Madison our 6.5 year old bully had her luxating patella fixed two months ago. The procedure itself isn't that bad, but you need to make sure you have a specialist who can do it properly. The recoup time is the longest. The first 2 weeks if not more, almost total confinement except to potty which you will have to assist with. We live in an apartment and Madison hasn't been crated since she was 9 mos old. So, what we did was block off the living room for her. Moved her bed, toys, food and water in there and then she had the living room as her area to recover in. The first few days, she had to be carried to potty and had to be fed sitting down and you had to bring the water bowl to her. After a few weeks this got better and now she's doing great. The total recovery time is at least 12 weeks.

I cannot stress enough how much you need to have a spcialist or very skilled vet perform this surgery.

I'd be happy to discuss this further...as I have much more info...this post would be huge if I put it all in. So feel free to email me if I can help in any way.

Oh, if it is definitely diagnosed as a luxating patella it won't heal on it's own. It may never get worse than it is now, but it will never heal without surgery to fix it. The meds they give for pain can also sometimes make it worse as the dog feels better so it starts running again, therefore, injures the leg worse.

Anyway, hope I helped a little. Feel free to email if I didn't cover everything!

Good luck,
Kristen & Madison

Try giving your girl glucosomine/condroitin/MSM pills as a daily supplement. It's done wonders for some of the bullies I know.

Hi, Ariane & Maya.....

I just found the BulldogsWorld board and asked the same question.
I am new to the board and the breed. We just picked up our girl, she is 5 months old and took her to the Vet last night and were given the news that both back legs are affected...Luxating Patella grade 2. We knew that there was something wrong with her back legs, the breeder told us she just need exercise and that her back end would strengthen up………our girl does not seem to have any pain just very weak back legs
Ce sent me some information on this....I can cut and paste it in or you can go back on the board to "Jess"

Hi,
This med can work wonders for a chronic condition such as arthritis but it has side effects.

Try resting your puppy for a few days first. If it doesn't improve then try the meds.

Long term use can cause liver damage.

Ariane,

At her young age, if she has a luxating patella, it would probably be hereditary. But truthfully, puppies can have all kinds of aches and pains. They go through growing pains, sometimes they over exert themselves playing and can strain a muscle. I wouldn't worry too much unless it is chronic. Do be careful of too much playing and NO jumping-up or down. The cartilage is growing and can be damaged from jumping. We don't recommend people begin their dogs in agility until they are 18 months old because of the potential damage to the cartilage.

Relax and have fun

Lynn K