Hip Replacement Surgery for Dogs: Advances in Treating Dogs for a Better Quality of Life
Hip dysplasia is a disease that is commonly found in dogs of all breeds, genders, and ages. Symptoms of dogs with this disease include difficulty walking, walking with a swagger, and dragging their legs. In some dogs, they walk in a bunny-hopping manner. In some cases, the symptoms are severe and they do not walk at all. When they do not walk for a long time, it progresses to muscle atrophy, resulting in disability to the point where they cannot walk. The cause of this disease is genetic and present from birth.
At what age should dogs be screened for hip dysplasia?
Hip dysplasia can be detected as early as 4 months of age if your dog is known to have it.
A treatment plan can be planned early on, but most owners will take their dog to the vet when the symptoms have advanced to the point where they cannot walk. Painkillers will help relieve the pain from osteoarthritis, which is a symptomatic treatment. Treatment for the root cause to achieve a complete cure is surgery, cutting off the head and neck of the bone, which is a common pain relief method. The dog will be able to walk without pain, but will not be able to walk 100% normally. Currently, medical science has advanced a lot. There is the development of artificial organs to improve the quality of life for pets. Therefore, we have "artificial hip joints" to replace dogs with hip osteoarthritis.
“"Bungkee" Panicha Banjongratsena, a 9-year-old male Pomeranian, had a tremor in his left hind leg and refused to be touched because it hurt. At first, she thought it was nothing special, and it had been like this since April 2017. The following month, when she took him for a bath, he refused to let her leg be touched. The vet, the owner of the bathing shop, took an X-ray and found hip joint degeneration. He gave him painkillers and joint fluid to see if he responded to the medication. However, his symptoms did not improve, so she did not want to give him painkillers anymore because they would affect his liver and kidneys. The vet recommended that he be treated at Kasetsart Animal Hospital or Taling Chan Animal Hospital, but Kaset Animal Hospital was not convenient, so she came to Taling Chan Animal Hospital and met with Dr. Tang (Dr. Buraphong Suthirat, a veterinarian at the Joint and Bone Center). He found that his hip joint did indeed have degeneration.
“The doctor then recommended two treatment methods: 1. Cutting the bone head, which is the old method, 2. Hip replacement, which is the new method. The doctor explained in detail both the pros and cons of both methods and let us decide for ourselves. "
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