perhaps interesting - Page 1

Those are the worse xray's I have ever seen. Can't even imagine how the dog could move at all. Wish it was in English, i would love to read his story. 

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.timmy-hd.de/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.timmy-hd.de%26hl%3Den

     If you google it, it will translate it into english for you. Very touching.

Very interesting link. Summary of events: The dog had bad HD since a pup. Diagnosed at 6 months in Aug 1997. Both hips were bad, the left side worse than the right. The 'most terrible hip you have every seen pix' are from x-rays taken after he had the head of his thigh (ball of the fermur) removed. When you remove that part of the hip you remove the part that causes pain. Over time tissue forms in the area to build an artificial joint of sorts supporting the structure well enough to be functional. This procedure is often quite successful. As it was here. The owner described how she picked up her 6 months old pup in the afternoon of the day after the operation - the dog was led to her, meaning he walked away from it! A bit wobbly still, but walking, and wagging his tail. Pretty amazing. 3 days later he could use that left leg quite well already. The owner was instructed to carefully build the muscles and keep the dog lean (which she admits she was not always successful at). The dog did agility, could run, jump and play and had a very productive live. In the winter months he would sometimes experience some pain which was managed successfully with meds. In the fall of 03 though the dog would not do stairs (12 steps to her appartment) or jump in the car, he would have problems getting up and started to go lame until he eventually refused to walk. It was assumed at first that this time his right hip caused the problem. Not entirely, it was discovered that he had also developed Cauda Equina, which is a condition in which the spinal cord is pinched causing considerable pain. In March 2003 he was operated on the spine, again successfully and quickly regained his mobility. Early 2004 a full hip replacement was done on the right hand side. 4 weeks after that operation he had good use and control over his right leg already and progressing quickly. He was confined to walking on the leash only for the first 8 weeks and had pix taken on an agility course doing low jumps and all 3 months after the replacement of his right hip.

After reading this (thanks for that link) I think I have to review my opinion about total hip replacement. I used to think it was not in the dogs best interest because of extensive recouperation time. Mind you this dog had no complications to any of his operations but it is certainly worth looking into further and at least worth considering, depending on the individual situation and severety and overall health of the dog. This dog will be 11 on Feb 6th and is happy playing with the new puppy his owner got recently. So still going strong and playful. I will definitely bookmark that site. I find this very interesting.

Very interesting!

I have known dogs with total bi-lateral hip replacements who have gone on to amazing careers, pain free well into their senior years, when they (and we) would be arthritic anyway.  Had my dear Onyx ever demonstrated pain from his dysplastic hips, her would have been sporting store-bought ones within the week.

Anyone remember the amazing Mali in the '97 DVG Nationals with his brand new hips? Pretty awesome, jumping up and spitting in the helper's face during the guarding. We were all monumentally inpressed!

SS