Delilah Immediate Surgery

Meet Delilah, our 16 month old puppy.  She is a Lab/Beagle mix, and was unfortunately born with a genetic defect.  Originally thought to be just Luxating Patella, it is actually a more serious issue for her.  Both her hind legs are affected with this defect, and the diagnosis is immediate surgery or she won't be able to walk within a year.  Both of her kneecaps on the hind legs have now rotated to the side of her leg due to the luxation plus a curved femur.  She is already developing bone spurs and arthritis due the kneecap not preventing both leg bones to rub.  The left femur sits off her hipbone in such a way that Delilah regularly holds the leg up.  The surgery consists of 2 separate visits, one for each leg with a cost of $3000 per surgery.  She will need both knees set and a deeper groove cut to hold the cap, and a shaved down femur with a plate to make the femur straight.  Recovery time is 2-3 weeks per leg, and about 6-8 weeks needed between surgeries.  With everyone's help, Delilah should be recovered and walking normally again by Christmas.  She is still so young and we want her to have the quality of life every dog deserves! 

Delilah always wants to play, but now is very limited.  Her quality of life has diminished due to not being able to play and run for more then a few seconds.  Delilah will lay down often since her body can't handle the running.  As of late it has been really hard because when Delilah lays down, she sighs as if to tell us she's depressed.  

Delilah has become part of Mine and Heather's lives now since we adopted her at 8 weeks old.  She has grown to love us and Heather's 2 kids in our house as well.  We want her to live a happy life and be able to run to us when we spoil her with treats!  The x-ray below shows her curved femur, as well as how far the kneecap has rotated.