Surgery at 4 mo. to prevent HD? - Page 1

I just got a phone call from a lady that has recently got a pup from me, her daughter that's 13 
has gotten the chance to work in the vets office and assist in helping with spays and such.

The lady told me the vet said he could do an operation on her pup when the pup turns 4 months old to prevent hip
dysplasia, and said there's just a window of time in which to have it done.
Also, she said when the pup went for her check-up they were manipulating her hind legs and the pup was crying (I hate when vets do that)!

Anyway, the pup has what looks to be a recessed vulva which I had brought to the attention of my vet on the pups initial visit,
the mother dog had been cleaning her to vigorously causing a rash that lead to an open sore, so I had put ointment on it and it completely
healed, but what started out as a normal looking vulva, turned into looking a bit recessed, I had brought it to the attention of my vet and
asked if the puppy went through a heat cycle than maybe it should correct itself, my vet agreed and I made sure the people were aware of
my vets opinion.

Now their vet is saying that doesn't matter and spay her at 6 months.

I spoke with the lady for some length of time and she said she isn't going to let him operate on her young pup or spay her until after her 
first heat, the lady told me she felt upset by the vets intentions, and she has had GSD's in the past and none had hip problems, she just wondered 
why the vet would want to do an operation on a pup to prevent HD.

I felt sad for the pup and angry with the vet.
Am I wrong to feel this way?
Am I missing something? Is this a new way to prevent HD?
Does anyone have any helpful links about this they may share?

All I know is I would never consider this type of operation....

The lady was planning on spaying her pup and has no plans on breeding her.

I felt sad for the pup and angry with the vet.
Am I wrong to feel this way?
No, I agree!!  I've never heard of such a thing and the pup was probably crying because 1) it hurt and 2) my pups always cried and fought when being restrained and manipulated.  I'd probably be *more* worried if the pup went limp and let a vet pull them all over at odd/painful angles.

Lots of vets  (over here, anyway)  'rotate' the hips of young dogs
when they are trying to second-guess hips status [unless the
owner is wise enough to prevent it]  so gawd knows what they
teach at some vet schools.

I am also aware of vets who see  $£$£$£$  in frightening people
into believing their puppies have bad hips and need expensive
hip replacement surgery, long before the dogs are old enough to
be X-rayed, and assessed.   Not  ALL vets, I hasten to add !   But
enough cases to make me very frustrated about it on behalf of
both the dogs and their conned owners.

Wow the things vets will do for $$$.  Why would anyone recommend surgery on a puppy esp for something like that, still growing. That is absolutely ridiculous!  My son has hip dysplasia and the ortho pod recommened surgery for him in his 20's once the plates fused and he had stopped growing. Since when is vet science more advanced then human medicine? Talk about skewed hip scores.

Barb

That lady needs a new vet,  he sounds like a scammer just hunting for money asap.  

I think the procedure that the vet is talking about is Pubic symphysiodesis (also known as juvenile pubic symphysiodesis or JPS,) is a procedure for very young dogs that manipulates the way the pelvis grows to create a tighter hip. It involves cauterizing the growth plates of the pelvis, in other words, the part of the pelvis which would usually grow and spread in puppyhood, no longer does so. To compensate, the rest of the pelvis grows outward, in a manner which enhances the "socket" of the hip and provides better support than that dog would have had naturally. Since it relies on growth in puppyhood, it has a very tight window for surgery – currently no sooner than about 4 months and no later than about 5 months.   (description taken from wikipedia)

There have been NO studies done to show evidence that this procedure actually prevents HD!  It's a procedure based on a theory only! 
There was one study done on this procedure and another procedure, it involved 18 dogs total and it the study ended when the dogs were 2 yrs old.  The conclusion of that study says that JPS (and the other procedure TPO) says that neither procedure prevented hip laxity or the progression of degenerative changes.  
This procedure isn't a cure-all/prevent all for HD, it basically just treats for shallow socket, which is only one cause for HD, there are other types of joint abnormalities that can cause HD too.  
Hip X-rays with PennHip scoring should be taken first to see if the pup is actually at risk for HD, it is recommended only to do the surgery if the pup is deemed at-risk because of laxity.  We all know that it is normal for young puppies to have loose joints! 

BTW, this procedure is so new, we don't know what all the potential side affects are yet from fusing this growth plate at such a young age.  But I'll say one thing, never, ever have it done on a female dog you are hoping to breed someday.  (Yes, I understand that the puppy's owner does not want to breed and will spay her girl...I'm just speaking in general terms) 

As to having her puppy spayed, the only reason why vets really push early spay/neutering is because they want to secure that patient's money now rather than risk losing it later should the owner decide to go elsewhere.  Inverted vulvas pretty much always correct themselves after a heat cycle or two.  I've witnessed this myself.  So you and the puppy's owner are right to want to wait until later before spaying the female.  I would recommend waiting until at least her second heat cycle and observing her condition then.  

she really needs to find a new vet, sounds like the one she has now is just in it for the money.  

A big Thanks to everyone who has responded to this post, I have e-mailed her the link so she can see your opinions on this matter,
really, Thank you to all, I didn't want her to only hear my opinion.

There is also a procedure called a pectinotomy which is supposed to prevent dysplasia. I have no idea how well it works:

Dr. Bardens devised a method of palpation that was capable of detecting dysplastic pups at 7 weeks of age, with an 85% accuracy. Some breeders even went to the extreme of having a pectinotomy performed on their puppies in order to eliminate the potential (future) development of CHD. Although some people went to various extremes, Dr. Bardens "wedge" technique was a great breakthrough in determining potential dysplasticity.

http://www.shilohshepherds.info/lmx.htm

Another one of those "Why I hate vet" stories.

I have many clients that have recessed vulva's. When I have spoken to the owners about it  some have said that the vet suggested surgery if it becomes an issue. The only time that is has become an issue is in the small breed, long haired obese dogs, then it becomes a sanitary issue, the hair mats up around the vulva catching the urine leading to infection. The labs  and GSDs that have that problem has only been an issue when there is a urinary tract or some other infection that causes themselves to lick excessively.
That being said, I had a yello lab in saturday that had a recessed vulva and she had fleas really bad, the fleas seemed to prefer the vulva area and made a nasty nest.. which irritated her.