CooperRR

Thanks so much for all your info and advice everyone :) After weeks or toing and froing we have finally made a decision to not go ahead with the surgery.. We don't feel that our boy would cope well with such a major operation and recovery. We don't want people to think we are bad owners (Cooper really is our whole world) by choosing this path, as we are going to do everything to keep our boy pain and hopefully arthritis free.

He walked with a waddle and when he canters his back legs go together like a rabbit. Our vet noticed this when we went for our 12 week vaccinations. I don't offically know that he isn't in pain as I cant ask him haha (wish i could). He doesn't make it known that he is pain with limping, soreness in getting up / jumping etc. He is quite active but also very lazy at the same time. He loves laying in the sun inside all day if he was allowed.

Thanks so much for all the great advice :) Cooper has is 12.5 months old. He is a purebread Rhodesian Ridgeback with no reports of HD in his Partent or any other puppies in his litter. We have him on 4cyte a supplement for dogs with osteoarthritis, he also has monthly pentasan injections & metacam with his food every 2 days. Luckily he is very well trained (we go to weekly dog obedience classes)& is generally a very well behaved dog. We are so isolated here in Tassie, so I will definitely look into organising a consultation with a animal physiotherapist when in Melbourne. I'm sure the vets will be happy to keep him a little extra before the long journey home as they have been so helpful with everything so far. I have had the x-rays sent off to 2 surgeons (including Chris Preston) and they have both come back with the same prognosis. I have also been to 3 vets in our area and they have all looked at his x-rays and all have think he has hip dysplasia in the RH hip and no signs of arthritis as of yet. How would be go about getting him PennHIP scored? He is currently on a diet for veges and raw wallaby meat to lose 5kg so he has the best possible outcome (he is totally not happy about this,we are getting alot of sad eyes) When i get home from work i will attach a copy of his x-rays.

Hi everyone, I'm just after some personal experience stories from people whos dogs have had a TPO (triple pelvic osteotomy). I'm after any soft of infomation, procedure, recovery etc Our Rhodesian Ridgeback boy Cooper has just officially been diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia We have know form 12 weeks that this could be the case but had to wait until he was fully grown to have it confirmed. Our Vet has referred us to Dr Chris Preston @ Pet emergency Melbourne (emailed off xrays etc) he has advised us that Cooper is a great candidate for a TPO as he is still in the stages of growing & has no signs of arthritis.. yet.. They want to do the operation in the next 2 months. If we don't get this done he will need a full Hip replacement in the future. Also we are in Tasmania & no one down here can do the operation.. We would have to go across on the Spirit of Tasmania & then come home on the Spirit. The surgeon said he should be able to go home the next afternoon after the op & then he would have to be put into one of the crates on the Spirit for the 12 hour journey home. We are a so torn about what to do, Cooper doesn't seem to be in any pain yet, So we are not sure if we want to put him through the operation as we have been told that it is pretty brutal. Also the fact that he will need to be confined to a crate for 6 weeks. He is crate trained, but as he is 12mo he is very energetic (also very lazy at the same time haha) & I feel like he would be very sad to be confined to a crate for so long. We have googled & searched forums for information but we are still so confused about the procedure & recovery, any info/help would be appreciated :) Sorry about the long post..

Where i board my boy i pay $15 per day. This includes all food(super premium dry biscuits), exercise/ play area a couple of times a day (with dogs suited to each other or individually) i know they are very loved & looked after in their care. When i first found out the price i was shocked at how cheap it was.. The boarder told me she didnt want to have seperate prices for small, medium & large dogs so she just worked out the average price charged by other boarders in our area & thats what she charges! We have a Male Rhodesian Ridgeback so we are extremely happy with $15. He also loves going there :)