Thank you, LadyJane, I was starting to get worried about the 2 hips vs. 1 hip at a time concept. We would never want to cause P-Nut unnecessary trauma. My vet has consulted with 2 specialists and the treatment plan we developed is surgery on the worst hip first, then the next. He feels it is not ideal for the dog to do both at once, he won't do it. He's done numerous FHOs, has been in practice for a long time (30+ years) and has a great reputation, so I'm going to trust him on this. The total price for both surgeries will be close to the same as if we were doing both hips at once - this vet is not $ motivated, he would have let us make payments if necessary. There are few ortho specialists around here and the only vet school I can think of is UC Davis, a couple of hours away on a good traffic day.
We've thought long and hard about this and am pretty confident we're doing the right thing for little P-Nut and I appreciate everyone's input and good wishes, thanks for being so welcoming!
