures.com

Thanks for the responses--both of you. I talked to the vet on the phone
today and she said it was likely just a reaction to the sutures (not an
infection). She cautioned that if the area became red, 'nasty looking'
or hot; OR if she changed her eating and drinking habits that we should
bring her in.

I'm curious about glucosamine for cats...both where to get it and
whether it will be of any real benefit to Tibul. Pro biotics make sense
to me if she does take any serious antibiotics... though I can't
imagine where I'd get probiotics for a cat! I mean yogurt is one
vehicle (other than just pills) to help get some good bacteria into
your system... but cats can't eat it right?...not that I think Tibul
would be all that interested anyway...

Anyway, I'll follow up in a week or two to give anyone else going
through this an idea of what to expect in terms of recovery.

Regards,
-Ben

Suddenly, without warning, exclaimed (5/25/2006
6:12 PM):
Thanks for the responses--both of you. I talked to the vet on the phone
today and she said it was likely just a reaction to the sutures (not an
infection). She cautioned that if the area became red, 'nasty looking'
or hot; OR if she changed her eating and drinking habits that we should
bring her in.

I'm curious about glucosamine for cats...both where to get it and
whether it will be of any real benefit to Tibul. Pro biotics make sense
to me if she does take any serious antibiotics... though I can't
imagine where I'd get probiotics for a cat! I mean yogurt is one
vehicle (other than just pills) to help get some good bacteria into
your system... but cats can't eat it right?...not that I think Tibul
would be all that interested anyway...

Anyway, I'll follow up in a week or two to give anyone else going
through this an idea of what to expect in terms of recovery.

Regards,
-Ben


Glucosamine for cats - I give Meep this: http://tinyurl.com/rsbtn
(drsfostersmith.com). Meep has luxating patellas as well (but hasn't
had the surgery as they're not bad enough). This is due to really
horrible conformation in her back legs - I've always figured that
arthritis would be a given for her - and she's now 10. I didn't even
realize she was slowing down until about two weeks after I started her
on the Joint Care- then she suddenly started doing her "famous"
long-jumps again...

I feed her the liver flavor. I've used both the capsules and the
powder. She likes it enough I can just sprinkle it on her dry food. At
any rate, it can't hurt.

I do believe I've seen posts here where people will give their cat
plain, unflavored yogurt. Hopefully someone will pipe up and confirm or
deny this...

jmc

Suddenly, without warning, jmc exclaimed (5/25/2006 8:24 PM):
Suddenly, without warning, exclaimed (5/25/2006
6:12 PM):
Thanks for the responses--both of you. I talked to the vet on the phone
today and she said it was likely just a reaction to the sutures (not an
infection). She cautioned that if the area became red, 'nasty looking'
or hot; OR if she changed her eating and drinking habits that we should
bring her in.

I'm curious about glucosamine for cats...both where to get it and
whether it will be of any real benefit to Tibul. Pro biotics make sense
to me if she does take any serious antibiotics... though I can't
imagine where I'd get probiotics for a cat! I mean yogurt is one
vehicle (other than just pills) to help get some good bacteria into
your system... but cats can't eat it right?...not that I think Tibul
would be all that interested anyway...

Anyway, I'll follow up in a week or two to give anyone else going
through this an idea of what to expect in terms of recovery.

Regards,
-Ben


Glucosamine for cats - I give Meep this: http://tinyurl.com/rsbtn
(drsfostersmith.com). Meep has luxating patellas as well (but hasn't
had the surgery as they're not bad enough). This is due to really
horrible conformation in her back legs - I've always figured that
arthritis would be a given for her - and she's now 10. I didn't even
realize she was slowing down until about two weeks after I started her
on the Joint Care- then she suddenly started doing her "famous"
long-jumps again...

I feed her the liver flavor. I've used both the capsules and the
powder. She likes it enough I can just sprinkle it on her dry food. At
any rate, it can't hurt.

I do believe I've seen posts here where people will give their cat
plain, unflavored yogurt. Hopefully someone will pipe up and confirm or
deny this...

jmc

Even better, I just found this on the same site:http://tinyurl.com/l5n4y
- it's new, wasn't there last time I purchased supps for Meep.

jmc

So here's the continuation of the story for anyone else going through
this same kind of thing... hope it helps give you an idea of what to
expect.

The stitches are out! As much as she hates the vet, it was really easy
to take them out. The surgeon had a feel of the cats knee and said it
felt great... he couldn't luxate it. When asked about glucosamine, he
recommended that we not give the supplement to her. Because she was
received surgery so quickly he feels it's unlikely that there will be
any arthritis. If it does become a problem, we will consider giving our
cat glucosamine.

In the hours after having the stitches out we could see her incision
area/scar stretch and it looked red. There may have been a bit of blood
from one spot that tricked down. We decided to leave her elizabethan
collar on for a few days to let it heal up a bit more before she
started cleaning the area. Over a week later the scar looks great!

Shortly after having the stitches out we noticed a dark rough patch on
Tibul's side...back to the vet... Another bald spot later we discovered
that it was a scab and we were told this was probably just from her
sitting on the spot too long or somthing. That was a relief as we
thought it could be a parasite or something. This little problem has
also been healing nicely.

Three weeks post operation and Tibul is doing well. Still isolated in
her room with nothing at all that she can jump up on. She still limps
on occaision but generally seems to be walking well without much pain.
We keep her collar on her at night and when we're gone for prolonged
periods... it keeps her from running or trying to jump.

Two and a half more weeks before she comes out of the room. Not sure
when we can start giving her (short) things to step up on. We will
probably give her a few days before she comes out of the room to start
stepping up on little platforms ( 8 inches)...

I will update once more once she's out of the room and 'recovered'



wrote:
Hi,

Our cat has had surgery for a knee injury and seems to be recovering
well (story below). Her incision area looks flush to the skin when
she's sitting but it bulges out a bit when she's standing. Is this
normal? should we be concerned about an infection? Our cat is not
currently taking any antibiotics.


Our experience below.... hope it helps tell you a bit about what to
expect if you have to go through this.
--------

Our cat (Tibul) had an accident about a week and a half ago. She caught
her leg on a cord and tore/stretched the ligaments attached to her
patella. We had the vet position her patella correctly on her knee...
then it slipped back out and we brought her back to the vet... then it
happened again all within a day. At that point it was blatantly clear
that Tibul needed surgery because the knee was not likely to heal
without surgery.

We found a 'board certified surgeon' (they have additional training)
and they were able to take our cat into surgery very quickly--we didn't
want to leave Tibul in pain for anylonger than she needed to be. We
were allowed to take Tibul home just 6 hours after surgery. She was
very groggy at first... and still ****ed at having gone to the vet...
she hates vets with a passion! We were not given any post operative
antibiotics as the surgeon said it was unneccesary--'the surgery was
clean and she was given antibiotics during the operation'.

We managed to clear out the guest bedroom except for a desk and a
window sill that we piled with boxes (to prevent Tibul from trying to
jump up). Looking back it might have been a good idea to keep her in a
4 foot square dog cage or something to restrict her ability to move
around too much. Her pain killers (3 days worth) were obviously strong
as she was walking comfortably the day after her surgery... this is
different from the experiences I've read about other people's pets that
underwent this surgery. Now over a week later she is limping
significantly more than she was last week at this time. She does put
weight on the knee and sometimes walks normally BUT after she stretches
or moves in a funny way she goes back to an obvious limp or
toe-touching (not actually putting wieght on the leg).

During the first week I made an effort to check on her at lunch every
day (a mad drive from work to home and back again). She managed to get
her elizabethan collar off and pull one stitch out... which led to some
bleeding and another visit to the vet. They cleaned the area and said
that the one stitch wasn't worth knocking her out and adding an
additional stitch. We were fine with this solution as it seemed like
the least stressful thing for Tibul. She must have bled a bit again the
next day but we cleaned it with peroxide and let be. We were told to
keep an eye on the area and look for redness and swelling.

That pretty much brings us to today. Her scar looks normal when she's
lying down (flush against the skin) and they are not painful if we
touch anywhere near the area. When she's standing the incision are
bulges out a bit from the rest of the leg. There doesn't appear to be
any redness so we're not too concerned about infection.

Stitches come out in another few days or so. I'll update this in
another week or two as things progress... hopefully it helps give
others a sense of what to expect if their cat undergoes the same
proceedure.


For anyone searching for this topic: Patella luxation slipping kneecap
surgery