hip surgery

[threedogjeep]

I'm not on here much any more for several reasons. But Leela just had her hips xrayed again and they tell us they are super bad. Nothing is even really in the joint at all. Starting her on Hills JD. The vet who did her vulvaplasty explained the two types of hip surgery. Leela is 5.5 years. Very healthy. LOVES her walks. Total replacement: $5K per hip. Removing head: $1500 per leg. But I dont' know if it would be okay for both legs to be that way. She's about 72 pounds and in quite good shape.

I'd love to hear your stories.

[TJordan]

Butters has had the Head Removed on both his hips. His first one was when he was about 8 months old. He bounced back very quickly. He had the other one done last year when he was 6 years old. He hasn't recoverd as well from it as I would have liked. He is 90lbs currently and we are trying to cut his weight.

He still goes on daily walks, but sometimes they are a little shorter. Some days he can go longer, some days it is the short version. But he enjoys his walks daily. He still runs and play, but sometimes has problems getting up (especially on slick surfaces) He also gets stiff sometimes but he is doing well.

Overall he seems to be doing pretty good!

[threedogjeep]

Thanks so much for your post! Leela has trouble getting up now...especially on slick surfaces. But she loves her walks, does not limp, and doesn't even LIKE to run, but does sometimes. She sits sidesaddle and hates to just sit or just sand, preferring to lay down, mostly on one side. Good to know you can do both hips like that. I was concerned. She is a good weight at around 70-72 pounds.

Again, thanks so much. Did you have physical therapy? Leela has great muscle currently so I would expect it to be a good transition. We walk quite a bit. How long was the recovery? How long until she could walk to potty on her own??? Full of questions, aren't I? But I do trust the people on this forum and hope you will continue dialogue.

[TJordan]

The PT we did was at home. We rubbed his hips, stretched his hips. Kinda of just gently worked them.

He was going to the potty on his own immediatly, he just hobbled on 3 legs. The first few days are really hard. I tried to keep him from moving except to go potty. I would bring everything to him to try and keep him still. Nights are hard, he was in a lot of pain and the crying was hard to hear. So I spent a couple of nights in the floor next to him. I could gently pet him and finally get him to lay down. It really is heartbreaking to go through. They recover from it much faster then we do emotionally speaking. A couple of months and he was walking pretty good for very short walks. Before that we would go to the backyard and let him roam a little at a time then take him in and let him rest. I would say on his second one it was about 4 months before we had a normal walk. We had his last year and his is still on meds. But he has a great quality of life!

They recommend that they be thinner for this surgery, and I agree if Butters was a bit smaller he might be looking 100% better right now (which we are working on) But being about 70lbs, she will probably come through it very well!