Worried about hip surgery

[vetstudent]

I made a similar post in the health forum, but was wondering if anyone here had any input or experience. Emma has walked funny ever since I adopted her and I had x-rays taken of her hips yesterday. Both of her hips are luxating and are not fully in the hip socket, so her bone is rubbing together when she walks. She does not seem too painful and has formed a walk that works for her, but she does have problems with stairs. I spoke to the vet more today and he thinks she is a good candidate for the FHO (femoral head and neck ostectomy). This surgery is quite a bit cheaper than a hip replacement and the vet says that most dogs do well. However, if she were to need a hip replacement later (if the FHO didn't work) then we would be out of luck because there would not be enough bone left to do a hip replacement. I am really worried about doing the wrong surgery and having her be worse off the rest of her life because nothing else can be done -- she's only 1 year old!!! If anyone has any input or experience I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[SuzanneC]

My first surgery patient in vet school was a BIG lab/chow mix that was in for FHO for hip dysplasia. At that time, we opted to cut the side that was more severely affected, so if he ended up needing a total hip replacement later, he'd still have a hip to do it on. If I recall correctly, he did very well with the FHO, even for a large (>100 lbs) dog.

The very first FHO I ever saw was when I was an undergrad. The clinic where I was working had a HBC Dalmatian come in. The head of the femur was already broken off in the acetabulum, so all the surgeon really had to do was smooth off the neck of the femur and pry the head out. That dog also did well.

 

[RoxysMum]

My lab had a bilateral FHO done. It was wonderful. I worked as a vet tech at the time and had never seen hips as bad as my dog's. Actually the vets I worked for had never seen hips that bad, they were surprised he could still walk (he was 5 yr old when we took the x-rays). With the FHO there was no way he'd ever have problems with arthritis in his old age since there was no longer any bone on bone contact, plus I didn't have $3k for a total hip replacement. I had another friend that had a total hip replacement done at the same time on her golden and it went bad. Her dog had to go in for a second surgery and I think ended up with 3rd and that one had to be a FHO. My dog at the time was an 85lb hunting dog that continued in the fields after the recovery. They said that he probably wouldn't be able to hike for miles and miles any more etc, but it didn't slow him down one bit. The recovery though, that was 3 months of slow come back. It hurts, no doubt, but the same is true of any hip surgery. Swimming is the best rehab, you don't need to hire a physical therapist if you can't afford one, we just took our boy to the lake once the skin closed on the outside.

 

[SuzanneC]

I went back and read your post in the health forum. I'd go ahead with the glucosamine, as it can't hurt. I've also had good luck with Adequan in my own dogs, as well as my patients.

 

[vetstudent]

Thanks everyone for your input. I am feeling a little bit better about the surgery, but am now worried about how soon I should do it. Emma seems to walk fine (although she has quite a unique style) and runs with no problems. She also doesn't seem to have problems sitting or standing up. The only thing I've noticed that bothers her are stiars (and when I lift her leg to check her spay incision). I don't want to wait too long to do the surgery and have it be too late, but I also don't want to do it right away if she will be fine for a while. I want whatever will be least painful for her.

 

[efb01]

My little female mix, Fender had an FHO in August 2005. We discovered her problem when she was playing pretty rough with her brothers and the femur actually popped out of the socket (or what was left of it). So the severity of the dysplasia would definitely be a factor to consider. Good luck.

 

[vetstudent]

My little female mix, Fender had an FHO in August 2005.

Can you tell me how Fender's recovery went. I am having Emma's x-rays sent to the specialist tomorrow and will hopefully hear from them by Wednesday. Emma's left side is worse and she doesn't even bend her legs that much, but rather swings her legs to the side to avoid moving those joints as much as possible. I am pretty sure I will have Emma's left side done within the next month or two, but would still like to hear as many success stories as I can to put my mind as at ease as possible. Even though I haven't had Emma that long, she is still like my child and having to face this surgery is really making me a nervous reck!!!

 

[sgbtab]

mattie had FHO when she was around 9 months to a year and she is doing great. we also only did one side just in case she needed a hip replacement. her recoup time was very good and if you saw her now you would never know she had a problem.

 

[RoxysMum]

My Marlin has his done at age 5 and I'd have to say that the recovery one a younger dog probably goes much faster. He also had both done at the same time which has it's good and bad aspects. His recovery took 3 months. After that rough spot though he did spectacular.

 

[efb01]

Fender did great. She was also spayed at the same time. It took about 2 months for her to consistently put weight on that leg, but the leg was severely injured when I found her so she had a limp anyway. She can actually keep up with my older RR mix when they are running around the yard, and Copper is a very fast dog LOL.