ESPN Hunting

Squirrel hunting is growing in popularity not only as leisure hunting but also in the competitive arena. With it's growth has come the development of the newest members of the sporting dog community.

The newcomers run and tree like their larger 'coon hunting cousins but come in smaller varieties. The most popular breedings usually include mixes of Fiest, Jack Russell, Rat, and other terrier breeds. Many times pure breeding is set aside in favor of performance (not a bad idea), resulting in mixes and hybrid vigor. Because squirrel dogs tend to be considerably smaller than other hunting dogs they also end up having slightly different medical issue to face.

Many terriers, as well as breeds such as the dachshund, were bred and developed to hunt small ground game. In order to enter dens and ground holes, they needed to be small in size. Long bodies and short legs were the result of this selective breeding. Though not as short legged as the dachshund, many of the terrier breeds suffer from a common knee malformation known as patellar luxations.

The patellar luxation is to the small dog what the cranial cruciate ligament tear is to the larger sporting dogs, such as retrievers or pointers. The patella is the small bone known as the "kneecap". When it is located outside its normal groove at the end of the femur (thigh bone), it is luxated or "out-of-joint".

Patellar luxations are caused by either a genetic malformation of the back leg or trauma. Genetically induced malformations usually result in a combination of several different parts of the leg developing at odd angles. The reason that many of these little dogs grow with the short legs and long bodies, and even the ones with more proportionally correct limbs, is that their cartilage has been genetically selected to grow incorrectly. The results, in many cases, are bowed limbs, improperly positioned muscle attachments, and poor angles to the bone.

When these problems occur patellar luxations may result. In large dogs, genetically acquired patellar luxations frequently begin causing problems early (6-12 months) in life because these dogs are much heavier than smaller dogs, such as Fiests, where the clinical symptoms might not exhibit themselves until later (several years old). Symptoms for patellar luxations include disuse of the limb, hopping while running, and simply pain.

About Ben Character

Dr. Character is a freelance writer and private veterinary practitioner concentrating on sporting dog issues. He has practiced large and small animal medicine and surgery since graduating from Auburn University. Recently, he went on to complete post-doctoral studies at Mississippi State University. Dr. Character is a certified PennHIP member and writes for magazines such as Retriever Journal and Pointing Dog Journal. He is an avid outdoorsman who resides in Union, Alabama, south of Tuscaloosa, with his wife and two children.

So, patellar luxations can be genetic, but they also can result from trauma. It requires a significant amount of trauma to cause a patellar luxation, and because of this, traumatic patellar luxations seldom occur alone. Most times the trauma will also rupture cruciate ligaments, tear menisci, and shred collateral ligaments. Point being that you will usually know there is a problem right away if there has been a traumatic cause to a patellar luxation. But whatever the case happens to be, repair of the problem is accomplished by surgically returning the patella to its groove through a combination of reconstruction methods.

The long-term prognosis for patellar luxations is very good once repaired. Although secondary arthritis cannot be reversed, realignment of the kneecap will remove most of the pain and return the dog to function. And post-surgical care of patellar luxations is very similar to that of the CCL tear, consisting of a short duration of confinement after surgery followed by physical therapy. Without re-alignment, a luxated patella will continue to aggravate the joint and build osteoarthritis causing continued pain.