"Cheaper" did not even enter into the formula! Believe me, I can spitz money off with the best of them! And when it comes to my dogs, I go where they can get the best care, regardless of price. It was a question of allowing that pup to continue to atrophy in the undone hip, until she recovered from the first procedure, then going back in, back under anesthesia, and doing the other hip later. I could not get any rationale that made any sense to me, from any of these vets that wanted to stage the surgery. Most had just never done the surgery in both hips at the same time and THEY were not comfortable doing it. This was NOT a good enough reason for me to allow that pup to have a procedure that an experienced vet can do easily and successfully in one setting. I had much support from vets around the Nation, that happened to agree with my rationale, for wanting to use a vet that was comfortable doing both hips at once. Dr Terrel was well known by the vets I spoke with at his alma mater, and I was comfortable with their recommendation. I would have never gone to any surgeon that I did not feel was capable of doing the procedure, and doing it well, regardless of what the charges were. I know this man's credentials, and I know the man himself, and I was comfortable with his expertise and experience. He specializes in orthopedics, although he is not board certified. His 25+ years of experience doing these surgeries, successfully, more than qualifies him as capable in MY opinion. I am terrified of dentists. I went to a "board certified cosmetic dentist" in order to get a tooth filled, because he had a technique of giving injections in your mouth that you would never even feel the injection! I paid at LEAST 5x's what a regular dentist charges, for nothing but a filling, JUST so he wouldnt hurt me with that horse needle in my mouth! No, I dont shy away from spending money when the situation calls for it....I was comfortable with Dr. Terrel, and as usual, he did an excellent job, and that pup has done absolutely just as well as she would have done had I chosen to have the surgery "staged", by a board certified surgeon. I think P-Nuts mom has already chosen her vet, he has over 30+ years experience, and I am not sure if he is board certified...but she is comfortable with what he has told her, and she has chosen to go his route. I am sure the surgery will be a success and it is probably what is best for THAT pup. I dont think his hips are as bad as the pup I was helping with, so the pain and muscle atrophy may not be as much of a concern.

Not trying to insult anyone. I am just baffled...I thought you had consulted with 7 chief surgeons who all said they would do both at once? Maybe I am just not reading things well.
As for atrophy in a hip, I don't agree with you or your vet, ... you are talking about a puppy. How much atrophy really could have happened between surgeries? You chose what you chose...and the results were good. All that matters. I am simply not in line with your thinking regarding ortho surgery. The person I met who had a sciatic nerve cut on her pup during a FHO surgery clinched the deal for me...sure, any vet can make a mistake, but I will always err on the side of caution and go with the experts...board certified surgeons. That's my choice. Can they have problems? Sure...but at least I will always know I went with the best. If I went to a regular vet who just happened to do ortho surgeries and there was a problem, I would never forgive myself.

My guy is not board certified, but has done many of these surgeries. A search in the beginning of this process revealed only a couple of board certified people in the region, one is out of county and the other is by referral only and is the one with whom my doc consulted on the x-rays, dx, etc. There is supposedly an ortho specialist that works out of one of the San Jose-area VCAs, but I will not go back to a VCA animal hospital. I left our previous vet hospital because they were taken over by VCA and they became a nightmare to deal with. We don't want to travel out of county for this, we'd like to use our trusted guy who is close by. Cost didn't enter into our decision, either. P-Nut's left leg/hip has actually gotten better over the past couple of weeks, he's not exhibiting symptoms in that one anymore, so I feel comfortable having the right done, then the left. I'm sure this will be quite a learning process and I hope never to have to go through it again, but I would, of course, if another little guy or gal needed it done.

Hopefully you took that pup out of your breeding program given that the pain and atrophy of the pup was so severe. I think those facts alone would definitely lead me to an ACVS diplomat surgeon, and if I were near Houston, to Dr. Beale. I am glad the pup is doing ok though. Leggs-Calves-Perthes is a horrible condition, I hope my Teddy never has any pain from it, but lately that is the least of my worries - I'd rather do LCP surgery than zygomatic mucocele surgery and wire up his face. It makes you not want to own dogs until you remember all the joy they bring us.

I am sorry, you misunderstood something I said...thank God, that pup NEVER was in my breeding program?????!!!!!

Oh good!

I am supposed to go to Lumberton (?)this weekend.... to pick up a Yorkie that "is not using one of his hind leg....been limping/hobbling on 3 legs for a little while", the owner says ????!!! Have no idea what this is going to turn out to be....this person can not afford to pay for treatment, especially if it turns out to be any type of surgery.....so I will see what this little fella is facing......

Awww, best wishes for the limping little guy. Hope it's not the same thing going on here...

Thank you......I am almost afraid of what awaits me....maybe it isnt too bad.....we will fix it for that baby...

Wish I could help!

Yes, that is right...they agreed that doing both hips at the same time was not contraindicated, and especially in a dog that had the degree of muscle atrophy this dog had. This "pup" was 9 months old, and had not been able to move around hardly at all because of the extensive dergenerative process in both femur heads...and after only 8-10 weeks of severly decreased activity, the muscles in her hind legs were atrophying quickly, as muscles will do if they are not being used. She was in a lot of pain. Her clinical signs and symptoms dictated a clearly better choice, with an anticipated better outcome, was to do both hips at the same time. They were correct.

Right. :)

OP, is the surgery on P-Nut scheduled for tomorrow? I thought I had read that but now I don't see that post.

You read right....It is in her first post...rt. leg, 8/2. Be sure and keep us posted on how he does....I am sure he will be fine!

Yes indeed, it's tomorrow, will let you know how he does!

Awww, thank you!!! That, and the spelling, were my significant other's doing. He's a big, gruff guy who's head over heels for P-Nut and yorkies in general. Pretty cute to see him cuddling with the Nut.

I just love it when the men in our lives, especially the "big, gruff he-man" men, fall head over heels in love with these precious little souls!!! It brings out their tender, protective side!!!

It's SO cute. He's the one that got me "into" Yorkies. He would do anything for our little guy. I'll have to post a pic of the two of them when things calm down a little.

Best wishes for P-Nut's surgery tomorrow:love:

There are lots of Yorkie Daddies just like your hubby, here. Mine is a marine construction guy and spends every moment he's not working cuddled up with his two girls:D He walks them in their hot pink stroller and on their pink and purple leashes while they're in dresses:laugh: Makes me love him even more:)

:thumbup: I absolutely love hearing that! I was kind of shocked my guy didn't even get upset when I bought our boy a bit of a "bling-y" i.d. tag - and he does walk him with a purple leash. LOL. That sounds like quite the picture - your guy walking them in a hot pink stroller. :)

Wanted to let you all know that we just heard from the vet that P-Nut's surgery went well and he's in recovery. We pick him up at 5. Thanks for all your support! :):thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

So happy to hear that all went well. Thanks for the update!

Great news!!:thumbup::D Thanks for the update.

Awesome! Glad it all went well!

That's wonderful! Give him a kiss from me:kiss:!!!

Awww will do. It's going to be a looong night, I think. He's ok, but this is a little tough on the poor guy.

So very happy to hear the surgery went well:)

Great the surgery went well! The baby will be so much the better for it!

Thanks! We made it through the night pretty well, I had to put the cone on him for a little while, but other than that he mostly lay there staring into space (meds, I'm sure) or slept. Got him to go pee outside 2x, he hopped around a bit. I "slept" in the family room where his pen is, I didn't want him to be or feel alone. And this morning, he ate a bunch, tried to put weight on his "bad" leg (accckkkk!), learned that was no good and went back to sleep. Seems things are going well. No issues with any of the meds, etc. YAY! I'm so glad he'll be out of the LCP pain in the near future. :)