Ocean’s Hip Surgery

July 4, 2017

To you, kind-hearted humans:

My name is Ocean and I am an Alaskan Malamute. I was born on August 28, 2016 and I am 10 months and 6 days old as of writing. I was given as a present to my pawrents; they took me home when I was 2 months and 3 days old. They thought that I was such a cute furball eventhough I pooped and peed everywhere.

As a puppy, I love to play and I am very curious! I smell, I chew, I taste everything! I love to play with small dogs, big dogs, small humans, and big humans. I love playing so much that sometimes, when dad is already sleeping, he catches me playing with my favorite toy. My favorite toy is a ball with a bell inside and when I play at night it makes it so hard for him to go back to sleep because of all the noise. But he lets me play anyway because he loves me.

My furmom and furdad always make sure to take me out on new adventures – they bring me to the beach so I can run, to the dogpark so I can mingle and play with other dogs, and to pet-friendly places so I can socialize with other humans. To make sure that I grow up as a good boy, dad even took me to obedience training. But my most favorite activity is when my pawrents take me for long walks and runs, as well as when we all play fetch.

Whenever I walked and ran, my humans began to take notice that I was moving oddly. It was because I was beginning to feel some pain. I began to limp while walking and started bunny-hopping while running because of the pain I felt. Dad took me to four veterinarians to have me checked. They took my x-ray and found out that I had bilateral hip dysplasia. This means that there is a malformation in the ball and socket joints (left and right) of my hips. The ball portion of my femur does not fit snugly into my hip socket which causes the painful rubbing and grinding of joints instead of having a free range of motion. This causes my limping and bunny-hopping because it helps alleviate the pain I feel.

After checking the x-ray and conducting a physical exam, the vet told my pawrents that my hip dysplasia is already bad and that I have to undergo a surgery called Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO) as soon as possible. It is common for large breed dogs to have hip dysplasia at an older age but at my age of 10 months, my disease has been regarded as genetic. I still want to have many years of playing, walking, running, and exploring without feeling any more pain in the future. Please help me and my pawrents raise funds for this surgery so I can have many more good years ahead of me. Any amount will be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thank woo very much.

Puppy hugs and kisses,

Ocean