Border Collie Hip Dysplasia

[crazy_puppy]

Max, my 9 mnth pup has been diagnosed with severe hip dyspalsia in both hips around a month a ago and is deteriorating a lot quicker than expected. My vet recommended treating him conservatively at first; he has been put on joint formula, anti inflams and cartropehn injections, and cut down the exercise to 20min walks. We took him swimming to the dog beach at Brighton as well but we have taken him to emergency twice since being diagnosed because he was in a lot of pain and wouldn't stop whining. He is not a whiny dog. Our vet has since recommended surgery and referred me to Dr Wing Tip Wong.

Dr Wong was very helpful and gave me my options: Total Hip Replacement, TPO, FHO & Hip denervation. Financial constraints ruled out the first two, so he suggested the hip denervation over the FHO which honestly took me by surpirse. He said when he starts to feel the pain again in a couple of years, we could do the femoral head removal then. Max is usually a very happy & bouncy pup but the vet/specialist visits are taking its toll, he now refuses to let anyone examine him and I dont want to put him through this again in a few years time if I don't have to, so was leaning towards FHO.

My friend recommended Anvet in Mt Waverley for a second opinion, and they suggested the FHO as well. I have booked him in to have the surgery next tuesday. The vets performing the surgery will be Dr Rob Graham & Matt Miller? I am petrified of making the wrong decision and my head hurts from reading so many threads.

I would love some advice, has anyone been to the above vet? Has anyone had a successful FHO or hip denervation? what was the recovery like? Btw I have also been advised of the "other alternative", this is not an option for me at this stage; he is an intelligent happy pup who has good days and bad days, except his bad days can be really bad

Sorry for the long post!

[Cosmolo]

The FHO is where they cut the ball joint off isn't it? How much does Max weigh? That was never given to us an option because Dexter is too heavy for it to be successful.

Personally i would do the denervation- when i saw Wing Tip he said the dogs they had done it on 5-6 years ago showed no signs of pain and were progressing very well.

What is his muscle tone like? Underwater treadmill helped Dex o build some initial muscle- maybe worth a try for Max?

I actually haven't heard of the vets you mention- are they specialists? Do you know how often they do the surgery?

I am so sorry this is happening to you and Max- totally know how you feel, it absolutely sucks. If you need any moral support, feel free to email me.

Hugs from me and dexter

[crazy_puppy]

Thats my baby

[cassie]

Max is absolutely adorable Sorry he and you are going through this Hope you find a solution that works

[crazy_puppy]

Thanks Cosmolo

Yes FHO is where they remove the ball, he is 22KGs at the moment. Max has pretty much lost all muscle in his back legs, I have considered taking him to dogs in motion, but to be very honest am terrified we'll have to take him to emergency again. Last two times was after he was swimming at the beach, he wasn't let off lead on the beach itself only in the deeper water as I didnt want him running around everywhere. I will take him there for a few sessions post surgery as part of his recovery.

The vets doing the surgery are not specialists, but they came highly recommended through a friend who had issues (not HD though) with her own dogs. I did ask them about how often they do the surgery and he said maybe one in six weeks...do you think I should get it done by a specialist only? Michael recommended Dr Charles in Highett, but he is away for a while.

Hows Dex doing?? Thanks again, I will definitely keep you updated with Max.

[Cosmolo]

Underwater treadmill shouldn't be as taxing as swimming and they can make it very slow and steady to start with. Are they doing both hips at once or does he have to have 2 separate surgeries? Is it a 2-3 month recovery for that surgery? I know denervation is 3-5 days and they can do both hips at once.

Honestly- i would only get a specialist, some of them do these surgeries daily and i think it can make a difference. Having said that- i don't know the vets you're talking about- they might be great!

Dex has good days and bad- cartophen injections have helped alot- he was going downhill fast until we gave him weekly catrophen and it seems to have helped. Thanks for asking.

[puggy_puggy]

I would seriously reconsider getting the surgery done by Wing Tip Wong. He is very very highly regarded by his peers and is an orthopedic & neurosurgeon so deals with these things every day. He is also a perfectionist. Where another perosn operating might be happy with something being off by 1cm Wing Tip is not and will try something else to make sure it is perfect.

Can I ask what made you consider other vets?

[Nekhbet]

FHO requires the dogs muscles to then hold the hind legs in place - this is probably why the hip denervation was recommended over FHO if his hinds are weak.

I treated my dog with acupuncture, electric stim therapy, massage and chiropractic because fixing him up was just an insane amount of money with 2 severe hips and 2 bad elbows as well. He's bouncing about and off medications since 9 months of age (he;s about 18 months old now) and we;re very happy with the result as no surgery was required. It also allowed him to build muscle since he was using his hinds again and took pressure of his bad elbows.

eta swimming was not recommeded as the dog does not adequately exercise the hinds enough, hence underwater treadmill or what we did - go to the beach in water just a third up the rib cage to wade

Edited March 31, 2009 by Nekhbet

[ninahartland]

I can't give you any advice{thankfully haven't had that problem},but really feel for you and Max.

Must be awful to have a pup that wants to run around and do puppy stuff,but just can't.

Hope everything turns out ok ,I'm sure it will

Nina

[taters]

How much swimming did Max do at Brighton, he may have overdone it

Quite often walking in the sand isn't great for them either

The more muscle wastage he has, the longer it will take him to recover

He will certainly need muscle if he's going to have FHO

Underwater treadmill will build muscle

[crazy_puppy]

Puggy, a few reasons I decided againt using Dr Wong:

1)I live in SE melbourne and Dr Wong is in Werribee, it takes me an hour to get there with normal traffic, in peak hour its an absolute joke! Max looked really uncomfortable in the back seat for that long, so i'm a bit worried wht he'll be like post op as well.

2)If I do go ahead with the surgery I will have to take 2 x half days off which I don't want to do as I've started a relatively new job and have already taken time off to take max to the vet & specialsts. Plus my manager has health issues and is now in hospital having surgery herself which means I have twice as much work to do. I had planned the surgery so that I can look after him easter weekend and thats after he wouldve already spent two nights at the hospital. Werribee's just too far.

3) Finances; I save almost a grand getting him in mount.

Nekhbet, will most likely be using the underwater treadmill post op, I don't thinks he's going to like swimming so soon, he's had too many bad experiences.

Taters, he wasn't in the water long, half an hour? not more, thats not long is it? We dont let him off lead on the sand, we just walk across straight to the water but even that can be an effort I guess. As far as the needing muscle before the surgery, its odd coz I thought he'd need it to but none of the vets/specialist said it was a problem, they only emphasized the importance of the physio post op, which i will be doing.

Cosmolo it will be one hip at at time, the 2nd one can be done 6 weeks (at the earliest) after the first one but it also depends on how recovery is going.

The vet from the RSPCA got back to me today too ( I figure he would have fair bit of experience in this area) he specializes in orthopaedic surgery, he said FHO is a fairly straight forward procedure, and most vets do them on a regular enough basis, he has heard of Dr Graham and said I should go ahead with the scheduled surgery, it shouldn't be a problem.

Sooo confused. i think i'm going to just go ahead as planned....I'm thinking of getting a doggy door installed so he has access to inside the house instead of just the garage (he has a kennel, bed, food, toys & water). Sound like a good idea?

Has anyone had this surgery done on their pups before?

Thanks nina and cassie, he is precious, he drives me nutz but i absolutely adore him

[Cosmolo]

Crazy puppy- in all honesty, no matter what you do you're going to wonder if you did the right thing so if you are comfortable with the decision (and i know you've done plenty of research and reading) go for it. From all of us here- we wish you the best and hope Max has a speedy recovery. Please keep us updated.

One question- what have they old you the recovery entails? Will he need to be crated? Days/ weeks/ months?

[crazy_puppy]

From what I've been told, he doesn't have to be crated, which I'm really happy about. Apparently most dogs come out of the surgery walking!! I have no idea how though...he will need to rest for the first 2-3 days but after that I have to try and get him to walk on it pretty much staright away even for a couple of mins a day. If he gets all the exercise and physio 6 weeks is a decent recovery apparently, so fingers crossed.

Finding info on the recovery itself is actually what I'm struggling with, how well do they cope? I don't know whether to have him inside the house or the garage is sufficient? Will he have a limp, will he be completely pain free after a few months? How soon to start the underwater treadmill etc

Thanks Cosmolo, I'm glad I finally have a plan, it was doing my head in before. He has changed so much since he was a baby, he grew out of the crazy lol, he still has his moments but nothing like before, you'd be proud of him.

[mokhahouse]

I noticed you are in the SE as am I. My orthopedic specialist is at the Animal Surgery Centre Dr Chris Preston. I have found him to be absolutely fantastic and very thorough. He explains everything in detail. He is in Mt Waverley in Ricketts Road.Just thought I would let you know of him should you require another opinion at all. I hope all goes well and your pup recovers nicely.

[taters]

Crazy Puppy

Yes 1/2 hour swimming is a long time if they have not been built up to swim for that long

Physio can begin 2 days after the op, and underwater treadmill can begin as soon as sutures come out

Max will probably have a limp for a while, he will be on anti inflammatories and possibly even antibiotics,

Good luck with Max's surgery, I hope everything goes well

[Monah]

Oh I am so sorry. Yes half and hour swimming is a very very long time. We were advised only 10 min swims and less than 10 min wallks. I also would advise a specialist but can see you problem, however I regularly travel up to 4 hours each way to see 2 specialists, a real nuisance though. Our HD dog worked up to hour long swims, very slowly , and it made an enormous difference to her muscle growth. However we had to stop due to an allergic problem :D You are doing all the right things. I honestly hope all goes well, your pup is extremely beautiful :D Please let us know how you both get on with the op and with recovery. i for one will be very interested and I'm sure other DOLers would love to know. Love to your pupxxxxxx

[crazy_puppy]

Thanks for all the info and advice everyone

I reallly didn't realise that half an hour was a long time, will definitely be more careful down the track. Max has been really well this week, I'm quite surprised actually. He's had a few limping sessions here and there but besides that he's got all his energy back and is definitely making up for all the days he couldn't walk!! Kinda makes me feel bad for taking him in on Tuesday but I guess its for his own good.

I will definitely give you updates on how the surgery goes, tuesday is not too far now....

[Staff'n'Toller]

I would go with either Wing Tip Wong or see Charles when he is available. <--Sorry didn't realise you were already booked in with someone.

Agree with the others, book a consult with the physio's at Dogs In Motion- underwater treadmill or swimming there is extremely well managed and they will adjust his program accordingly. It is very important to do the physio after surgery to keep the muscle tone he has got and aid healing.

Good luck, is Insurance not an option now because it's a prior condition? Might be worth checking out the different companies.

Edited April 3, 2009 by Staff'n'Toller

[Danelady]

How did the surgery go?

[dancinbcs]

I hope the surgery goes well for your beautiful boy.

Can I ask if he is from a registered breeder and if so what his parents hip scores were ? As a BC breeder of 26 years, find it worrying to hear of a puppy with such bad HD. Most but not all Borders have pretty low hips scores and debilitating HD is very rare in the breed, especially in such a young puppy.