Okay, an update now that Glory's been re-graded. As I suspected, she has gotten worse. She's dropped a grade in each of her knees and is now a grade 2 in her left knee and a grade 3 in her right knee. Basically she's back to where she was when we adopted her 2 years ago so all the progress she'd made before is gone.

My holistic vet wants her Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements increased to a higher dosage, something equivalent to Glyco-Flex III. So now I have some shopping to do and comparisons to make to get her on something stronger. I am holding off on reintroducing her raw food because she is now on allergy and skin supplements for her other issues so I want to see if the allergy/skin supplements make a difference before putting her back on raw.

Oh Val, I'm so sorry to hear Glory has gotten worse. Did your vet think that the food change could be the culprit? Hopefully her skin problems clear up soon, poor girl Has her attitude/behavior changed at all? Just curious because even at her worst, Evie's maintained a happy disposition. I know that when those knees luxate it's painful, but most of the time I would never know it by how she acts- other than that gimpy walk until it goes back in place. Keep us posted on what you decide as far as supplements and how Glory does on them. I feel like I'm constantly researching too.

I'm happy to say Evie is doing pretty well. I rarely give her the Deramaxx now because I've seen a marked improvement and don't think she needs it all the time. On occasion she does overdo it(like yesterday when my brother showed up with his choc. lab) so I will give her 1 dose and she's better again within 24 hours. I have The PetNaturals Hip & Joint Extra Strength and will start those as soon as she finishes the last few of the supplements she was on. I'm anxious to see how she does on them as they are stronger and much cheaper. She is walking and getting up from laying down easier and has not collapsed in a long time. Praying she continues this upswing.

In other news, the breeder has reimbursed Evie's purchase price after receiving the statement from my vet. Little consolation, but it's something at least. I was disgusted to discover that Evie's mother is actually due today with a new litter of pups. She was paired with a different male, but it's anyones guess which of her parents Evie inherited this from. So the cycle continues

Has Evie's breeder had her mother checked at the vet for luxating patella? Glory's mom, Faith, comes from a great breeder and excellent bloodlines but her father is a totally different story so I am positive Glory's LP is from her father's side. Faith's knees have been checked every year since we got her in 2009 and hers are perfect, no LP at all.

That is such good news to hear that Evie seems to be doing better. I'm sure on the stronger stuff that will only continue...at least I hope that is the case.

I didn't even mention the correlation between the increased luxations and stopping the raw feeding when I talked to the vet. I mentioned both as separate items but didn't bother to make mention of how they seemed to happen around the same time. We had all 3 dogs at the vet and Glory had so much going on it slipped my mind at the time. I have several months supply of her usual Pet Naturals supplement but will probably get the next stronger dosage (Extra Strength possibly? I haven't looked into it yet) when I place my next order. I would think she'll probably be back on raw before then but we'll see which happens first and I will keep updating.

Glory's behavior has not changed at all throughout. Of course she had grade 2 and 3 LP when we adopted her so I couldn't say how she was in her prior years to compare. She certainly doesn't show if she's in pain although I'm sure she is, I too have to see her walking funny to know when she's luxated. Her skin problems only make matters worse because when she uses her back legs to scratch, it often CAUSES her knees to luxate. She's a mess...but we'll keep trying to improve all her conditions.

I wanted to update real quick on Glory's progress since we changed her food and nothing else. What a total and complete difference! Since changing her food back to partial raw she's completely stopped luxating as far as I've seen for the last 4 weeks!

I ordered some extra Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM pills (they're smallish human pills that I'll just slip in her food bowl) to add to her current regimen which hasn't changed for the past 2 yrs. I will be starting her on those extra pills today but I haven't seen her luxate in over a month just from her diet change so I don't really expect to see a noticeable change with the new pills added to her daily diet.

I am just so happy that a simple food change got her back on track and so quickly too. Not supplements or exercise, just diet change.

Yes, my long coat chi is the one with LP. If you look at the first page of this thread you'll find where I listed out all the things we do to manage her LP. Yes, diet plays a huge role with Glory obviously but I know it's not the only factor helping her.

Oh believe me when I say that Glory is impossible to restrict as well despite my best efforts. She runs, plays, walks like a champ, jumps like a maniac, jumps up on furniture more than twice her height, and climbs up and down the stairs multiple times a day.

It was actually a friend on a Chihuahua forum that tipped me off on the benefits of raw on a dog with LP. She was dealing with the same thing and shared with me how her own Chi with LP improved on raw and still was just as active as any normal dog without it.