Femoral Head Ostectomy
 

Little Saydee had her surgery yesterday and is now home recovering. I am a little freaked out because I have been researching FHO and found out that it is considered a salvage procedure and that she may not gain full function of her leg again. I also read that it can cause issues with her patella later on. I am just hoping I made the right decision. I saw that many of you have had the same problem (Legg Perthes Disease) and have had the FHO procedure but the post were old. I need some reassurance that I did the right thing. Should I have considered a total hip replacement/partial hip replacement instead? She is not even a year yet and I want the best for her.

The vet showed me how to do the extension exercises, but I feel I need to do more to get her to her best. Does anyone have advice?

Amy
Saydee & Sophie 12/8/2011:aimeeyork:aimeeyork

Just the thought of the FHO is scary, actually deciding this is the right procedure is even more scary, so I understand your concerns. Many of us here have gone through the same surgery. Even with some unusual complications and a 2nd surgery, my Mylee is doing fantastic even after my vet gave us little hope she'd ever use her leg again. Most small dogs do very well after this surgery. I know it has more complications involved with larger dogs, so that may be where some of your info is coming from too. Follow your vet's instructions and I am sure your baby will be running around in no time. You won't even know she had such a surgery.

Toki had FHO surgery for LCP at the end of this past September and we have our 2-month follow-up visit this coming Thursday. She was a little over a year old at the time of the surgery and is doing so great now! We have been having kind of a slow recovery...I'd read lots of experiences where people said their dogs were walking normally after a couple weeks but that was not the case for us. We did see improvements each week but Toki only just recently started using her leg 95% over this past week. Her operated leg was significantly smaller so we've been trying to rebuild that lost muscle mass which has improved over the past 2 months since surgery. We've been able to increase the lengths of our walks and the walking speed by so much! It is really rewarding going through the recovery process and seeing your little ones improve day to day and week to week.

I will say than when I was doing research, I found mostly positive experiences. The negative stories were mostly related to people not seeing a good surgeon and having to get the procedure corrected with a second surgery.

Our surgeon also mentioned to us that further on down the road, Toki could potentially develop knee issues but IMO all of the benefits of getting the FHO outweighed the downsides. I thought that even if Toki never fully regained use of her leg, it would be better than living with chronic hip pain every time she walked or did some other physical activity.

Be confident in the choice that you made for your Saydee :) FHO surgery is tends to be a very successful one with an excellent prognosis, especially with the little dogs. Please feel free to PM me! I know I was a nervous wreck the first couple weeks after Toki's FHO surgery and had a ton of concerns and questions.

I do not have any experience with it. I just wanted to say I hope Saydee gets better soon. I would listen to the dr and follow the exercises. Just a thought would water therapy help her once she heals some?

Praying she has a wonderful recovery.

This truly is such an awesome forum for support and guidance :)

I also do not have any experience with this, but I wanted to say that I am wishing her a speedy recovery!!

Hey guys,

Rosie was just dropped off today for the same surgery. I am seriously having doubts now if I made the right decision. I am freaking out and thinking how much pain she must be in. I talked to the vet and he assured me that 99% of the time his surgeries are successful and the ones that are not are due to owners not properly taking care of their pets after the surgery. And now that I am reading some of the posts, I didn't realize that she might not be able to use her leg again :( She was happy and running around before we dropped her off, but as soon as we went to the vet's office she started to cry and tucked her head under my arms. This waiting is making me so anxious!!

Praying all goes well, please keep us posted.