Thoughts on total hip replacement? - Page 1

Has anyone addressed HD for a GSD pet with a total hip replacement? Would you consider it successful? How is the dog now? How long did recovery take? What did it cost?

I'm considering it for a 4-year old male pet. Thank you.

Shelly when my old Tiekerhook dog was 10yrs old he had a total hip replacement on one side.  He was in real good shape before the surgery which I think is really important with respect to the healing process.  He healed very quickly, the surgery was completely successful and we never regretted it.  As far as the cost, this was back in 2001, and it was very expensive, but I don't remember the exact figure.

My friend did one on her dog ..1and a half year old male . I believe it was well over 3000 dollars . She had it done in Connecticut . She said the pain meds made the dog edgy ,It changed his personality . She also had alot of after care bills from the vet $$$$$$$ she went  all out,, water pool therapy the whole works . It put her into bankruptcy . In the end she put the dog to sleep with in months of the surgery . She said she will never do it to another dog . I think her heart may tell her different if she gets another dog with bad hips . time will tell as she will own many more GSDS before she dies .As we all know bad hips can strike at any time .         thats Just what she told me . I have no first hand experience of my own except to have heard her cry for her dog ..

I had a rescue who had apparently been hit by a car and sustained a fractured hip. To make a long story short, because he was only around a year and one half old, in otherwise excellent health, and had a terrific temperament, I elected to replace his hip. It was expensive, and I had to keep him crated for many weeks and only let him out when on a leash. But the replacement went well, and he healed well and one would never know he had a hip replaced. He lived until this past year at about age 8 when he suddenly collapsed one Sunday morning. I rushed him to my vet (she met me at the clinic) and we could not figure out what was going on except he was clearly in great distress, having trouble breathing, weak and cyanotic. Sadly, I had to have him euthanized. I still miss him very much.

He was not even a GSD, but the one mix I had ever taken,,,,,probably rottie and who knows what. He though he was a GSD I think,  and was loving and fun and happy all these years. We did a necropsy and found a cardiac tamponade...blood in the pericardial sac. I will never know for certain what caused that, but it is possible that all these years he had a latent infection from that hip replacement that finally got to him. Of course, it could have been something else that caused it as well.

Everyone must make their own decision about doing such things, but if the dog is young, otherwise healthy and it is not going to break the bank, I would do it again if the situation arose. I never adopted him out because I loved this dog so much, and of course, one could never ask for an adoption fee to cover that surgery. Just make sure you find a specialist who has done many such operations. Today, they are quite common procedures in dogs.

 I'm not sure if anyone here has heard of this, but it's very interesting....here is an article that came up when I googled the subject.  There are many more articles, but I didn't have time to go through them.  

http://stemcell.taragana.net/archive/stem-cell-therapy-cures-hip-dysplasia-in-german-shepherd/

I agree with your post regarding finding a good orthopedic specialist, there are a lot of vets performing hip replacements and not all of them are good at it.  Obviously I strongly disagree with you about the age of the dog as a factor.  While surgery is inherently easier on the young, that is true of all species including humans, a dogs overall health and condition plays a huge part in his ability to recover and is more important than his age.  As a matter of fact, my 10 year old dogs recovery was without incident, of course he was a tough old son-of-a-bitch!  Each dog must be assessed individually, when it comes to this type of surgery.

 Sueincc,

Actually, I don't really disagree but such surgery will be harder on an older dog for sure, regardless of its health. And when one has to make an unbiased decision, say whether to put resources into other dogs who are younger, age may indeed play a factor. But I would do anything to save one of my personal dogs, regardless of age, if I thought their quality of life would still be good post surgery of any kind.

Agreed. 

 Our pup, Radar, had a THR last November (he turned 2  a couple of months later, in January) .  We had the surgery done at U of Ga, by a very experienced vet, and we have not regretted the decision for a moment.  Radar was a very hyper pup, but he calmed down immediately after the surgery -- we think the bad hip caused so much pain that he could not focus or concentrate.  He came home free of pain meds for the first time in his very short life.  We are now considering replacing the other hip but are waiting pending the completion of an exercise/rehab program.  We would do this again, in a heartbeat -- but of course, every dog is different.  Our dog's "can-do high drive" personality was, in our view, instrumental to the success of the operation.  He knew we were doing all we could to help him, and he did his part, and more.  Feel free to PM me if I can answer any questions you may have.

I highly recommend Dr. Roe at NC State if you're anywhere near that area. Good info can be found on their website and the staff is extremely helpful. I've been there many times in the past and would not hesitate to go back for anything. If you're considering a THR, I would call and see if you could possibly get a consult if your not in the area.
www.cvm.ncsu.edu/vth/clinical_services/ortho/

About 5 years ago, their cost for a TPO was about $1,800.00, FHO about $1,500.00 and THR about $3,500-5000.00 depending on the dog and the involvement. The hardware alone runs close to $1,8000. Prices included all followup visits, xrays and other costs. They may still have estimated costs posted. If you have a teaching hospital or vet school near you, I would go that route. Estimates I got for the same surgeries from a private practice ortho vet were 25-50% higher.

The surgery itself was a great success, I had no complaints, the dog did very well.