Activity after surgery (very long)

[Guest Anonymous]

I have a 9 month old Chocolate Lab Retriever named Angle. He is so precious. He is MY first dog. I got him at 6 or 7 weeks and I have babied him. We are very attached. We have done lots of training and had started agility training at about 7 months old.

At 8 months old, one day he just started limping. It came out of nowhere. I was very concerned. We went to the vet. They moved it around and checked him out and diagnosed him with hip dysplasia. I was mortified. I had prayed that I would not have to go through this (but what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger).

So we knew what it was so now it was time for action. We wanted to stop the pain (he almost instantly started whining about his hip). So we tried some stuff...nothing seemed to relieve the pain. He continued to get worse and fast. By 9 months he was not even using his right rear leg. It was awful. His mental health was not doing great either because I was afraid to take him places because all he did was limp and I did not want him to fall. We finally did x-rays at our local vet to find out that both hips are bad (his right is severe, his left is poor).

So after 1 week of intense research and upwards of 50 phone calls to vets we decided to see a vet that could do an FHO (femoral head osteotomy) on Angle's right hip (the one that hurt). I realize that this is not the absolute best surgery because he is a large breed but I was in a situation where money counted. The vet was extremely confident and very knowlegable and worked with me. He wanted the best for the dog, not the best for his practice. I drilled him for like an hour. He decided to see the dog. After looking at Angle's x-rays and feeling him walk he said that he felt that it was really bad. (I already knew this but hey).

So surgery came on Nov 4th. The doc said that when he opened up the hip he could really see why Angle was in so much pain. I felt horrid. He is only 9 months old and to have all that pain. Well the doc assured me that this surgery will completely relieve the pain.

Everything went great. Angle is doing really well. He is recovering like a champ. I am so proud. I know he is going to do great. Now I have to make an effort to keep him in shape and healthy. I know that he will have his limitations and most likely he will have to have the other hip fixed (That one will be a THR-total hip relpacement) later in life. I want to involve him in a sport that will use his strengths. He loves to retrieve and I just watched a competition on Animal Planet, the lauch, where dogs run for a bumper and leap off a dock into water.

Now to my question. Does anyone know if that will affect his hip once it has 100%, fully and completely heal? Will he be able to tell me if he can or cannot? I do not want to inflict more pain on this dog. He is my heart and soul. But I want to keep him active and healthy. Should I stick with obedience competition...is it less stressful on the bones and muscles?

He is already certified with his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) and in April he will hopefully be tested for his Delta Society Pet Partners program certification. He is going to make an excellent Animal Assisted Therapy Dog and I am content if that is his max but I want him to do as much as he wants. To be active and live a good life.

If anyone bothers to read this whole thing and has any comments let me know. I would really appreciate it.

[Guest Anonymous]

[quote name='Dog Lady']
So after 1 week of intense research and upwards of 50 phone calls to vets we decided to see a vet that could do an FHO (femoral head osteotomy) on Angle's right hip (the one that hurt).

I want to involve him in a sport that will use his strengths. He loves to retrieve and I just watched a competition on Animal Planet, the lauch, where dogs run for a bumper and leap off a dock into water.

Now to my question. Does anyone know if that will affect his hip once it has 100%, fully and completely heal? Will he be able to tell me if he can or cannot? I do not want to inflict more pain on this dog. He is my heart and soul. But I want to keep him active and healthy. Should I stick with obedience competition...is it less stressful on the bones and muscles?
[/quote]

Hi,
I know a Sheltie that had an FHO about 9 months ago. She's competing very well in agility now. I don't know how much of her rehab and recovery would apply to Angle since there's such a size difference but, I am certain of one thing. Swimming would be the best possible exercise in the world for your boy. I don't know about the running and jumping in the water portion but, the swimming would be great. (The Sheltie I know actually had a strict swimming schedule that was a major part of her rehab.)

It seems to me that there are retrieving trials that don't incorporate running and jumping off a dock. Maybe I'm thinking about some sort of hunt test or field trial. Perhaps someone with a sporting dog could fill you in better.

I don't know if he would let you know he was hurting before the pain had escalated to a high level. Dogs can be stoic and, since they are generally so eager to please, they can actually carry on doing something that would hurt them just far longer than they should. If you could train yourself to REALLY be aware of his gait then, chances are, you could spot a problem before he would "tell you".

Sorry you and your boy went through this but I'm glad to hear he's doing well.

[Horsefeathers!]

My own Lab had FHO surgery a couple of months ago, also. He, too, is recovering remarkably well and though he still isn't 100%, he shows improvement every day.

I would think that your questions would be best answered by your vet. I don't mean this in the generic once answer fits all sense, but I'm just thinking that there are so many ways that hips can go geeky (my scientific term here) and so many degrees of success and recovery. Where one dog may be 110% better, another may only have marginal success. See what I'm getting at? I do know that my vet said that this was the only(?) orthopedic surgery where as much use as possible is recommended immediately following surgery and the more it's used, the better they recover. Sounds odd, huh?

Anyway, sorry I can't directly answer your question, but I'm just thinking that it would have to be a case by case thing. Your dog may be better than new, or only slightly better. Your vet should be able to give you a better idea of what kind of recovery to expect. With Tucker (my Lab), we were only trying to go for some pain relief and don't expect him to be 100% as there is more damage to his pelvis that can't be repaired.

Good luck and keep us updated.

[Guest Anonymous]

Question for HF and Dog Lady...... Did the vet put your labs on Glucosomine? The reason I ask is because my dads bloodhound had/has hip dysplasia (since 6 months) and left hip was bad, right was moderate. Well they but her on Glyc. Right is gone left is healing... I am not saying it is a cure all by any means but that maybe it will help or could help...??!! Of course since both have had surgery this would be like a helper medication more than anything... Just a thought along with a question! :wink:

[Horsefeathers!]

Actually, we did have him on glucosamine prior to surgery... mega doses of it for quite a while. The problem with Tucker was that his dysplasia was to the point that his femoral head had almost backed all the way out of its socket. There was basically no joint left. He has some old damage where his femur was broken and healed way wrong (partially causing the problem of the socket going all wonky) and also a fracture in his pelvis on the other side that healed badly. His whole back end was so screwed up that we feared having to put him down. We never knew anything about these old injuries until we had him xrayed when he began limping and by then, they were all healed, but wrong. He was really lame for a while and he's always been such an energetic go getter. The FHO surgery is showing some success and all we are really trying to do is alleviate some of his pain and gimpyness (hey, another technical word). Anyhoo, we do still have him on glucosamine. The vet figures it can't hurt.

[Guest Anonymous]

These stories are so sad. Makes me even more thankful to have my healthy dogs.

[color=green][size=2]Now, as I go home tonight to find them both sick and puking.........[/size][/color]

[Guest Anonymous]

Well Hf I hope he does great and is pain free.... Gigi fingerscrossed for pukefree dogs!! :lol:

[Guest Anonymous]

LOL! Thanks! At least hubby gets home first to do the clean up. Wait...tonight he's changing my breaks so I'll be home first. DRAT.

[Guest Anonymous]

After I found out that he had hip dysplasia I did a lot of research and glucosamine came up. I started him on a liquid glucosamine called syn-flex. We aslo switched his food to a food that has high doses of glucosamine. I think it works. I had to have the surgery done because it got too bad, too fast but once he started the glucosamine he would have better days than others. Seemed some days there was less pain. He is still on it and I hope that it will help prevent further damage to the other side and help the healing process and the development of arthritis in his right hip.