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