A new born cow calf, named ‘Pari’ aged 25 days was admitted in the surgery division of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana's Veterinary Hospital, hard time walking on rear legs since first day after birth. As per owner, Pari was normal at birth but on the next very morning she was found dragging from both rear legs. Both front legs were normal but she was keeping her both rear legs flexed and waking in a typical ‘Crouched stance’. She was treated by field veterinary doctor but because of no response, she was referred to GADVASU Veterinary Hospital. A team of surgeons Drs. Ashwani Kumar, Arun Anand and Vandana Sangwan conducted examination, took radiographs and diagnosed ‘Bilateral Lateral Patellar Luxation’ which is a rare condition in cow calf. After diagnosis, ‘Pari’ was operated under spinal anesthesia to correct bilateral patellar luxation. It took about 2 hours for successful completion of surgery. Calf was assisted to get up for one day after surgery and later, she started walking normally and showed an uneventful recovery. Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Associate Professor told that the both the patella were placed at an abnormal position and was luxated laterally due to congenital weakness; otherwise bones around the knee joints were normal. During surgical intervention, the patella was released from its outer aspect and sutured on the inner aspect to fix patella to its normal position.
Dr. Arun Anand, Associate Professor, Informed that now farmers are more concerned about the well-being of their livestock because dairy animals are important source of income and earning livelihood. He also added that without surgical intervention the fate of this calf might have been grave may result to arthritis, multiple wounds, infection and ultimately death. Surgery has given a new lease of life to this precious female cow calf.
Dr. J. Mohindroo, Professor-cum-Head, Veterinary Surgery and radiology informed that this was a rare surgery in cow calf. The department has operated a couple of cases with involvement of one knee but successful surgical management of bilateral patellar luxation is being done for the first time in GADVASU and in India. Dr. PS Brar, Dean College of Veterinary Sciences congratulated to the team of surgeons for successful surgery and informed that surgery department has developed many advanced anesthetic, diagnostic and surgical facilities and the majority of the faculty has International exposure.
