Dear Miss Fifi: 

What can I do to help my one year old Chihuahua deal with a luxating patella? 

- Cathi 

~~~ 

Dear Cathi: 

Yikes! Whatever you said sounded so painful that Miss Fifi had to put her faithful feline assistant, Dilettante Dilly, on it. 

According to PetEducation.com, a luxating patella is "a common knee problem and cause of lameness in dogs." I know some animals who will be pleased to know their lameness has a cause. Why, just the other day I was thinking about how lame Dilly was for meowing up a storm, waiting for our humans to bring her food dish upstairs so she wouldn't have to leave her sunny spot—but I digress. 

All kidding aside, it sounds like your dog's trick knee is probably painful, because the patella is actually floating around and dislocating. Luxating patellas are common in small dogs, like your Chihuahua. In a normal knee joint, the kneecap (or patella) is lubricated by joint fluid and moves freely in a deep grove in the femur. Some small dogs have malformations or experience trauma and the ridges surrounding the knee groove is too shallow. 

As for treatment options, PetEducation.com suggests that "medical therapy has little corrective ability in this disorder and surgery is therefore required and is the treatment of choice." So talk to your dog's vet, and give your Chihuahua a good squeezy hug from Miss Fifi.