Hi everyone, We visited an orthopaedic specialist at Liverpool University Hospital yesterday to investigate Stitch’s back leg lameness. Based upon their X-rays they think he has had a fracture (this would have likely been done sometime in Nov although we have no idea how). Sadly they said he has aseptic necrosis of the femoral head due to this injury . The options we have been given are total hip replacement or femoral head excision. Unfortunately Stitch has also had to see an eye specialist as he has cataracts and also recently had surgery on his ear which doesn’t leave us with enough insurance cover to opt for the hip replacement. We aren’t in a position to afford the extra cost unfortunately. We have decided to go for the femoral head excision although have been told this is much more successful in smaller breeds. I would be very interested to know if anyone has had this particular surgery performed on a larger breed dog? Thanks Sian x
Oh Sian, I'm so sorry to hear this. I can't offer any feedback on the surgery. What did the specialist have to say about it? He/she must have surely performed it on larger breeds?
Oh dear, poor Stitch and poor you. I don’t have any experience of that type of surgery, but I hope somebody else will be able to help. Would it be possible to get a second opinion?
Hi Sian, I'm afraid I don't have any experience to bring to the mix, but just wanted to say I'm so sorry you and Stitch have had such bad luck. I do hope someone else can help.
Goodness you must be pretty stressed by all this. The insurance has forced you into this choice? It seems such a shame since its a different problem. Really sorry you are being forced into a poorer procedure because of money. Your vet can't offer you any kind of payment plan? It sounds like they have made a fair bit of money from you already. What I really wanted to say was that they actually do femoral excisions in human medicine at times and apparently is pretty successful. I have no personal experience of it but it sounds pretty drastic doesn' it. I thought it might help to know that the same procedure is done in people and compatible with pain free walking. I hope you are all bearing up. Keep strong.
I am so sorry! What a terribly difficult situation to be in. Can you explore other veterinary hospitals, and compare the cost of hip replacements? Or maybe somewhere else where a repayment plan would be considered? I know Vets4pets offer repayment options
How heavy is your dog? I have seen a femoral head excision in a large spaniel many moons ago, which was successful.
I would also look into crowd funding options - I know it sucks to ask for help, but I recently did this for help raising funds for a rescue dog's surgery and everyone was hugely generous. Might be worth considering?
Hi, we have a lab collie cross that was diagnosed with complete hip dysplasia at 6 months old. the only option for him was femoral head excision. we had this done, he is now 7 1/2 yrs old and happily chases around. he will need careful supervision post surgery to make sure his recovery is good but as he is now about 36kgs it was a good option for him. we used NorthWest Surgeons at Frodsham, they had him for a week and he was bouncing to greet us without any support. he does have a bit of a wobble if he turns too quickly and get a bit lame if he does too much but he's happy and living a great life. If you can, I think one of the best things we did after the op was hydrotherapy, definitely recommend. Good luck
