Yep, that's right, you can get the same procedure for your dog that your grandpa might be thinking about. You can get a knee replacement, too. I was just thinking about one of those the other day. Must have had something to do with my last back packing trip.
The question came up after our
last post over at Scratchings and Sniffings on arthritis management in dogs. We recommended the current thinking on conservative medical management in that post. But what if that doesn't work out as well as you hoped? In some cases hips can be so bad that even NSAID therapy won't solve the pain problem.
In those cases there are two surgical procedures that may provide relief.
The
hip joint is a ball and socket joint. The femoral head forms the ball and the acetabulum on the pelvis forms the socket. In a normal dog, or human for that matter, this joint allows for a wide range of movement and supports a lot of weight. In the dog with severe osteoarthritis the joint surface is denuded of protective cartilage and the two ends of bone rub together with any movement resulting in severe pain.
One procedure that has provided relief to many dogs is called a
femoral head and neck ostectomy (FHO). In this procedure the surgeon removes the diseased femoral head (ball) and the neck on the femur. The neck of the femur is the region that connects the ball with the main part of the femur. Over
time, after this procedure and the appropriate physical therapy, the joint is replaced by connective or scar tissue. This "false joint" provides enough support for pain free locomotion in most cases.
This procedure works better in small to medium-size dogs but can be done in larger dogs. You can tell a dog that has had an FHO. Their gate is different. The hip joint is much more lax and can appear kind of floppy when they run. They aren't in pain anymore though and that is the point.
With a total hip replacement the ball and socket joint are replaced by synthetic implants. There is no more painful bone on bone grinding and the range of motion is almost totally normal in the recovered patient.
The
American College of Veterinary Surgeons has an
excellent article comparing these two procedures on their website. They have a chart with Pros and Cons and some great radiographs and photos. One of the cons on total hip replacement is cost. A conservative estimate for both hips would be around $5000.00. In fact PurinaCare just reimbursed a policy holder over $5000.00 for hip replacement surgery. The total bill was around $6800.00. That's not chicken feed but you can bet that's less than grandpa would pay.