Patella Luxation in Dogs and Cats

(or trick knee, subluxation of patella, floating patella, or floating kneecap)

General Information

A luxating patella is frequent problem in dogs – especially in small and toy breeds. Large breed dogs can also be affected. Mostly a patellar luxation occurs medial. It can result from a blunt trauma but in most cases it is a congenital defect. In these cases it frequently occurs in both legs.

A veterinarian can do a manual diagnosis of the knee and see if the patella slides off the joint. A patella luxation can occur in four different grades. In grade 1 the patella can be moved or luxated manually but it takes its natural position again after the patella is released. In grade 4 the patella luxated permanently with up to 90° of rotation of the proximal tibial plateau.

In this video you see a typical pre surgery walk with a patellar luxation:

Cruciate ligament rupture with patella luxation

If your dog suffers from a patella luxation and a cruciate ligament rupture at the same time we recommend to read the following article. This describes a technique how to fix a patella luxation and a cruciate ligament rupture in one surgery with one technique:

Go to: Cruciate ligament rupture and patellar luxation

Patella luxation: the surgery

If your dog or cat suffers from a patellar luxation please ask your vet for RAPID Luxation from Rita Leibinger. Of course we assist in searching a vet for you, too.