Dislocated Hip Need Advice Please

[Seren]

Hello, I need some urgent advice here please. My 1 year old Golden Retriever was run over yesterday and at the vet they found she had a dislocated hip. They operated and put it back in. I have just now had a phonecall from the vet to say that the hip has gone out again and they are operating now to put it back in again.

I am so upset - can anyone advise me as to the outcome of this or what they may have to do to stop it happening again? I will be talking to the vet again tomorrow but being Sunday afternoon today they just wanted to get in and operate at the moment.

Thankyou for reading - I hope someone can advise me.

[persephone]

I am so sorry - if the vets are unhappy once again - perhaps your dog may need to be treated at a specialist orthopedic vet?

Some one will be along to offer an idea or two, I'm sure .. tho things can be quiet here Sun nights....

[VizslaMomma]

In about 50% of these procedures the first is often enough to get the hip back in place. The dog is under an anesthetic and the ball of the hip is 'popped' back into the socket.

Sometimes, the hip comes out again. Further action is needed for a long term result. Maybe they are doing a Toggle pin. Procedure has a high success rate.

A big plus is that your dog has not been left undiagnosed with the dislocation . Sometimes this happens.

Paws crossed for you both.

[Rappie]

How worrying for you!

Unless there is an underlying condition like severe hip dysplasia it is generally indicated to always attempt closed reduction of hip luxations. Unfortunately, particularly in the case of traumatic luxations there is often a significant amount of damage to the joint capsule and the surrounding muscles and it may only be successful in around 50% of cases. In the cases where it is not successful, there are two general options - either a surgical procedure to provide stabilisation of the joint through placement of a toggle pin or similar, or a surgery called a femoral head and neck excision. Surgical stabilisation is a better option for young, large active dogs because it maintains the hip joint, however unless the vets are very experienced at orthopaedic surgery it is likely to require referral to a specialist surgeon. The femoral head and neck excision can be performed in general practice and can have good results however it important to be aware that it is considered a salvage procedure- which means that the head of the femur is removed completely and between the muscle and scar tissue a functional 'joint' forms in the space. It is certainly done in larger dogs and with success ( there have been a few cases on this forum) but is not normally the primary recommendation unless there are other compounding factors. Your vet should discuss the pros, cons and likely costs with you for both options.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Rappie

[Bjelkier]

My friends samoyed dislocated his hip and I believe they had the femoral head removed. He's recovered really well and these days you'd hardly know there had been a problem at all.

Hope your dog makes a full recovery very soon.

Edited July 20, 2014 by Bjelkier

[Seren]

Thanks so much to everyone for your replies. I have read your reply closely, Rappie. I will talk to the vet this morning and ask what he thinks will be the best outcome for Lace. Being a Golden Retriever and being only 1 year old and very active I am afraid that more surgery may have to be the best option. The vet said that her xrays show she does not have very deep hip sockets and that is worrying me. Her parents have hip scores of '3' for the Father and '5' for the Mother, I am not sure what this mean. I am at the moment trying to get as much information as possible. Thanks again.

[Staffyluv]

My last foster girl had a dislocated hip that was left untreated, so couldn't be put back in place.

They operated and removed the femoral head - it took about 3 weeks before she was putting weight on the leg and by 6 weeks she was running and using the leg again.

[Natsu chan]

Seren scores of 3 and 5 are very good. Perfect is zero and the highest 106 so those are good scores. About 20 years ago I had a dog hit by a car and dislocate her hip she was 8 at the time and given a very poor prognosis she had the toggle done and spent the next 7 years running around without any lameness at all. Fingers crossed all goes well for you.

[Mystiqview]

One of my border collies jumped out of my partner's car at about 60km/hr and dislocated her hip. Faith was 5 years old when it happened.

They put it back in only to have it slide out again.

They gave us really two options:

1. A toggle is inserted into the hip socket and the ball joint or head of the femur. This holds the hip in place.

2. They remove the femoral head and then muscle and scar tissue is used to hold the joint in place.

3. Hip replacement.

We went with option one to fall back on option two. I know it sounds drastic - but they ended up having to remove the femoral head as the damage from the dislocation would not lend well with the toggle. But actually 12 months later you would never know Faith has no hip joint on one side. It takes awhile longer to heal as you have to wait for scar tissue to form and then build up the muscle. Pros - no arthritis in that joint.

You need to ensure that the dog does not get excessively fat and remains relatively fit as it is the muscle that really works.

The toggle - is essentially a rubber band and can break so it will need to be done again. The vet specialist told us it had about a 60% success rate

Hip replacement - very expensive and you only get a few years before having to replace it again.

Seren - if you want to talk to me more about Faith - PM me and I am happy to talk more off forum if you need. I can give you the name of the vet who did the surgery with Faith and the aftercare - I am in Brisbane.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Mystiqview

[caninephysio]

Generally if the hip pops out after the first episode of relocation, then its not typically successful on a second attempt.

It may require a toggle pin as mentioned above, but if the structures around the acetabulum (cup of the hip) are too severely damaged then a femoral head and neck excision is often required (cutting the ball off the hip joint)

Recovery from this can vary from patient to patient and also depends on the skill of the surgeon.

Typically need lots of rehabilitation after this

Good luck

[VizslaMomma]

I thought your name was familiar.

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/258467-dislocated-hip-need-advice-please/page__p__6527628__fromsearch__1#entry6527628

I lived in the USA for a few years. I have friends whose dogs ( all of different breeds) had hip replacements.

Ages ranged from young ( 9 months after MVA) to 12 years (simply old age).

All dogs made good recoveries and went on living life well.

My own Vet here in NSW does them very often. I have seen dogs in the surgery who came in before, unsteady and then post-op, recovered.

It does take time, it does take dedication from the owns to help the dog recover.

My breed is an active breed. We have always considered that if the need arose, we would let a dog have the same type of surgery.

Ask as many questions as you can. Make sure your husband understands the full picture too.