Legg Perthes question - YorkieTalk.com Forums

Vic602 · 11-01-2007, 02:02 PM

Has anyone else heard of Legg Perthes resolving itself after a year

. My pup is 11 months old and has been diagnosed. Vet wanted to do surgery right away. However, as time goes on she seems to be using her leg most of the time and only occasionally squeaks (she does that if she gets nervous, scared, or stressed so you can't always tell if something hurts her or if she's expressing her dislike).
I'm terrified of the surgery and have a hard time trusting vets who seem to run convenience offices. In other words, they see you when it is convenient rather than when there is a need. I can't even get hold of my vet half the time and have to drive 30 miles to a very expensive emergency clinic when the need arises.
There, I've vented and I feel much better. Anyway, I would appreciate your comments on the Perthes resolving at a year question.

Gracie'sMom · 11-01-2007, 04:53 PM

My little one Abbie had the surgery @ 8 months of age. From what I read and was told by my vet and her orthopedist was that the longer we waited to more painful it would be for Abbie to recover and that just was not fair to her. She came through the surgery great, I think that it was much harder on us then her

Now she is almost a year removed from the procedure and uses the hip and runs and jumps with the best of them. You could hardly tell that there was ever a problem. In retrospect the most frightening thing about that whole ordeal was the bill, about $3000 (thank god for pet insurance and her breader!)

GinosMommy · 11-01-2007, 05:00 PM

My Bichon had this at 7 mos of age. At first we thought it was a sprain, (she hopped around on one leg) as legg perthes does not show itself in xrays right away. A month later, it was worse, and another xray showed LP.

It had gotten so bad, she didnt use her leg at all, ( vet said in her mind there was no leg anymore) and had bad muscle atrophy, and was arthritic. In just 5 weeks after first noticing something strange with her leg!!

If i didnt have the surgery for her right away, she may have had to have her leg removed by 9 months of age.

My vet did a FABULOUS job! She removed the ball of the hip socket and it was all in fragments already. I believe she created movement for her leg by doing something with two tendons.

11 months later she is running, jumping and is a happy dog! My vet said she is an amazing case of how fast they can recover. Altogether the surgery wasnt too bad, she recovered pretty fast, I just limited her movement for awhile, and didnt let her run. I still get nervous sometimes when she is too active. On cold days, she favors the leg still and hops around sometimes. She has some rimadyl for those days.

I would not hesitate to have the surgery. The bill was $1300, thank God they let me make payments.

if you have any questions or want to talk about it, feel free to PM me.

Much luck with your baby! Keep us posted!

Hugs,
Stacy

kalina82 · 11-01-2007, 05:00 PM

Legg Perthes is NOT going to get better with time. The femoral head bone is basically wearing away. This is a bone disease and the only way to "cure" it is to remove the piece of bone. Once this is done she'll be all better. I wouldn't trust a "convenience" vet either. Instead i'd take her to a specialist to confirm this is what she has and then let the orthopedic surgeon do the surgery.

GinosMommy · 11-01-2007, 05:09 PM

here is a pic of her after surgery....this was the worst part, seeing her beautiful fur shaved off and the large incision with sutures.

bsurgery.jpg

Vic602 · 11-01-2007, 08:57 PM

Thanks for your answers. They were very helpful.

tracy409 · 11-03-2007, 12:14 AM

my dog also had a bad leg when he was about 7 months. For a long time, he didn't use his right hind leg at all. We weren't sure if he was hurt somehow, and we brought him to a few vets,and with xrays, he was diagnosed with the legg perthes disease. The vet showed me the xrays and the extra white deteriorated parts and told me he would not heal unless he was operated on.
We then spoke with the lady that sold us our dog, and she told us to just give it about 3 months, he just might heal. So that's what we did. We have ourselves a deadline of 3 months and if we didn't see an improvement, we would put him under the knife.

miraculously, he started to use his leg more after 2 months and around three months, he was fine. Now the muscles on that leg are big and strong and he jumps and runs around great!

so please just give your puppy a little bit of time, you never know.

omega · 11-03-2007, 01:33 PM

My pup had the surgery when she was 7 months, too. She was in a lot of pain and wouldn't use her leg at all - it was starting to atrophy. If she hadn't had the surgery, her leg would have withered away. Just be careful if you choose to wait.

I had a specialist do it and it cost around $1,100.

kalina82 · 11-07-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tracy409

my dog also had a bad leg when he was about 7 months. For a long time, he didn't use his right hind leg at all. We weren't sure if he was hurt somehow, and we brought him to a few vets,and with xrays, he was diagnosed with the legg perthes disease. The vet showed me the xrays and the extra white deteriorated parts and told me he would not heal unless he was operated on.
We then spoke with the lady that sold us our dog, and she told us to just give it about 3 months, he just might heal. So that's what we did. We have ourselves a deadline of 3 months and if we didn't see an improvement, we would put him under the knife.

miraculously, he started to use his leg more after 2 months and around three months, he was fine. Now the muscles on that leg are big and strong and he jumps and runs around great!

so please just give your puppy a little bit of time, you never know.

the muscles may have improved on that leg but i bet if you took an x-ray her hip joint would still look like its deteriorating. Be very careful. One little accident can quickly fracture her hip now and then you'll definitely be going to surgery and it will be more expensive.

Gracie'sMom · 11-07-2007, 01:55 PM

I agree 100% with Kalina82. Act now or you will regret it. It is not fair to have the poor dog suffer. I know that Abbie was in a great deal of pain and the surgery helped her so much!

GinosMommy · 11-07-2007, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gracie'sMom

I agree 100% with Kalina82. Act now or you will regret it. It is not fair to have the poor dog suffer. I know that Abbie was in a great deal of pain and the surgery helped her so much!

i agree as well! dont take the chance! Bianca almost ended up with no leg.

11-01-2007, 02:02 PM	#1
Vic602 YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Port Orchard Posts: 3	Legg Perthes question Has anyone else heard of Legg Perthes resolving itself after a year . My pup is 11 months old and has been diagnosed. Vet wanted to do surgery right away. However, as time goes on she seems to be using her leg most of the time and only occasionally squeaks (she does that if she gets nervous, scared, or stressed so you can't always tell if something hurts her or if she's expressing her dislike). I'm terrified of the surgery and have a hard time trusting vets who seem to run convenience offices. In other words, they see you when it is convenient rather than when there is a need. I can't even get hold of my vet half the time and have to drive 30 miles to a very expensive emergency clinic when the need arises. There, I've vented and I feel much better. Anyway, I would appreciate your comments on the Perthes resolving at a year question.

11-01-2007, 04:53 PM	#2
Gracie'sMom Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 198	My little one Abbie had the surgery @ 8 months of age. From what I read and was told by my vet and her orthopedist was that the longer we waited to more painful it would be for Abbie to recover and that just was not fair to her. She came through the surgery great, I think that it was much harder on us then her Now she is almost a year removed from the procedure and uses the hip and runs and jumps with the best of them. You could hardly tell that there was ever a problem. In retrospect the most frightening thing about that whole ordeal was the bill, about $3000 (thank god for pet insurance and her breader!) __________________ Madison Gracie Lou Abbie Sue

11-01-2007, 05:00 PM	#3
GinosMommy Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Fishers, IN Posts: 2,161	My Bichon had this at 7 mos of age. At first we thought it was a sprain, (she hopped around on one leg) as legg perthes does not show itself in xrays right away. A month later, it was worse, and another xray showed LP. It had gotten so bad, she didnt use her leg at all, ( vet said in her mind there was no leg anymore) and had bad muscle atrophy, and was arthritic. In just 5 weeks after first noticing something strange with her leg!! If i didnt have the surgery for her right away, she may have had to have her leg removed by 9 months of age. My vet did a FABULOUS job! She removed the ball of the hip socket and it was all in fragments already. I believe she created movement for her leg by doing something with two tendons. 11 months later she is running, jumping and is a happy dog! My vet said she is an amazing case of how fast they can recover. Altogether the surgery wasnt too bad, she recovered pretty fast, I just limited her movement for awhile, and didnt let her run. I still get nervous sometimes when she is too active. On cold days, she favors the leg still and hops around sometimes. She has some rimadyl for those days. I would not hesitate to have the surgery. The bill was $1300, thank God they let me make payments. if you have any questions or want to talk about it, feel free to PM me. Much luck with your baby! Keep us posted! Hugs, Stacy __________________ Stacy, Mommy to: Bianca the Bichon 3-6-06, Gino the yorkie 3-15-07 Last edited by GinosMommy; 11-01-2007 at 05:03 PM.

11-01-2007, 05:00 PM	#4
kalina82 Phantom Queen Morrigan Donating Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: with my yorkie baby Posts: 10,141 Blog Entries: 1	Legg Perthes is NOT going to get better with time. The femoral head bone is basically wearing away. This is a bone disease and the only way to "cure" it is to remove the piece of bone. Once this is done she'll be all better. I wouldn't trust a "convenience" vet either. Instead i'd take her to a specialist to confirm this is what she has and then let the orthopedic surgeon do the surgery. __________________ Kellie and Morgan

11-01-2007, 05:09 PM	#5
GinosMommy Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Fishers, IN Posts: 2,161	here is a pic of her after surgery....this was the worst part, seeing her beautiful fur shaved off and the large incision with sutures. bsurgery.jpg __________________ Stacy, Mommy to: Bianca the Bichon 3-6-06, Gino the yorkie 3-15-07

11-01-2007, 08:57 PM	#6
Vic602 YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Port Orchard Posts: 3	Thank you Thanks for your answers. They were very helpful.

11-03-2007, 12:14 AM	#7
tracy409 YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Vancouver Posts: 1	please just wait...your puppy might get better my dog also had a bad leg when he was about 7 months. For a long time, he didn't use his right hind leg at all. We weren't sure if he was hurt somehow, and we brought him to a few vets,and with xrays, he was diagnosed with the legg perthes disease. The vet showed me the xrays and the extra white deteriorated parts and told me he would not heal unless he was operated on. We then spoke with the lady that sold us our dog, and she told us to just give it about 3 months, he just might heal. So that's what we did. We have ourselves a deadline of 3 months and if we didn't see an improvement, we would put him under the knife. miraculously, he started to use his leg more after 2 months and around three months, he was fine. Now the muscles on that leg are big and strong and he jumps and runs around great! so please just give your puppy a little bit of time, you never know.

11-03-2007, 01:33 PM	#8
omega Donating Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: MN Posts: 7,575	My pup had the surgery when she was 7 months, too. She was in a lot of pain and wouldn't use her leg at all - it was starting to atrophy. If she hadn't had the surgery, her leg would have withered away. Just be careful if you choose to wait. I had a specialist do it and it cost around $1,100.

11-07-2007, 01:55 PM	#10
Gracie'sMom Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: New Jersey Posts: 198	I agree 100% with Kalina82. Act now or you will regret it. It is not fair to have the poor dog suffer. I know that Abbie was in a great deal of pain and the surgery helped her so much! __________________ Madison Gracie Lou Abbie Sue