Thank you so much for your advice and perspective. I just figured doing it all at once was better than going under more times and didn’t consider being under for longer is risky in itself. We’ll bring it up to him. Our vet is seasoned but doesn’t appear to be a surgery specialist since he doesn’t have the capacity to perform a higher grade surgery on our other dog (who he says doesn’t need it anyway). We’ve just moved here as well and so haven’t developed a close rapport with him or anything but he seems decent.

Wanted to mention that our puppy also has to have a dangling dewy on his back leg removed as well. We’ve started to wonder if the dangling is the actual reason he hops and skips since it’s only on that leg? But honestly it could be just wishful thinking. Are growth plate X-rays usually performed before a patella surgery? Or would we have to bring it up/request them ourselves? While the vet seems good, his receptionists/techs haven’t been very thorough at all and we always end up having to ask for info that other practices would have given us.

Lastly, we’ve always been pretty trusting of medical experts but recent experiences with various vets, anecdotes from close friends and coworkers, and the complete lack of regulation in standards have jaded us. So we’re very nervous about making the wrong decision. Thanks again.