So i made an account on this forum to tell you about my recent experience with this whole ordeal hoping it will help someone in the future.
So my bengal cat (2 years old) had a luxating patella, it was stage 2, where you could pop it out and back in using your hand with minimal effort, but would stay in place for the most part, i would occasionally, probably twice a day see him limping or holding his leg up. I took him to the vet where he was x-rayed, it was confirmed to be luxating patella in stage 2, i was then referred to a animal hospital specialist in houston, texas, (
http://www.animalemergencyhospital.com/ ) they are actually rated as one of the best animal surgery specialist in the nation. I was told that the surgery is absolutely needed asap, and that it would be a 3 day ordeal, 1st day surgery, and 2 days of close observation. Followed by 6-months of recovery. 3-4 of those months complete isolated and locked in a kennel or small closet with a cone on his head and daily exercises to recuperate his leg. For the first few weeks oral medication for pain and antibiotics was also given every 6-8 hours. The total operation costs me around $3,500.00 for everything. They shaved him from his spine to his paw pads, they ended up drilling out the crevice in his knee to deepen the groove, they also put some screws into his leg because they had to reset it (probably did some other medical stuff but im not a medical person and translation gets lost). I went in after 1 month for a re-exam, and his bone was already 40-50% healed it had looked like. He was starting to get up and want to go around the closet after 3-4 weeks, occasionally knocking his water/food bowls over with his cone. I tried to give him a break by taking him cone off when i spent time with him, His leg was wrapped with a bandage and sticky medical wrap for the first 2 weeks before it started to come off, the stitches were the kind that go away on their own so they were gone within the first month, everyday i had to go in sometimes twice a day, and bend his leg all the way out and as far in as it could go into his body (with minimal force) for 10-15min a day to exercise his leg for recovery. I was scared to death from this whole ordeal, it was nerve racking to think about my best friend losing his ability to walk, but knowing he'd be in pain the rest of his lift and eventually losing his ability to walk was worse, but im so glad to say, its been about 5 months now, and he's 100% recovered, full walking, running, and jumping abilities, and besides a hard to notice hairless scar on his leg, and slightly less hair on that leg than the rest of his body (still growing). you'd never know he ever had major surgery. Hopefully my experience will give overs courage to do the surgery or make them feel a little better about it. Give them hope. It is expensive, you can say i overpaid, but i don't care, i got the best case scenario, and i'd pay more if i had to if it meant saving my best friends life and future. I wish anyone else with this issue luck in the future.