Legg Perthes-I'm scared
 

My 2 yr old Yorkie has developed a lameness, holding up his back left leg. After a week, I took him to the vet,and exam and xray confirmed Legg Perthes disease and a femoral head and neck excision was recommended. They put him on Rimadyl for pain and inflammation and he is doing better.I postponed the surgery for a week, I have been so upset thinking of my baby's bone being sawed off.
Does any one have experience with this operation? They say getting it removed now while he has strong mucles and limited damage to the whole hip joint is best. But, when I see him running better, maybe due to the medication, I hesitate to put him through such a awful sounding operation. HELP.

Oh my.. That does sound scary!! Hope someone can help you!!

Rest your heart kalago and also welcome to Yorkie Talk.

My Schatzie was diagnosed w/ Legges Perthes and had the surgery. She became lame appx. 7 months.

As you I was worried to death and cried my heart out. However, the surgery was much needed and Schatzie has healed up just fine.

There have been a handful of members here on YT with their furbabies going through this, please feel you are not alone in this.

Schatzie's recovery was extreamly fast and she is doing wonderful. Your furbaby needs to have this surgery, if not the jagged bone on top of the femoral will continue to cause pain and discomfort. If your baby continues to carry himself on 3 legs it will only cause further structure, hip and other health issues later on.

Remaining on pain killers (sp) does not heal or fix the problem, it is ONLY a mask.

Within just a couple days after the surgery Schatzie was up and acting like her Yorkie self. It takes time for the muscle to regrow around the bone but it does. I was told that probably her only longterm health issue "might" be arthritis.

Legg Perthes-I'm scared
 

I am so sorry to hear this.....you are right to be scared.My Puppy had the surgery when he was 6 months old. He did very well and runs and plays with the other guys but he is definitely lame., although the Vet assured me he would be almost perfect.....I have been told it can take up to a year for a full recovery and to build up the muscles to take over the stregth lost with the joint removal.During his recovery time he jumped off a pillow on the floor, lost his balance and broke his front leg. He had to have surgery again and has a plate in the leg. That broken leg is just fine but I am a nervous wreck with this dog now as he is still off balance. .
If I were you I would most definitely get another opinion before getting into the surgery. It is not quite as benign as it sounds. Also, 2 years is a bit old for a puppy to first discover Leggs Perthe. It is a genetic happening and usually appears as a limp earlier.
If he definitely does have Leggs Perthe the surgery will be necessary.It will not improve on its own, but will become worse and worse over time. You cannot have the dog live on pain meds. Here is excellent information for you to read.

http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/deleggcp.html
Keep us posted and I hope your little baby will do fine.

I don't know much about Legges Perthes in dogs ---but interestingly, I had a girl friend when I was young who had some 4 or 5 members in her family with it. It was thought not to be hereditary --so the doctors, at that time, were very interested in studying her family. If I remember correctly, they got it when they were young and had a long recovery period, but they are all doing well now.

Good luck! I hope your little guy can recover well from all this.

Carol Jean

Legges Perthes in dogs IS a genetic disease and dogs having it should never be bred. Have you contacted the breeder and brought this to their attention ? You might want to do that. :mad:

Yes this surgery does sound awful But it is really necessary for the comfort of the dog. Genetic Leggs Perthe usually shows up around 9 to 10 months unless there has been an injury to the hip in which case it can show up anytime in the dogs life. Do you know if he fell recently within the last few months? Please do not delay because of fear. Your vet is correct this needs to be done before the muscles waste away or other structural problems crop up. Recovery time will be much shorter. follow your vets advice carefully. He should do fine post surgery. I had a Yorkie have this surgery this year. He was up and moving around in just a couple of days. Within a week he was doing really well with limited activity to play. Today he is living in a pet home and is almost normal. One would never know he had this surgery. And the biggest thing he is pain free! My boy can live a normal pain free life and your Yorkie can too.

First, welcome to YT. And, LeggCalvinPerthes disease of the hip is not a good thing but it is not as bad as it sounds when treated properly and early. The surgery is VERY successful and since this is usually found in young dogs, their recovery is fairly rapid. The do cut off the diseased part of the femur--that was caused by an interruption in the blood supply to the head of the femur. So, it has to be done to keep the problem from spreading down the femur...The ligaments, tendons and muscle fill in and when healed, the dog has no pain and can carry on a normal life.
Good luck with your sweetie and let us know what the vet decides. I gave away a little guy that I had bought to use in my breeding program. He is happy and healthy without a hip joint and as active as they come. Also has become a therapy dog himself..

Wow..sorry to hear about your baby...hope all goes well.

Thank you for your input. I am to take him in the morning-surgery is scheduled, but I have no idea if I can go through with it. He can still run and play, but definitely puts "little weight" on the left rear leg. He has been on Rimadyl and I think it is masking the pain he may be in.
Wish me luck talking with the surgeon in the morning. The vet and surgeon definitely minimize any major problems with this surgery but I just can't see the "ease" of it all, like your experience-I'm scared.

Thank you for the reply. I'm, scared for him and me. The x-rays of the left hip joint don't look good to me. I will take him in the morning and see if the surgeon concurs with the vet and then will decide. Surgery is scheduled for 8:30am.

I can understand your anxiousness. This is YOUR fur baby! But please have trust in the surgeon(s). Your baby needs this to fix the LP. It's in his best interest.

I am in tears reading this. Thank you so much. I am scheduled to take him in the morning. He has intermittently had a limp after strenuous exercise-I had him checked and no x-ray was done when he was 7 months old-they said very mild patella slippage. It is possible that an injury exacerbated the "already problem". I wish I had a way look at several x-rays of other Legg Perth babies- that is the nurse in me I guess. He has been on Rimadyl and has been doing fairly well, but definitely puts little weight on the left hind leg, unless his brother gets him wild acting. The x-ray look bad to me-flattened out instead of round with some loss of density in the top down the center of the head of the femur-I guess I am wishing/ hoping it was from an injury where it would just heal. Do you have any idea what is "fair cost" for this kind of operation. I like in Knoxville TN.
I will post and undate on Cody tomorrow. I'm sick over this-there is just something awful sounding about femor head and neck excision the the bone not being support in the joint that "freaks" me out. I can treat Psychiatric patients and see all kinds of things, but my little 5 lb baby is something else-I can't tell him what is going on.
Thank you again.

:mad: So sorry, and I surely do not blame you for being scared...but you cannot in good conscience let the poor puppy suffer pain or become addicted to pain meds. The surgery is the right thing to do if that is what your vet reccomends. They recover so quickly and come home home the next day . I will be having you and your baby in my thougts and prayers and please let us kknow how everything goes.

Kalago - I work in the medical profession and see routine procedures done all the time with patients and their families being scared to death having them done. Almost always the procedures go very well and they realize they needn't have worried so much.

My doctors do heart caths as well as many other procedures. Most of our patients are very frightened to have these caths done, but afterwards agree that it wasn't so bad after all.

One of my doctors told me just last week that he has done over 6000 caths, angioplasties, and stents and has never had even one serious problem.

Other procedures are much more complicated, of course, but for the medical profession, these procedures are usually very common and very routine. They are done all the time and the physicians look forward to an excellent outcome.

I have several friends who have had the same surgery your little dog needs, and they felt it wasn't a particularly bad experience. And, they are so glad they had it, of course. They are pain free and problem free today.

Good luck - Think about tomorrow night -- it will be over and your little dog will be looking forward to a much better future.

Carol Jean