Need advice - surgery for dog

[LindaG4458]

We just got back from the vet with our almost-ten year old cocker spaniel. He has been having occasional lame spells for a while, but this past few days have been bad. The vet took an x-ray and found two problems:

1. the hip socket is very shallow and the ball portion of the joint doesn't seat well into it.
2. the ball portion of the joints are very arthritic, the left hip more so than the right.

We are trying medication but the vet isn't very optimistic. If, in two weeks, there isn't a fair amount of improvement he suggests removing the ball portion of the joint and allowing the top of the remaining leg bone to fit into the socket. (Bad description, I know.) He would initially do only the left hip.

Has anyone had this type of surgery done on a smaller dog? How successful was it with regard to comfort and mobility after healing? Harry doesn't take pain very well and is just sitting around the house looking sad. He can't go for his daily walk and has to be carried up and down the stairs (which he hates).

Would you do this for your dog?

Thanks for any information you can give.

 

[kayeandjim00]

I know nothing about this surgery but would move heaven and earth to do something if my wonderful vet said it would help. I would base it solely on that honestly. What is your relationship with your vet? Do you have a good vibe that the dog is in good hands? If so and he suggests it then I say give it a try.

 

[Linda/MA]

We have an 8-year old cocker and she had surgery on her leg about 6 weeks ago, but not the same thing you are describing. She tore her ACL when she was going after a tennis ball I threw (her favorite thing in the world to do!). Well, we decided to have the surgery done even though it was pretty expensive. DH was not happy about it but didn't put up much or an argument. She is doing pretty good now. She is able to go up and down the stairs, although I try to make her go slowly. But, alas, no more tennis balls for her.

 

[hiwaygal]

I would do as much as I could too...if I had some kind of assurance that the pain would really get better and that my dog could actually handle the stress of the surgery.

But, no matter how much I trust my vet (and I do, very much)...when it comes to something that "big", I would probably seek a second (or even a third) opinion.

 

[chrissyk]

Is 10 years-old aged for a Cocker Spaniel? We put our 10 year-old cat through a "salvage" surgery to save his life 8 months ago, and it was the wrong decision in restrospect. He went through a lot of pain during the weeks following the surgery, and now he suffers from repeated infections. I made a post today asking for advice, as we have an appt. to euthanize him tomorrow. It is breaking our hearts, but we feel that he is suffering. If I could go back in time, I would not have had the surgery done. We would have let him go and we never would have put him through the pain of the surgery.

BTW, the surgery was done by an excellent ACVS surgeon, and it was a clinical success. It's just that the surgery itself gave him a condition that made him susceptible to the repeat infections. We knew that it was a risk and we did it anyways. I wish that we hadn't.

Is there any way that you can just make your dog comfortable until you feel like the time has come to let him go? I am not a proponent of having invasive surgery done on a 10 year-old animal anymore. It didn't do my cat any favors, that's for sure.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

That procedure is called a Femoral Head Osteotomy or FHO. It's a pretty extensive surgery. For a dog that old, I would consider talking to a board certified Veterinary surgeon. It is often a great procedure for young to middle aged small or medium sized dogs with hip problems/injuries. However, if your dog is in late stage degenerative joint disease, he may not have the muscle mass to support himself afterwards. Also, how bad is the other hip? He will have to support his entire weight on the 'good' hip during recovery. If this hip isn't good enough to support him, you will have a very needy and handicapped dog on your hands for a month or more.

 

[LindaG4458]

We have an 8-year old cocker and she had surgery on her leg about 6 weeks ago, but not the same thing you are describing. She tore her ACL when she was going after a tennis ball I threw (her favorite thing in the world to do!). Well, we decided to have the surgery done even though it was pretty expensive. DH was not happy about it but didn't put up much or an argument. She is doing pretty good now. She is able to go up and down the stairs, although I try to make her go slowly. But, alas, no more tennis balls for her.

Linda, We had another cocker who had that surgery as well. Her knee dislocated in both directions. She did well afterwards but, from time to time, her knee would lock. We would just gently rub it to get the bones back into place and she was off and running again. It was worth it for her.

 

[LindaG4458]

That procedure is called a Femoral Head Osteotomy or FHO. It's a pretty extensive surgery. For a dog that old, I would consider talking to a board certified Veterinary surgeon. It is often a great procedure for young to middle aged small or medium sized dogs with hip problems/injuries. However, if your dog is in late stage degenerative joint disease, he may not have the muscle mass to support himself afterwards. Also, how bad is the other hip? He will have to support his entire weight on the 'good' hip during recovery. If this hip isn't good enough to support him, you will have a very needy and handicapped dog on your hands for a month or more.

Thank you, That was the kind of information I was looking for. Harry probably has the muscle mass to handle the surgery. He is a big baby about any kind of discomfort, though. I don't know if he will even try to get along with that leg unusable. The other hip is better but not in great shape either. In fact, the vat said that it would need the same procedure sometime in the future.

We'll see how he does in two weeks at the recheck but I expect to be told he needs the surgery. I just don't want him to be miserable and unable or unwilling to do anything because of the surgery. He has periods now with little or no pain; I don't want to make it worse.

Thanks again for the information.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

He has periods now with little or no pain; I don't want to make it worse.

Is he having pain free days without meds? If that's the case, I'd treat him medically. Try using Deramaxx or Rimadyl as needed, put him on glucosamine, and consider using one of the new arthritis Rx. foods such as Purina JM or Hills J/D.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

this sounds like what I just had done on my 9 year old toy poodle, i am glad that I did, the recovery isn't bad but painful. She is doing great now, I only had the right side done for now. She is running around and I only had it done in May. She walks funny now, lol, but the hardest part is they have to wear that e-collar until the stitches come out. She is doing much better but every now and then it will bother her if she plays too much. We didn't need the physical therapy , she did what she could do, as she could do it.

 

[LindaG4458]

this sounds like what I just had done on my 9 year old toy poodle, i am glad that I did, the recovery isn't bad but painful. She is doing great now, I only had the right side done for now. She is running around and I only had it done in May. She walks funny now, lol, but the hardest part is they have to wear that e-collar until the stitches come out. She is doing much better but every now and then it will bother her if she plays too much. We didn't need the physical therapy , she did what she could do, as she could do it.

Did you have the surgery done by your local vat or did you go to Tufts or another specialized place? We are upstate NH and our vet is in Maine.