Gutted

[hairycob]

Our 5 YO hyperactive, flyball loving cocker developed sudden, severe lameness at the beginning of last week. X rays today confirmed both hips are shot. Vet is sending x rays to an orthopaedic specialist. Don't really know what to expect from here. Lots of cuddles tonight.

 

[JillA]

Are the sockets too shallow? Do they do hip replacements for canines - 5 yr old is still very young for that, might be worth researching her genetics?

 

[Clodagh]

All the best for her, how very sad.
JillA - they can do hip replacements but is very expensive and depends if the dog can cope.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Sorry to hear that....five sounds about right for an active dog with no hips to slow down. My friends dog has one bad elbow and he had to stop jumping aged three (much larger dog).

Do the x-rays show damage or poor heads/sockets (which would be genetic)?
It can be managed with meds and lower impact exercise like swimming. Keeping her lean and muscled will help.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I echo CC. One of mine has extremely poor hips. It has changed how we walk them and has been limiting. He can't do as much as we would like, so we tailor our walks for him. It is not, as we dramatically feared, the end of the world and he enjoys his walks and retrieval/dummy work. He loves swimming. He is, as CC mentioned, kept very lean. He has green lipped mussel supplements.

It makes me a bit sad that he isn't able to do huge walks and he would have loved agility. I think you need to adjust your way of doing things and see what the specialist recommends.

 

[mynutmeg]

Your surgical options are likely to be femoral head excision which works well in small dogs - essentially they remove the head of the femur removing thr pain source and they develop a fibrous joint. Other option is hip replacements - long term this is most likely to give good quality of life BUT you're talking thousands per hip (last I looked into it a good 5-6 years ago it was £4000 per hip, I would imagine more now) and some dogs don't cope mentally with the recovery.

Non-surgical options are a case of pain medication and hydrotherapy to promote muscle development and also to use up energy without impact.
My collie has hip dysplasia and started showing signs of arthritis around 5 or 6. Even if I'd had the money for hip replacements I'd not have done them with her - she's very highly strung and neurotic. It took her 6 months to recover mentally from a lump removal so no way would she cope mentally with such a major surgery. She's now almost 14 and it looks like we'll be saying goodbye to her in a week or two as she's really starting to struggle standing (we're away in a caravan next week with her so she's going to be spoilt rotten then go to sleep the week after) and is beginning to go off her food. She's been managed with anti-inflammatories and codiene for pain meds and really until about a year ago was still active coming to the yard and going for walks etc. She's really slowed down in the last 6-12 months dropping down to pottering about on the yard but she's still been happy and wanting to do things.

I think my point is you have surgical and medical options to manage your little one I hope it goes well for you at the appointment

 

[hairycob]

Thanks everyone. X rays were sent to specialist this afternoon and our vet should hear back middle of next week. He is such an active dog I'm worried how he will manage. We'll just have to wait and see what the orthopaedic vet recommends. At least he is insured.

 

[Moobli]

So sorry to hear this. Try to remain positive until you hear back from the specialist and know what you are dealing with. I do hope things aren't as bleak as they first appear.

 

[hairycob]

TBH I'm as worried about OH as Jasper. Flyball is his social life and he can be a miserable ****** if not kept busy. We will do whatever is best for Jasper but goodness knows what I will do with OH. Jasper goes to work with him but there isn't room for 2 dogs in his van.