We had a bit of a fright on Friday evening. Tara was laid on her bed, but there was a very obvious lump just above her damaged knee, and she was in pain. To get a better look, I carefully straightened her knee, supporting the joint with one hand. I felt something move and click, and the lump was gone. After that, her knee looked fine (or as fine as it does at the moment), and she would put weight on that leg, though more carefully than the previous few days. And she didn't seem in pain, and would let me do her exercises.

Saturday morning, we went to the vet, who believe her kneecap had popped out. She doesn't appear to have done any damage, and the risk of it happening again should lessen as her muscles recover. They also checked the slight infection she's picked up at one end of her operation scar - that should be treatable with yet more antibiotics, but they may drain if the swelling doesn't go down by Friday. Tara likes her pate-covered pills, so no problem there!

What's really worrying me is that her knee cap has popped out twice since then. On both occassions she was quite excited - once on arriving at my parents' for Mum's birthday, the other on seeing Rachel and Eddie at the kennels. Both times I managed to get the kneecap back in place very easily - a slight touch on the far side and it just slips back in - but I'm very worried that next time it won't go back. Also, every time it happens, Tara seems to be limping more afterwards.

I'll speak to the vet in the morning, to see if there's anything else we can do. I'll let you know what they say.

Cheers,
Graham