Annie's FHO Surgery!! 11/28/12

Annie when she was a puppy last year.

Recent photo of Annie in her cute little Butterfly Dress.

"It was so hard to have this surgery done!!

Annie is our 1-1/2 old female Yorkie that was diagnosed with legg perthes disease. We knew we had to do the best for her and the only option was FHO surgery. Following you will find the details of everything and the experience that we are going on.

Legg-Perthes Disease in Dogs  

Definition: Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease (Legg--Perthes Disease for short) is a painful disorder that primarily affects young, small-breed dogs and terrier breeds. For some unknown reason, the neck and head of the dog’s femur (the long upper leg bone that joins the pelvis to form the hip joint) spontaneously degenerates and dies, causing the ball-and-socket hip joint to deteriorate and, ultimately, to collapse. Once this happens, the affected dog cannot bear weight on that hip, because the joint has completely lost its structural integrity. Symptoms include hind limb lameness, limping, pain upon flexion and/or extension, reluctance to rise, run, jump or play, general overall weakness, exercise intolerance, muscle atrophy, irritability, chewing, licking, bothering the affected hip joint, audible clicking or snapping coming from the hip joint during movement or when rising. Legg-Perthes disease is an irreversible disorder that causes hind limb lameness, pain and disfigurement of affected hip joints. Left untreated, this condition will progress the hip joint will continue to deteriorate and the dog’s pain and other symptoms will worsen and become more obvious.

Treatment: Fortunately, despite the progressive nature of Legg-Perthes disease, surgical and non-surgical treatment options are available to help alleviate pain and improve the dog’s quality of life.

**As you can see in the X-Ray Annies' right hip is severely affected the bone growth is causing her spine and hips to be pushed to one side. We only had one option and and was the Femoral Head Ostectomy surgery. **

Femoral Head Ostectomy or FHO Surgery

This is a  surgical procedure in which the femoral head and neck are removed from the femur. Once removed there is no longer any hip joint, yet overtime scar tissue forms in between the acetabulum (socket) and the remaining part of the femur. Often this gets referred to as a false joint because the scar tissue reduces the amount of bone on bone contact and therefore results in a significant decrease in overall pain. Usually only one side is done at a time allowing for it to heal before the other side is done, if needed of course. The remaining femoral bone is supported entirely by the dog's thigh muscles. This is why it is extremely important to enroll your dog in canine rehabilitation following the FHO surgery. This will truly give you the best chance to help build muscle mass in the hind legs.

An FHO can be performed on any size dog however, smaller dogs seem to do much better with this surgery. Dogs that are overweight or have a significant amount of muscle atrophy will definitely take longer to recover, but as long as you have a plan for post-operative physical therapy everything should be fine.

 The FHO Surgery is a rather simple procedure in the grand scheme of things. Most dogs return to close to normal activity level after the surgery. The false joint that forms is smoother and allows comfortable range of motion when running, playing and walking.

On the positive side of things, there is very little down time after the surgery. Exercise restriction is usually only a few days. Exercise is encouraged soon after surgery because of the need to develop the scar tissue. Have a plan for after surgery or visiting a canine rehabilitation facility in you area will dramatically improve your results.

Lastly it is important to emphasize one more thing. Proper pain management for the dog after surgery is vital. Many times the veterinary surgeon may only prescribe pain meds for a week after surgery. This is fine for some dogs and not for others. If your dog is off of pain medications and not using their leg 100% of the time, discuss continuing with the pain medications for a little while longer.

Dog Femoral Head Ostectomy or Femoral Head Osteotomy or FHO Surgery, which ever you want to call it, is great surgical option that improves the lives of many dogs that are suffering with joint disease.

**We scheduled the surgery for 11/29/12 and I am going to share our experience as it happens.**