[kamopudi]

We have a Romanian rescue dog aged around 2.5/3 years, who has been with us for a year. Prior to coming to us, he had a FHO operation in the UK for a broken hip, and recovered well from this.
He has come on really well (can be dog reactive but we are working with a behaviourist). We saw the behaviourist today via Zoom and she noticed that he appeared lethargic and unenthusiastic and possibly in pain. He had squealed out this morning and limped on a walk, and sometimes appears stiff, so I have booked him in at the vet to discuss a pain management trial - the behaviourist wondered if Gabapentin might be good for him.
I wondered if firstly anyone had experience of post operative pain after FHO operations (it was approximately 18 months ago that he had it done), and if so, what pain relief they had success with.
He's obviously only a young dog and we want to make him comfortable.

 

[storyist]

One of my Rottweilers had surgery for FCP in one elbow at 7 months. She was never completely sound afterwards without help, but with supplements (see below) did well enough to compete in AKC Rally and Obedience and Rottweiler Carting until the Covid lockdowns, by which time she was 8. She's now limping noticeably so won't be able to compete any longer, and I'm now looking for stronger ways to relieve the arthritic pain that I've used to date.

Anyway, if your dog is showing pain now when he seemed to recover from the surgery fine, it seems the current pain is arthritic. My girl has been on Cosequin since her surgery, and during the healing time I tried cold laser, which did nothing so far as I could see.

The thing that's made a big difference for Story is regular Adequan shots. That's something that's expensive to have the vet do (mine charges $55 a shot and Story gets a shot every 2 weeks). However, if your vet will write you a prescription, you can give Adequan sub-cutaneously yourself (and Story's ortho believes that better than a shot in the muscle anyway). That's what I do, and it's the single thing that really made a difference for her. I know because the Adequan manufacturer stopped putting it out for a while when she was pretty young, and when she didn't get the shots, she was very lame.

As the years passed, Story showed increasing stiffness when she first got up, but it always worked out after a few feet. Because of that and knowing degenerative things like arthritis get worse with age, I've kept an eye out for anything else that might help but never really found anything. For her, other supplements that supposedly help never made a difference. Right now I'm thinking of trying an exchange of the Cosequin for green-lipped mussels to see if it's more effective.

My goal is to hold off using NSAIDs like Rimadyl as long as possible. I'm willing to use them if necessary, but since they can cause stomach and kidney problems, I'm not eager. My one experience with Gabapentin (not with Story but with a rescue dog) was negative - it caused vomiting within 24 hours, but I know others use it. I recently asked my vet about Galliprant, which I'd heard was less likely to cause side effects than Rimadyl, and she said yes, in her experience it was easier on the digestive system, but I noticed she didn't mention side effects like kidney damage.

Good luck of finding what works for your boy.