Worst case hip dysplacia in very young dog

ZensMom · 11-13-2007, 08:05 PM

I have an eight month old german shepherd who started showing very severe signs of hip dysplacia within the past two or three weeks. He was xrayed today and his diagnosis is the worst possible case of hip dysplacia, and he is already arthritic. The doctor we saw today services the K-9 unit for our city as well as does the majority of GSD hip certification in town. Although he is not an orthopedic surgeon, he said in his opinion our dog is not a candidate for TPO or full hip replacement surgery, both of which would be our ideal options.

He said he *may* be a candidate for the surgery where they excise the top of the femur, but of course that surgery is not meant for large breed dogs and given he's eight months old and already 60 pounds the prognosis isn't great.

The vet did recommend we go ahead and make an appointment to get our dog and the xrays evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion. I was very disheartened to hear that he is most likely not a candidate for the best two options in restorative/salvage surgery.

We don't really know what to do at this point. We're going to call tomorrow and make the appointment for the evaluation, but if that surgery is our only option in my opinion the prognosis is not good and I really don't want to put our dog through the pain of that surgery and because of his size it not be a successful option.

Has anyone else had to deal with such a severe case of HD?

Anela · 11-14-2007, 07:47 PM

Since this is such a drastic case of HD perhaps you should consider just using meds to relieve the pain until dog grows and can have successful surgery.

This seems like an awful situation for all involved, especially with such a young creature. Sorry to hear that you are dealing with this.

Anela

crazydays · 11-14-2007, 07:59 PM

Zens Mom.

I am so saddened to hear of this horrific situation you find yourself in. I have a pup the same age and I really feel for you. I think the second opinion is necessary so you have all the answers required to make informed decisions. I am wondering if the Breeder has been involved. Regardless of anything, you love your pup and need to make the right decisions with respect to quality of life and pain management issues. I am sure you will hear from others who have been through similar circumstances. Boy- i really feel bad for you. Please take care and if you are up to it keep us informed.

Inga · 11-14-2007, 08:00 PM

I am so sorry to hear about your poor little puppy. That is such sad news. I feel so sorry for the poor little guy. I don't have much experience with bad hips. I guess in that area I have been lucky. I wonder if you could call vet colleges? I know where I am from the vets generally refer the real bad cases to the colleges as they are so state of the art and have the most modern equipment and skills. What could not be done a year ago can now etc... I think you should also alert the breeder to the fact that this is going on with your puppy as well if you have not already done so. They certainly don't want to breed the same dogs again. The folks that I do know that have had to deal with bad hips have found water therapy to be a great benefit. Do you have any place nearby that you can do that? Maybe just to build up the muscle in the legs, back and hips and by some time while he is growing. I wish you all the best. I am sure it was quite a blow to hear such bad news.

ZensMom · 11-16-2007, 07:57 AM

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your kind words.

We have a consultation appointment Tuesday at AVS in Florida. They are specialists that you may only see by referral. Everyone says they are the best of the best in this area. The reason the vet thought he would not be a good candidate for the TPO surgery was because he's already arthritic and he didn't think his sockets were deep enough for a full hip replacement, which left only the FHO surgery.

My boyfriend is calling the breeder this weekend to let him know what is going on. Although he did not have hip certs on his dogs we did ask all of the questions and checked out the parents. Both of the dogs had been used as show dogs, and according to the breeder had no history of HD. There were no visible signs of HD, my opinion is most likely his dogs have HD but haven't shown symptoms yet and will when they are older. So you live and you learn and next time we'll only take a dog from a breeder who has hip certification on their dogs.

Our dog is in a lot of pain. We do have him on a mild pain medication for two weeks until we can get through the surgical consult. The vet said not to restrict his activity, but we let him do what activity he is comfortable with except walking up and down the stairs or jumping on anything. But today he's been crying all morning. He usually has two good days and then a bad day or two of lying around doing nothing.

crazydays · 11-16-2007, 08:37 AM

Thank god you have a excellent health care resource to take him to. You are doing a wonderful job with him. They will be able to put him on appropriate pain management. It must be extremely difficult to hear him crying. My thoughts are with you! Kathy (crazydays)

Inga · 11-16-2007, 03:05 PM

I am glad to hear that you have a good resource near you. Shame on anyone breeding dogs that are not hip certified. Poor puppy. I am so glad he has you for a mom. Keep us posted on what the vet says. Hopefully, they will be able to fix him up quickly.

ZensMom · 11-20-2007, 09:22 PM

Our consultation with the surgeon went very well today. And the good news is that his xrays make him look like an excellent TPO surgery candidate. However, the surgeon wants to check to make sure his cartilege in the socket is not damaged. To do that, she has to put him on his back and rotate his legs out to hear the pop in the joint and he was having none of that today, so they need to sedate him. It took two hours before we got to see her because they were so busy today, and she had a surgery so we'd have had to wait another 1.5 hours before they could sedate him and check the socket.

So, we're dropping him off tomorrow morning to have him sedated and the socket checked. If its all good, they are actually going to operate tomorrow on his first hip. Their schedule is very clear tomorrow due to the holiday this week.

Its been very interesting and I've learned a LOT about hip dysplasia and treatment options. If he ends up being able to have the surgery I should document it all here for anyone else who comes across the issue.

Its VERY expensive. From prices that were posted online a few years ago, its already doubled and its going to cost $2500 to $2800 for each side.

The TPO surgery is great for young dogs because their bones heal fast and it has the least amount of possible complications. If we chose not to get this surgery, then we could manage him medically and restrict his activity until he was 18 months old and see if he's in pain at that time. The doctor said sometimes after they stop growing the tiny fractures will heal and the dog won't have pain until they are five to seven years old. At that point, you'd be looking at having total hip replacement surgery. At today's rates that is double the amount above per side.

So we're keeping our fingers crossed that his cartilege is not too damaged and he can have the surgery.

The recovery period is 8 weeks. They do the second hip four weeks after the first and activity has to be kept very minimal for that entire period. Our doggy day care provider, who is wonderful, has offered to keep him a couple of days a week if he has surgery. She said she can keep him inside with her while all ofthe dogs are outside and she can crate him when the dogs come in, so we don't have to worry about leaving him at home on days that we can't work virtually, so that's a great option for us if he has this done.

Thank you for your kind thoughts!

Anela · 11-21-2007, 09:31 AM

I have told all of my numerous dog friends to contact the dog gods and tell them you furry one needs help.

Good luck!

Anela

Inga · 11-21-2007, 11:34 AM

I am so glad to hear the good news. I sure hope it will be a go. What a nice Thanksgiving gift. Just think 12 weeks from now your puppy will have a new lease on life. That is wonderful.

crazydays · 11-21-2007, 07:07 PM

The best part about this thread is Zens Mom!! You really need to hear about how special you are to get your little guy some help....seriously, others might not invest the money to get him "on his feet". Good for you- i really need to see a photo.

ZensMom · 11-23-2007, 12:53 PM

Thanks everyone!

So there was good and not so good news. The good news is he was a candidate for TPO on his left hip, and he actually had surgery Wednesday. The not so good news is that he had a bit of degenerative disease (arthritis) formed on the socket in his right hip so he was not a candidate on that side. A bit disheartening, but I'm relieved we could get one side done. The doctors said that when he heals up he should subtley shift his weight to the left side and that will help slow the development of arthritis on the right. And on down the road when he is older and full grown we can explore surgical options for the right side.

We just got him home about an hour ago and its already been a rollercoaster! They should prescribe dog mommy drugs.

I was doing really well until I saw how loosey goosey his leg is when he walks. We have to assist him with a sling. He's finally settled down and is sleeping in his crate. Since he cannot have any activity at all, the more we can keep him crated the better. However, he was having none of the E-collar in his crate. Since I removed it though he laid down and is snoozing.

We took a picture of him when we got him home and figure we'll document our ordeal in case other people need help/information about hip surgery. I'm attempting to upload an attachment with a picture of Zen from daycare last month.

Inga · 11-23-2007, 03:10 PM

I am glad the first surgery went well. I know it will be a long hall but God Bless you for loving this dog enough to take such wonderful care of him. Not everyone would and I think it is admirable for you to do so. I hope this tough time goes by quickly, I know first hand how difficult the walking with the dog in the sling can be. I also love the name Zen. He is really cute too.

Dieselsmama · 11-23-2007, 03:45 PM

It is truly encouraging to hear from folks like you who follow through with their commitments to an animal they are responsible for. Kudos to you. You're a shining star and I wish you the best of luck and tons of healing thoughts for lucky Zen

ZensMom · 11-23-2007, 04:39 PM

When we got him, he was just four months old, but he was the most mellow puppy I had ever met. We were trying to decide what to name him and I made a comment about him being so calm, and my boyfriend said "Yes, he is the zenmaster" and it just stuck

Now we commonly refer to him as Zen Monster.

He's the most funny dog I've ever owned and has so much personality. We don't have children yet and Zen pretty much goes everywhere with us, except work. I think we'd pretty much do anything necessary to make sure he had a good life. I'm just thankful we could afford surgery.

We've taken a harrowing trip out to potty and had a snack and medicines. Thankfully he was happy to go back into his crate and snooze some more. We tried letting him hang out in the living room with the e-collar on and he threw a tantrum over having that back on and wouldn't settle down, so we had to crate him again. I figure we'll give him a few days mostly in the crate to heal up a bit more before we try quiet time in the living room.

Anela · 11-24-2007, 10:54 AM

I will tell all of my dog friends (I have LOTS) to contact the dog gods again, and have them send their help for the next round.

Thanks for the photo!

Anela

Saynac · 11-24-2007, 11:30 AM

Hey all. Zen's, uh, dad here. Here are some more pictures of the cute lil' guy. Even though both ears are up in some shots, only his right ear stands up 90% of the time.

He's recouping moderately well. Thankfully he doesn't mind sleeping all day so we might have a relatively relaxing 8 weeks. Except, of course, for when he needs to use the bathroom -- talk about stressful. Mr. Wobblylegs gives us heart attacks.

TibetanFan · 11-24-2007, 12:54 PM

When did you first notice his symptoms and what were they?

ZensMom · 11-24-2007, 05:59 PM

It was a a little over weeks ago when I first started noticing that he might have hip problems. I had him at the dog park one night and he had gotten knocked down very hard and was walking stiffly that night. His first symptoms were how he was standing and walking... one leg was crossing over in front of another and sometimes he would stand with both back feet very close together, and immediately following that behavior he was whining when other dogs at daycare would come running towards him, as if he were afraid of getting hit in his hips. His hips were sensitive to the touch and he was walking very stiffly. A week after that started he had a very bad day at the daycare and was screaming and crying in the yard. Our day care provider pulled him in and took care of him one on one that afternoon and the next three days at home he didn't want to walk, he just wanted to lie in his doggy beds around the house.

When I started reading about hip dysplasia, a big give away is a dog whose leg crosses or they put all of their weight on their front legs, which he had started doing as well. In picture number three that Saynac posted you can see him starting to stand with his back legs close together and his heels slightly turned in. I'm not sure how long ago that picture was taken but if I had known then what I know now I'd have had him into xray at that time.

At the time he started having problems at daycare, Saynac was out of the country for a family wedding. The second incident at daycare was the same week Saynac returned, and I immediately booked an appointment with a veterinary hospital in town that handles all of the K-9 shepherds in town as well as hip certifications to have xrays done. That would have been two weeks ago this coming Tuesday and we had him in surgery a week later.