Diagnosis
Diagnosis is made through palpation of the knee, to see if it slips inside the joint more than would normally be expected. Often a dog-owner may be told his pet has "loose knee," but this is not a medical term, and it is not correct to use it interchangeably with Luxating Patella. Luxating Patella cannot be present without the knee being loose, but a loose knee is not necessarily slipping out of the joint. Even with Luxating Patella, there may be no symptoms or only mild ones, such as intermittent limping in the rear leg. X-Rays can determine how serious the condition is. More extreme cases can result in severe lameness. Osteoarthritis typically develops secondarily. There are four diagnostic grades of patellar luxation, each more severe than the previous:
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