Dutch Shepherd Forum

So...finally got a second opinion on Fender's read end. We got X-rays, and I discovered that he has severe HD. His hips are so bad. He pretty much doesn't even have hips...his right hip is just floating around out of the socket, the left isn't much better. Arthritis is setting in and he's in a great deal of pain.

My vet said my best route is an FOH surgery...removing the ball joint completely and allowing the muscles to pick up the slack. This, he said, will remove Fender's pain.

Does anyone have experience with this and their dogs? How did they recover from it?

My vet said that I will have a different dog after, and that he has a border collie patient who had this done who now competes in agility.

I don't expect that, but Fender is so young, and I want him pain free.

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOO I am so sorry !!!!!

Sadie has double HD but its not that bad. Her vet said in a few years she may need surgery.

I keep her in shape [ although she does a good job on her own] and feed her raw and good joint supplements. I bought the one Johnny recommended.

If the vet said that the other dog was great after, I would lean towards that though. Its sad when I see Sadie ouchy.

If you want to talk more about it, contact me.

I'm trying to decide, depending on my insurance i guess, if going with the Total Hip Replacement surgery would be the better option for Fender...if I can upgrade my plan, i can get the unlimited coverage. I'm considering this because i've heard from some people that the FOH surgery in young dogs can have part of the bone grow back and cause a lot of problems later on in life...

I just have no clue...waiting to talk to my vet today...he dismissed the hip replacement because it would cost about $12,000. But if my insurance says i'm covered for this condition...i really wonder if i should go big...

i guess it would depend on your insurance. A vet that I had a second opinion on said 8000 for a hip replacement, but Sadie would be good as new. I guess, look a the cost, and difference between removal of the joint and replacing and how it would effect F.

i talked to my vet today and asked him about the total hip replacement, and he said that in his experience and opinion, it can cause a lot of problems later on. he said often the body will reject the implants or he could get infection and because he's already developing osteoarthritis then the surgery itself would be just that much more difficult.

sooooo, we are going to stick to the original idea. he said that he has numerous patients that made amazing recoveries from it. i'm ok with this...

the whole point is that Fender will be completely pain free after.

Here's the X-Ray.

so he would recommend just removing the ball joint? If that seems like a better option according to the vet.

yah, he seemed pretty certain that removing the entire ball joint would be Fender's best chance at a pain free life. He's got no hips already pretty much, and he still runs and plays, but it's limited. But with the surgery, his muscles and his pelvis will pick up the slack from the lack of ball joint, and he won't be hurting so much anymore.

i am so sorry to hear this about your new best friend. but he is a very lucky dog to have been found by you who cares about him so much!

this may well explain why he objected to the overly-excited Pyrenees [ trying to protect his delicate hind quarters ?] and explain his peeing stance.

difficult choices. good luck with beautiful Fender. [ i love his look at you. a gentle and attentive soul he has; he really is a best friend.]

That sucks! My friend just did a double HD surgery for his wife's service dog. 5000$ a hip. She's doing fantastic now. I hear it's 50/50 and there is a good chance it causes more troubles due to scar tissue. Best advice they had was to try to get it done at a teaching vet hospital. Down here A&M vet teaching hospital is the best and most affordable.

As for the insurance, I know most either will not cover or have a year waiting peroid WITHOUT diagnosis. After the year if you submit a vet bill with the "recent" diagnosis they'll cover it. Check to see what they say but don't mention Fender has been diagnosised, just in case. Keep us updated!

Kira, was that hip replacement or removal of the ball joint?

i was hesitant to mention this and it does not mean that joint removal is not the best course, but i remember that a DS or a Mal with NADSR or ABMCR [ i think the latter ] had experienced such an operation before going into rescue and it was not good at all. the group was hoping to do reconstruction, but i do not know what the outcome was.

i do not mean to scare you. that is the last thing you need. i assure you i do not know what i would do ----
OTHER THAN - and Kira's post inspired me - i would seek out the very best advice in the vet med field i could. thus, Kira's advice is a good place to start.

IF YOU ARE NEAR CALGARY, then there is another good choice to check out. it is a private REFERRAL-ONLY HOSPITAL [ so you need to be referred by your vet ] owned by VCA or VCA Antech:
WESTERN VETERINARY SPECIALIST AND EMERGENCY CENTRE, 1802 10th avenue SW, Calgary T3C 0J8
telephone 403 770 1340 / 866 770 1340
this company tends to have the very best surgeons in the world working for it and the surgeons are specialists. other than some possibly great vet school hospital, i suspect this is probably the best vet facility in all of Canada.

try phoning them and ask if you can send them the xray and get their opinions on possibilities. i would trust opinions from this hospital; just make sure to ask all the relevant questions - since one usually only gets the answers that are sought. i would also trust them to know and have experience in the best and most advanced treatment methods, no matter how new.

again, good luck for you and Fender!

p.s., i know there is a ''charity'' associated with VCA, but i do not know what its function or purpose is, but if the cost of something at WVSEC was impossible, it may be worth inquiring whether assistance is available.

If I remember correctly it was a total replacement of the ball joint; I think they left the actual hip alone. But I could be wrong; I'll check his facebook. She had what I think was a similar case as Fender. There's also H's bestie Jakai with the one hip that's come out of the socket and juts out visibly. She's still active and after 2 months on an anti-inflammatory once a day recently got bumped up to twice a day. This is.... I want to say.... Two to three months after diagnosis? I'd have to look at the thread I started on it. But she was also prescribed a hip replacement focusing on just the ball joint. So far she's doing good and the vet says it'll be another year before you have to seriously consider the HD replacement surgery.

Check into all options and also consider looking at US options too if you're not happy with what's local to Canada. This is nothing you need to rush into; take your time and make the best decision for Fender. We're always here to help you if you need!

Oh, poor Fender. I'm sorry.

After doing a bunch of research and asking questions of my vet (he's so good) and talking to people who have done it and know of those who've done it, I'm fairly confident that FOH will be the best route for us to go.

I'm not, nor have I ever been expecting Fender to be a champion athlete. I just want him to be pain free and able.

The recovery time for FOH is short and weight bearing mobility is encouraged quite quickly after the surgery...so he won't be on crate rest for months. That's a plus. My vet performs the surgery himself and assures me he's done it many many many times over his career and always has excellent results.

Now I'm just waiting to hear whether my insurance company will cover this condition. If so, we will be moving forward with the surgery as soon as possible.

I've been told by a few people to put him down, that putting him through surgery and pain is inhumane and selfish......I don't feel selfish....well i do because the thought of being without Fender makes my heart squeeze...but I just cannot imagine having to euthanize such a wonderful dog for something that IS fixable. He's in pain NOW...this is supposed to relieve him of his pain...it makes me angry that someone would suggest that I'm being a bad dog owner for considering it.

This dog is my best friend.

I love when people just say to put them down. They are not " real" dog people who think of the dogs, not as a pet but as one of their children. Would they put their child down of they had something severe? I think not.

I am so glad you are going that rout and have such a good vet.

Keep us posted

I saw your post on the OFA facebook page and I was a little disgusted by some of the comments. When I posted Odin's hip x-rays on there, instead of evaluating them, a ton of people commented on how horrible the positioning was (it wasn't that bad, but we later found that his spine was bad and it threw the positioning off). I had 4 vets able to clearly evaluate from them and got the same responses.

I was told once I should keep repeating the x-rays for a different dog to get better positioning and opinions to raise the fair evaluation to an excellent even though the dog was never going to be bred and all I wanted to know was if it had decent enough hips to continue trialing in agility.

I think the FOH sounds like a good plan. Does your vet have any concerns age wise? I work at a referral surgical clinic and I know there's always a big push to get them done sooner rather than later, so that would be my only concern, but I know it has been done in slightly older dogs. I think PT aftercare is going to be your biggest struggle and cost. I would talk to your vet about learning how to do the rehab work at home and maybe find a clinic with a water treadmill that insurance will cover.

He never mentioned concerns about Fender's age, except for the fact that he's so young to have such bad hips. I'm definitely going to try and do as MUCH as I can rehab wise from home, and then potentially in the spring, if insurance will cover it, or possibly even if they don't, I'll take him on a trip down south to Calgary for a week or so, if he needs it. There's nowhere here that I know of that has underwater treadmills and such for dogs, and because I live in Northern Alberta there won't be much opportunity for swimming from now until well into the spring. But the vet did say that snow will be a big help as it'll force Fender to really lift his back legs, so he'll get a lot of range of motion I think.

I got angry about the comments on the OFA thread. How dare someone suggest that a simple surgery that could vastly improve the quality of life in a PUPPY was inhumane and selfish. I am confident that this surgery is the best thing for him, and I fully believe that once the surgeries are done, you all will be reading a completely different story from me and Fender...(he might be making me tear my hair out!! haha DUTCH PUPPY)...I've already noticed that with the pain killer he is WAY more restless and active.