Bruno’s hip surgery

On 21st January, Bruno suffered a fall and twisted his left foot. He cried in pain and was brought to the vet where he is diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia with hip luxation. In simple terms, Bruno is suffering from a bone disease that causes his hip socket to be shallow, and the ball of his femur is not secured. That is why he may easily suffer from dislocation or luxation where the ball of the femur goes out of place. From the x-ray, it is shown that Bruno's joint is resting near his pelvic bone which the doctor mentioned can cause him a lot of pain and discomfort when he walks.

^This is the x-ray of Bruno, where you can see (on the right), the head of the femur is not centered to his socket. His hip socket is very shallow too.

This is an x-ray of what the hip should look like.

I was given several options to choose from and it ranges from least to most successful and the prices also varied. I decided to give 'close hip reduction' a try as it is the most conservative and least invasive procedure. However, the doctor warned me that the success rate for Bruno's joint to stay in the socket is extremely low.

This is the x-ray after the close hip reduction was done, the head of the femur is centered in the socket.

Unfortunately, Bruno's condition did not get better. This is how he is walking as of 28 January, the day he went back to review his progress. The doctor assessed his condition and noted that his joint is popping in and out of his socket and that caused Bruno a lot of pain and his inability to walk properly.

My next decision is to get Bruno to do the surgery. I have 2 options, one is femoral head ostectomy (FHO) and the other is total hip replacement (THR). FHO procedure is to cut away the head of the femur and remove the source of pain. The hip joint will not be connected with the physical bone, instead, a fake joint will be created as a form of muscles and tissue. However, this is not advised to do for heavier dogs. Also, to maintain the fake joint, the dog needs to constantly live a very active lifestyle. However, Bruno would benefit from hydrotherapy more because of his underlying condition. As long walks can further strain his other hip joint. Estimated cost of about 3k ( not inclusive of therapy.)

THR procedure is to implant an artificial hip joint, and it looks something like this. (below) But this procedure is very costly, estimate 14 - 17k.

I'm heartbroken because Bruno is only 3 years old, and he can no longer have a normal function of his leg unless he were to do surgery. Both the surgeries are costly and scary. Bruno and I will deeply appreciate donations to ease the financial strain to proceed with the surgery and after-care therapy. Thank you all so much for taking your time to read about Bruno's case.

-Update-

Bruno secured a date to visit Dr Landon, a specialist who can advise which procedure is better, FHO or THR. We really hope FHO is enough to treat Bruno's condition because THR is unimaginably expensive. Fingers crossed.