Sadie has her surgery today. My breeder had mentioned that sometimes a dog with hip problems might also have elbow issues-such as elbow dyplasia. At my request, I asked Dr. Averill if he would x-ray her elbows before the surgery. Guess what he found? Elbow dysplasia in her left elbow. Remember I said that I had noticed her limp on her front left leg months earlier? Apparently she had fractured her coronoid process and she had two bone chips in her elbow. The Dr. said it was very painful and said it was like a person walking with a stone in her shoe. Needless to say I was so upset. Luckily her right elbow was fine. The Doctor said that it was a simple surgery and that he would do it at the time of her hip surgery. I need to back up a bit. When Dr. Averill looked at the xrays, he told me that Sadie just barely qualified for the TPO type of surgery on her right hip-that there was a 50% chance that the surgery would work. Her Socket joint (acetabulum) was very worn down which made it more difficult for the ball to fit in the socket. A tpo surgery is when they make 3 incisions and rotate the ball of the femur to fit into the socket of the hip joint. It can only be done on puppies less than 10 months old. At the same time I met a women with a 10 month old golden retriever who was 8 weeks out from having her TPO surgery on both hips. Averill also gave this woman's dog a 50 percent chance of it working and it did work. Averill also said that Sadie would need a hip replacement in her left hip because that hip was much worse and that we would have to wait until Sadie was 11 months old for the hip replacement on her left side. I got a second opinion from another orthopedic surgeon and I also talked with my vet and a friend who is a vet. I heard many stories on how dogs live normal lives of running and playing after hip replacements and TPO surgeries. Basically we decided to do the TPO with Averill. He even said that sometimes when you fix one hip you may never have to do the other one. We were very hopeful that that would be the case. She stayed in the hospital for two nights and we brought her home. You can see the flip video below: I am not sure I will be able to posts the videos-there are some problems and it is not working at the moment but I will try again.
The Surgery costs a total of $3900 and it was not covered by my VPI pet insurance. By the way-do not use VPI. They do not cover genetic issues-I know-you never think it would happen to you-especially if you use a reputable breeder! I recommend looking into Petplan or Purinacare insurance. Both of those plans cover genetic issues. The tpo surgery requires a 10 week recovery period-the first six weeks you need to keep them on a leash and in a 5 by 7 carpeted area so that they do not slip. After 6 weeks you are allowed to give them more space and walk them for 3 10 minute walks a day. Sadie got her stiches out after 10 days and basically at the 6 week mark we got her x-rayed and guess what! The TPO did NOT work. Ok-it worked somewhat. Apparantly the hip functionally works when she walks but it does not stay in-it never "caught" Meaning the ball never attached itself to the acetabulum. The Doctor said to come back in 4 more weeks and we will x-ray. At 10 weeks we x-rayed her right hip and it still had not worked. However he said she was not in pain and she was definitely walking on the hip. He claimed she was 50 percent better than before the surgery and that he would not recommend doing anymore surgery on the right hip-it was good enough. Now for more bad news. Her left hip was so out of wack that we needed to do the hip replacement right away! Another surgery! Oh-her elbow worked out just fine. He said both her elbows were pristine. Please note that the pictures below was after her left hip replacement surgery. Keep this in mind for later. I am going to try again to upload the TPO/elbow surgery. The very bottom video (the one where she is wearing the cone is the first tpo/elbow surgery). The other videos are from her hip replacement 10 weeks later. Sorry for the confusion.
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