Hip Surgery

[ewirz]

I have a 2yr old lab that was hit by a car on Sunday. She's in pretty tough shape. Fractured the right side of her pelvic bone pretty bad. She's at the U of M today getting surgery to repair it. Anyone have experience with this and know what I should expect? Both my vet and the surgeon are fairly optimistic that she'll be able to recover and lead a normal life. Sounds like there will be a long recovery time. I'm hoping that within in a year she'll be able to hunt again.

Saw the whole thing, pretty heart breaking. She was out of my sight for less than a minute and it was a low traffic road. Never thought it would happen to her, my biggest mistake.

Just a reminder to keep them tied up or in an electric fence, save yourself the motional anguish and financial hit, a mistake I'll never make again....

ERW

[gspman]

Sorry to hear of the accident. Hopefully things will turn out okay. I don't have any experience with broken bones so I can't help in that dept. but the U of M is a very good vet school so your pooch is in good hands. Good luck and let us know how things turn out.

gspman

[fishnhooks]

ewirz,

Sorry to hear that. That's a worry of mine as well. Man that's tough, I can't imagine seeing it happen. Best wishes and let us know how things turn out.

"hooks"

[fishin5]

Sorry to hear about that.

I know of 2 dogs that have had what sounds to be the same surgery as yours. The bad news is that both dogs had serious issues with the initial surgery. The good news is both dogs did very well by removing the hip joint after the initial surgery failed. The hip just" floats" and the dogs do fine...you can't even tell! The one dog is 12 and still hunts harder than a lot of younger dogs I know. Good lick and I hope you don't have to resort to that.

[ewirz]

Just thought I'd give an update. Brought her home from the vet yesterday. Surgery went pretty well. With a little help, was able to walk out of the vet. She looks like a mess, black and blue from one end to the other and a big nasty incision. She was able to take a slow lap around the yard this morning on a leash. The meds she's on must be pretty good stuff, doesn't seem to be in too much pain.

Thanks for the kind words. I'll post on her progress.

ERW

[gundy89]

Eric,

Hope everything works out for you and your friend!!!

[fishnhooks]

That would be hard to see. Thanks for posting how it went. Sounds like a pretty tough pup. Let us know how progress is coming along.

"hooks"

[ewirz]

Thanks Gundy.

We took a lap around the yard again this morning, spooked a rabbit out of some bushes. I had to hold her back, she wanted to chase it in the worst way. Had to chuckle....

[fasternu]

I had someone come up to me last year and tell me how I should be ashamed of myself for being so cruel to my dog and keeping it tied up in the yard. I didn't really know what to say, but I asked him which was more cruel, tying a dog on a 50 foot rope, or letting it run wherever it wants and get smacked by a car. It was the end of the discussion. I haven't seen his dog in my yard since then either, suppose they took the hint?

[ewirz]

Like I said, unfortunately I learned the hard way. With 10 acres to run around, a guy would think she would choose that to play in, not the road. I have the 50 footer already set up.

She's making slow progress, a little more moble every day. Probably going to be a handful in a week or two when she starts feeling pretty good but not healed yet.