Need advice

[bgarner]

My lab fell into a hole about a week ago and dislocated his hip. No dido Asia, just a bad injury. Vet put it back in, but it came back out a couple of days ago. He is recommending a "thermal head ostiectomy" where part, or all, of the head of the femur is removed so that a "false joint" forms from scar tissue. Does anyone have any experience with this and have some advice. I am not a field trial guy, just have a really good dog, that my son and I really enjoy hunting with.

[archer66]

How old is he? What will it cost? I guess the prognosis is that the joint won't stabilize and strengthen with rest?

[Cedarswamp]

I had a THO done on a "mutt" that I had that got out of the yard and got hit when she was just under a year old. She recovered really well, had no issues with it once the recovery period was done, not even a limp. She was about 50 lbs I guess. I couldn't give you long term results since she died at about 3 years old from other issues. Right at 20 years ago it cost me just under $400, don't know what it would run now.

From what my vet told me you reset and put it in a sling for the muscles, etc to "tighten" back up. He said that generally, if it pops back out, especially after a couple of days, that it won't stay in if you reset it the second time. I never had one of my own dogs to dislocate a hip, I ask a lot of questions, it may have been one he was working on when I was there one day or a rescue dog or if it was a continuation of explanation from the dog above about what other uses the THO had (I wanted to be a vet growing up). It's also used in CHD when the joint is too bad, it can help with lameness issues from bad hips.