Toby had his hip joint removed at 9 months for this. He had hydrotherapy for maybe 8 weeks after the surgery and by the end you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. Because he wasn't weight bearing on it for a while before the op, he had a lot of muscle wastage, that he won't get back. For that reason I would say get surgery ASAP- it is very very rare that it will improve without surgery. He is now 2.5 and is much faster than Maisie, no limping or holding the leg. The only thing I would notice is that the other leg seems to twinge at times but I think this is because it is taking more strain now. I got it xrayed a few months after the op to make sure he didn't have it in the other hip too. It's the best thing I did for him.he would have had pain since he was a small pup but nothing anyone could pinpoint, but then about 4 weeks before the surgery he held the leg up almost 24/7. |