Our puppy needs surgery--UPDATE in OP

[golfgal]

She had what we though was a torn ligament in her knee but it turns out she has Legg-Calve-Perthes disease which is a degenerative bone disease found in small dogs. She has to have the head of her femur removed and then they create a false joint. I guess dogs do very well after this surgery so that is good. It will take 6-8 weeks for the recovery however. She is having the surgery on Thursday.


UPDATE--we picked her up last evening and everything went well. She is in quite a bit of pain but the pain meds are working. She slept well last night but needed a pain pill in the middle of the night. They said normal activity after 24 hours to get her to use the leg. She won't look at me right now, she did the same thing after we had her spayed. She'll get over it.

 

[milkabum]

God bless your family and your puppy, hugs!

 

[grlpwrd]

 

[elgerber]

Best wishes for your puppy!!!

I am trying to remember, but is your puppy the rat terrier?

 

[Snowysmom]

Best of luck for your puppy. I have heard that the surgery works really well.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Aww, poor baby. Good luck with the surgery. Here's some PD.

 

[FreshTressa]

Aww...poor puppy!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

 

[Serena]

Awww, poor thing. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery.

 

[escape]

Sending pixie dust and hugs for your little furbaby. Hope all goes well with the surgery. Keep us informed!

 

[golfgal]

Yes, she is a rat terrier. She is a little loopy right now because we have to sedate her when she goes to the vet.

 

[miste76]

Both of my mother's min pin's have had to go through this same surgery. Buddy, her neutered male, had the same defect- legg-calve-perthes disease.
Princess, her dainty little (spayed) female, actually had a fracture to the head of the femur (no one knows how she did this...) These two surgeries happened about 6 months apart.

Since I am the doggy person - the dogs both came to my house for about 3 months during the surgery and post surgery recovery time. Since I have spent a lot of time around dogs, including post surgery w/ the rescue dogs... the vets office let me bring the dogs home the same day as the surgery. The dogs were both stayed very still for the first 48 hours. There were quite a few screams when they would move themselves and find that it hurt too much. I just reassured them as best as I could.

I am happy to say that both dogs are now fine, although buddy still walks on 3 legs sometimes, for no apparent reason - maybe habit???

Be careful... your baby will probably come home with a pain patch on... do not put them on a heating pad. Heat releases the pain medication quicker and can cause an overdose. My vet's office didn't tell me this after the first surgery... but I found the info online while researching the drug. I informed the vet's office and they now tell everyone that receives the patch.

Please send a PM if you have any other questions... I'd be happy to answer any other questions that I can.

 

[elgerber]

Yes, she is a rat terrier. She is a little loopy right now because we have to sedate her when she goes to the vet.

She is very cute! I was asking because we have a rat terrier also, 16 months old. What symptoms did you notice in her? Our Izzy has times when her leg seems to pop out of joint, and you can pick her up and wiggle her leg and it pops back in and she is fine.

I'm sending good wishes to you and her for a quick recovery!

 

[golfgal]

She is very cute! I was asking because we have a rat terrier also, 16 months old. What symptoms did you notice in her? Our Izzy has times when her leg seems to pop out of joint, and you can pick her up and wiggle her leg and it pops back in and she is fine.

I'm sending good wishes to you and her for a quick recovery!

She started limping/holding her leg up in May. It doesn't dislocate. What this is is basically the ball of her femur (the upper leg bone that meets her hip) is wasting away. Untreated it will totally disintegrate basically. My guess is your puppy has luxating patellas. That is also very common with small dogs, especially Rat Terriers. She also has this but they don't know if we will have to treat those or not yet.

Right now she puts almost no weight on that leg at all. It is an all the time thing for her and it has gotten worse in the past couple days. On the x-ray you can see where the bone is degenerating, there is a gap that is about 1/4" wide between the ball and the socket of the hip joint.

 

[SUSIEQ]

Best wishes for your pup!
Please keep us informed.

 

[dvcgirl]

Our Airedale had this procedure done for a different reason nearly 7 years ago. She had avascular necrosis (the head of the femur had inadequate blood supply). She did great and is very fit and active today at age 8. Our other Airedale recently had a total tear of his ACL and his recovery from surgery has been much slower....but he's much older too. Hope your doggie does well...

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Awww, you'll be in my thoughts. Keep us updated!

 

[mrsstats]

What a cute puppy. Wishing you all the best.

 

[Kitty 34]

Best of luck to your cute little pup.

 

[golfgal]

Well, I just dropped her off. I forgot to ask how long it would take. I am guessing at least a couple hours to do the tests, put her under, do the surgery, etc. They want her to stay until 6 or so tonight so I will pick her up then. She is going to hate me for this.

 

[hiwaygal]

Well, I just dropped her off. I forgot to ask how long it would take. I am guessing at least a couple hours to do the tests, put her under, do the surgery, etc. They want her to stay until 6 or so tonight so I will pick her up then. She is going to hate me for this.

Sending prayers and pixie dust for your pup!

I left my little "girl" at the vets yesterday afternoon (it was heart-wrenching) but I can go get her today!

Your pup won't hate you...she will only be ECSTATIC to see you when you pick her up (unless she's still sedated then you might not notice )