Dog may need hip surgery where the leg is only hanging by muscle. Has your dog have this procedure?

My one year old dog was hit by a car and broke two spots on her pelvis bone. One above the tail and the other she fractured below the right leg joint. The vet said the one above the tail will heal. By the leg joint is questionable. He adivised to detach the leg bone and let the leg hang by muscle. Has anyone had this procedure done with their dog? How sucessfull was it?

If the procedure is called a FHO or Femoral Head Osteotomy, it is a real procedure that works. I'm a vet tech in a practice that has done it on several cats and a few dogs and these guys get along GREAT. Especially when they're younger animals (and a 1 year old would fit into that category). Look it up - use the name I gave above and do a google search on it. It'll take some time, but they cope very nicely.

We have done this surgery on many dogs and cats, and they do AMAZINGLY well. It's called a femoral head osteotomy, or FHO for short. Basically, the ball of the hip is removed. This is often done in the case of broken legs (especially when the ball breaks off the femur), or if the dog has hip displasia or dislocated the hip and it can't be put back externally. It is a very painful procedure, but most vets will give them pain medication injections, a patch with pain medication, and an epidural, so they don't feel much, really. Once it's healed, you'll usually never notice that it was done:) There's tihs one dog that had it dome on BOTH hind legs, and she jumps around like nothing was ever wrong with her. The muscles in the area are incredibly strong, so usually removing the joint doesn't cause any problems at all. Some animals will have a slightly altered gait, but it still gets them around, and it's not painful. We've had a 100% success rate in the cases I've seen. I hope your dog makes a speedy recovery!

Do you mean removing the ball from the top of the bone? Yes I know one of the very first people to have that done by the doctor that pioneered the procedure. The dog was a small pit bull and it worked wonderfully. The dog walked just fine. I hope this all works out fine and that a board certified orthopaedic veterinary surgeon is going to be the one doing the procedure.

Yes, it's an FHO.My dad's lab initially had her hip replaced. She actually BROKE the cement holding the replacement in her joint and we had to have it removed. At that point, our only option was an FHO. She's almost 4 now - VERY VERY active and pain free for the first time in her life. It's a great option and it works. She's a different dog with the FHO and is better now than when she had the hip replacement.The recovery is slow and you have to keep them crated but your girl will be fine. I've also seen numerous rescued labs have this surgery. All of them came through with flying colors. Good luck!