Special Dogs

""Buzzy"

Buzzy (short for Buzzbomb). Female Maltese Born: 31 may 2001

Buzzy came to rescue on 2 Sept 01 because of deformities of her back legs.

She has severe luxation of the left knee. There is no right kneecap and that joint is not formed properly, the next joint down appears to be double and fused. She can use her right leg for balance and for walking slowly, but cannot bend it and has to hold it out to the side to move fast. When she sits, her left leg goes straight forward. Otherwise she is a normal puppy, happy, playful, and very active.

We have an appointment at the University of Missouri Vet School Clinic at Columbia on 1 Oct.

UPDATE:Finally got back a while ago from Buzzy's vet visit.

Her left leg has strengthened and the vet said(copied from the report) "her left leg palpates normal at this time. There is mild laxity of the patella, however, it does not luxate. This may progress as she continues to grow."

"Buzzy has quadriceps tie-down (or contracture) causing hyperextension of the stifle and hock joints. This is most likely secondary to an earlier traumatic event. The recommendation at this time would be to amputate the limb if it begins causing a problem for Buzzy. So her diagnosis is: Right quadriceps contracture
Right stifle and hock hyperextension

I didn't take the xray my doc had done and they did not xray her--said they could but it would not change the diagnosis and would be a waste of money. But they spent a lot of time on manual examination.
I mentioned that there was no right patella on the xray and she said it may have resorbed. She also was quite definite that there is no surgery available that would correct the problem. They don't have little artificial joints to replace the bad ones with. She suggested that Buzzy may have had a fractured femur that was not treated, which caused all this. Buzz does have some "crepitus" in her right hip, I'll have to ask Doc about that. Tomorrow when we go to my Doc I will ask him to look at the xray again to see if we can identify any old fractures.
Also, Doc was going to send it to someone to look at and I haven't gotten any feedback on that yet, so will ask about that tomorrow too.
But right now the results of the university visit are: leave her as is; or amputate. If that continues to be the ultimatum she will stay as is. She uses that leg when she walks and stands, for balance and as long as she can do that it relieves the other leg of a little work.
When she mentioned that dogs get along fine on 3 legs I said "yes, and with phantom pain". She said we're not sure they have phantom pain. I said; are we sure they don't? Answer: well no.
We had a pleasant trip and Buzzy is a great traveler, though she did get car sick at first.

Jean

We wish to thank all those that donated for Buzzy's medical but for now we are stopping asking for donations for her until we see if she will need any more done.

Sarosomo@aol.com

UPDATE

Cassandra Reid -