Hip Dysplasia/dog hip replacement surgery experiences? Need advice

pnsballard

pnsballard

New member
All...I have an outstanding 24mo old Vizsla and he was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia yesterday. We're not prepared to put him down so are looking at hip replacement surgery on the left side. I am looking for gundog owners who have been through this experience before and can offer encouragement/lessons learned. Dakota is my first birddog and I've got him pretty much finished up on my own as a newbie going into his first full season having a clue...and now this. Can anyone share experiences with me and my family? Thank you for your time. I am also looking to get a refund from my breeder.
 
I see you are contacting the breeder, which I think you should. He needs to know that the dogs he bred are throwing dogs with bad hips. If he is any kind of reputable breeder he should never breed those dogs again and have them neutered/spayed.
 
Total hip for HD

Where will the surgery be done? You want a very experienced orthopedic team.

Is your dog overweight? Fat dogs should lose weight before surgery.

Is he neutered. A crazy, very hyper dog may be difficult to keep quiet after the surgery. You don't want to breed this dog anyway.

A total hip will usually cure your dog. It works very well with most dogs.

If I had a good bird dog with HD, I wouldn't hesitate to spend the money.
The technology is excellent and the surgery is relatively routine.

Good luck.

Walt
 
dvmweb said:
Where will the surgery be done? You want a very experienced orthopedic team.

Is your dog overweight? Fat dogs should lose weight before surgery.

Is he neutered. A crazy, very hyper dog may be difficult to keep quiet after the surgery. You don't want to breed this dog anyway.

A total hip will usually cure your dog. It works very well with most dogs.

If I had a good bird dog with HD, I wouldn't hesitate to spend the money.
The technology is excellent and the surgery is relatively routine.

Good luck.

Walt
Click to expand...

Just started the process so not sure who is going to do it. The Vet likes U of Minnesota and has a colleague at U of Missouri. I'm checking with my alma mater U of Georgia's small animal teaching hospital to see if there is an alumni discount or something.

He is not even close to being overweight, in fact he's ripped. You can go to my public profile and see an album of photos I have posted of him. He's gorgeous and a blast and is becoming a pretty good gundog too. This would be his first full season since I couldn't work with him much or get out much last season due to my job.

I did have him neutered while he was under for hip x-rays this Friday so he's good to go there--poor guy.

I might use this forum to post his progress/recovery as we work through this process. Maybe it will help others in the same situation.
 
Forgot to add, check my avatar, that's a photo of him from some feild training we were doing a couple of months ago. Had a friend of mine take some photos of him while we were working. The Vizsla is a very handsome breed.
 
Canine Hip Dysplasia

The OP and others should not take this the wrong way.

But its very disheartening to see CHD still so prevelent in our gundog breeds in 2011. Its not 1950!!! A hip replacement in a human, let alone a dog is a BFD, $$$$$, and lengthly rehab.

CHD is a genetically controlled pathology, although it can be influenced by diet, excess weight gain in growing puppies, etc. IF the breeding stock is free of the CHD genes, then the pups will be too. OFA scores of "good or excellent" in the sire and dam plus grandparents will virtually guarantee that the pups will be free of HD. Also since CHD is generally bilateral, both hips are affected in most cases. So now are we talking about "bilateral hip relacements" ???? :(

There are too many good dogs of all breeds with clean hips and pedigrees to mess with breeders who dont x-ray their brood bi##hs and stud dogs.

NB
 
Last edited:
I don't disagree but it does happen. The Vizsla is down to about a %6 rate of HD as a breed which is actually a success story since a decade or so ago it was about a 12% rate. I just happened to lose the lottery I suppose. Typically these dogs are not overweight. My V in particular is on the smaller end of the male standard (52lbs) and is very lean/muscular. The sire has a good OFA but the grandsire although good OFA as well has thrown a batch of fair OFA pups from what I can tell so it is in the line somewhere. The dam is actually from Romania and as I recall she is OFA good but I don't have her pedigree's hip certs. I'm not sure what system the Europeans use.

From what I can tell, the long-term costs and escalating visits/meds over time if not corrected would end up costing about the same so it is pay-me-now or pay-me-later.
 
I agree with you Natty, when I chose my lab I looked for good hunting field stock with OFA good/excellent hips, elbows, CERF'd eyes etc. There are far too many non-screened animals being bred. Still, in the whole "genetic crap-shoot" of life my puppy ended up with HD severe enough to warrant replacement surgery at 12 months of age. Yes it was expensive, my dogs surgery was 2900 dollars which was a 50% discount for referring veterinarians. The rehab wasn't bad, about 3 months and he is doing wonderfully, completely sound and hunting. I neutered him on the X-ray table the day I took his radiographs, also informed the breeder.
 
I agree with you natty a lot of it goes with breeding history.The people that I got my gsp didn't check the dam to see if she was a carrier of parvo and my pup got even though she had her shots for it.I talked to several vets and they said that's how she got it because she was 3 1/2 months old and was not around any infected animals or areas that had it. My vet was able to save her because it was caught soon enough to do so.
 
What some people jumping to conclusion don't understand is the fact that it could happen even in dogs with good scores. A pup could have trouble in the birth cannal. They are very fragile at that time, they may be laid on not knowing etc. Our tests are great tools but not the end all of end alls so to speak. I know of a spaniel that had to be put down because of the same thing. None of the other pups had an issue, nor future generations. Parents all GOOD.
One can put bad hips in a dog simply by too much jumping and sustained running early in life. Jumping off steps, tail gates and so on are a BAD BAD idea. I put it right in the pup agreement. So far no issue ever, but it could come up some day for just these simple reasons alone.
This is also why to a new owner I stress "TAKE YOUR TIME" and no sustained running or jumping untill the growth plates have a chance to start closing... Not saying this is what you did at all, just that there is other reasons for this situation then poor breeding practise.
Good luck with your dog. I would not be able to do that, I wish you the best.
 
FCSpringer said:
What some people jumping to conclusion don't understand is the fact that it could happen even in dogs with good scores. A pup could have trouble in the birth cannal. They are very fragile at that time, they may be laid on not knowing etc. Our tests are great tools but not the end all of end alls so to speak. I know of a spaniel that had to be put down because of the same thing. None of the other pups had an issue, nor future generations. Parents all GOOD.
One can put bad hips in a dog simply by too much jumping and sustained running early in life. Jumping off steps, tail gates and so on are a BAD BAD idea. I put it right in the pup agreement. So far no issue ever, but it could come up some day for just these simple reasons alone.
This is also why to a new owner I stress "TAKE YOUR TIME" and no sustained running or jumping untill the growth plates have a chance to start closing... Not saying this is what you did at all, just that there is other reasons for this situation then poor breeding practise.
Good luck with your dog. I would not be able to do that, I wish you the best.
Click to expand...

I assume you mean you wouldn't be able to do the hip replacement? Appreciate the good wishes. I have 3 daughters and a wife who have now fallen in love with him and I am pretty attached myself. We'll figure it out.
 
Hip Replaced

Well...for those who may be interested in my Dakota's hip replacement we've had the procedure done and he's recovering. He is currently crate-bound with pee/poop breaks but that's it for the next 6 weeks. We ultimately decided to take him to the University of Missouri and Dr. James Cook. Phenominal staff and vet! Come to find out Dr. Cook was named America's Best Veterinarian in 2008. Dakota went through the surgery like a champ and it is good we did it when we did. He already had a smooth/pollished exposed femoral head where the cartlidge had worn off and the bone was polishing itself against what little socket was actually there. They went with the total cementless implant and Dr. Cook was very happy with the results. Came in at the low end of the estimate which was a very nice surprise.
 
I applaud you. Many would have just put the dog down.

I hope you guys have many happy years together.
 
8 weeks Post op - Left Total Hip Replacement

We're 8 weeks post op and had x-rays yesterday in a followup. All looks GREAT and we're ready to start ramping up activity and weining off so much crate time through the next 4 weeks then turning him loose. Have a few pounds to work off him but won't take much to do that. He has already switched weight to the repaired side. Louisiana upland game better prepare--we're coming for ya. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top