Re: [PyrNet-L] Patellas

[Charlotte & Jack Perry <pyreau@erols.com>]

Luxating patellas are a problem in the breed.  So much so that the Great
Pyrenees Club of America members voted to set up a data base with the
Institute for Genetic Disease Control to study the disease and the mode
of inheritance in Great Pyrenees.  If you have, or know of, a dog with
luxating patella it would probably be a good idea to contact the GPCA
Health Committee and see if you can send x-rays or contribute to that
study.  Go to the GPCA home page (this can be reached through the
AKC.com/clubs/gpca) then to the Health Committee page.  You can fill out
a Health Committee survey form and contact Linda Weisser, Health
Committee Co-Chair, about taking part in the GDC study. This can be a
good way to help our breed!

For those who have no idea what luxating patellas are, they are actually
kneecaps that pop out of joint.  The dog's patellas are the knee caps on
the dog's rear legs that would be the "thigh".  If you go up from the
foot, the first joint is the hock and the second is the stifle joint
with the patella in front.  This kneecap or patella can go out of its
groove either laterally or medially.  Sometimes you can detect luxating
patellas in young pups by watching them walk or by feeling or having a
Vet feel the joints.  However, the fact that there is not too much joint
laxity in a young pup does not mean that they won't have it later.  I
have heard experienced breeders say that 16 weeks is a good time to
palpate for luxating patella, but have also heard of this turning up at
a year and a half.

Charlotte
Virginia

carol kirk wrote:
> 
> Okay not to sound silly or anything but where/what
> are the patellas?
> 
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