[sddyer]

My Butch also had knee problems. I can see in the one pic of Poochino that the muscles on his leg are slight. Butch came to me with small back legs and small rearend. After he had knee surgery, his muscles "muscled" right up and became very strong. I had them both done at the same time. He looked pretty cute in his casts. He had his pallet in the living room and sat there like a King while I catered to his every need.

 

[sddyer]

Hi again NYC. When I got Butch from the shelter I notice that when I pinched his back legs, I could feel my fingers through the muscle. I was like, WTH?? After I had him about a month, he was running around playing and jumping up and down off the sofa and all of a sudden started screaming. Scared the holy crap out of me. I immediately took him to the vet, his knee had slipped out and would not stay in place. After xrays, they discovered that both knees where bad, in fact, the other one was worse than the newly injured one, but had just healed incorrectly, so we scheduled him for surgery. That was probably why he was at the shelter, they didn't want to pay to fix him. It's not cheap surgery, but if you can find a good vet that has done several surgeries, that would be your best bet. He has pins to keep his knees in place and afterwards, his back legs musceled right up. You might be able to find a vet that knows Chi's. Their little legs are so small, the vet needs to be experienced with Chi's.

 

[sddyer]

Maybe just do one leg at a time. Dogs are very adaptive and resilient during recovery, adapt to casts or whatever is needed during recovery. I really think is worth it to change their quality of life if possible. do some research on the computer and you can probably find a vet who has some experience in this type of surgery. I ended going to the emergency animal care where they are totally set up for surgeries anything that might come up. I'm sure he would like to get back to his ole self. Is he on pain meds? with those small bones they can get injuries fairly easy. Just recently Butch and Buttercup had problems with one of their legs. The vet gave them Rymadal (sp?), gave that for a couple of days and the pain cleared right up. I like to keep a supply in the house just in case something crops up. Let me know what your research turns up.