Dislocated hip

Julie, nice to see you again!

I'm sorry about your dog , but I have no advice.  I hope the vet and/or you can come up with something.

 How did he remove it? with his mouth? You might consider this product http://www.gandbmarketing.com/procollar.htm

 I've not heard of any casting technique for a displaced hip..only a sling/bandaging technique. It can be really difficult to keep the dogs confined enough to allow it to heal, though it can be done. But the longer it stays out/more often it pops out, the more stressful on the pet and it can sometimes compromise healing.  If it won't stay put, I'd probably consider surgery

I'm not sure how he removed it.  By the time I went to pick him up this morning the vet had given up on it and had it off. He did say he has so much muscle in his hip that he could just straighten his leg with it on.

juliekay

He won't leave the splint in place

Hope re-splinting works!  Here is a site with stuff that may help regardless of what you wind up doing:  http://handicappedpets.com/

The recovery time for both surgery and splinting is going to be about equal because you GOTTA keep it quiet.

In honesty, you may truly need to sedate him for a while.  Not completely asleep but chill him back enough so he CAN be crated and stay sedentary (and not go crazy).  It's not fun -- you can do it with a combination of herbals and homeopathics or just have the vet give you something.

I just dropped him off so they can retry it today. They said its impossible to cast as that would just put more weight on the hip and pull it down and out of the socket  but they said they would be more aggressive in their taping  and that he may need to be put out again when its time to remove it. They are also  going to give me sedatives for him when he comes home.  If this doesn't work then  he Will have the surgery.  They say even if surgery is necessary he should be able to run  but when they are talking about cutting bone and bone resting just on muscle until scar tissue is formed  that sure sounds horrible to me

Here is another brace site that you might be interested in, but it is not cheap:

http://www.woundwear.com/product3.cfm

he is home and not in pain since the joint is  in place. He isn't too happy with me since I wont take him outside. The Valium they gave me isn't having much effect.

If you are giving any pain meds, be cautious.  It may require a little pain to keep him settled down.

Have you asked the vet if you can give more of the Valium?  Dogs have a higher metabolism than we do. 

The vet might also approve giving some Benadryl to make him sleepy, but I wouldn't do that without checking with the vet because of all the other meds.

Did the vet give you any suggestions on how to support him when you do have to take him out?  There are lots of types of slings:
http://handicappedpets.com/www/index.php/pet-products-summary.html#harness

A sling will probably annoy him, but it will allow you more control.  One can use a towel to do this, but that is much more awkward and you will be doing this for a while.  If you hurt your back, you will have a harder time helping him. 

they said as long as  he keeps the sling in place he can have short leash walks.  He just walks on three legs.  I just walk him a few steps outside to a bush.  He needs constant watching  and is on a short leash  next to me.

Julie -- it depends on the dog.  Like valerian root, some dogs respond well to valium and some *don't*. 

Try:

Hylands Calms Forte (health store item).  Give 2 (mine chew them up and think they're a treat -- but you *can* put those in food -- which is unusual for a homeopathic).  Because it's a homeopathic you can give it *with* something else and it won't over-dose.  Calms Forte helps the body give in to sleep. 

If the valium just isn't cutting it -- stop at a health store and try some passionflower.  The tincture or capsules (2 caps probably every 6 hours or the adult dose of the tincture 3 times a day).  Passionflower is another nervine herb -- but it's processed differently in the body (less by the liver) and for some (dogs or humans) it just plain works better than valium/valerian.

Valium is stronger than valerian root -- valium is addictive, valerian isn't.  But valium is a pharmaceutical that mimics valerian root and both are processed secondarily by the liver so sometimes it just doesn't synch well with some individuals.

You *can* give both the Calms Forte and the passionflower at the same time. 

will he eat his dinner out of a Kong?  That can help pass the time when on crate rest.  You may also want to try giving him an interactive toy.  In fact, pop a couple of kibbles in an empty plastic pop bottle -- don't leave him alone with it but it can help him pass the time and then he can graduate to other interactive toys once he figgers out he CAN get it out.

I live in a very small town. Things like that are just not available....  I doubled the dose of valium last night and called the vet this morning to let him know and ask for more  to last the weekend. 

If he wasn't a problem child he would not have gotten hit in the first place and if he didn't have a high tolarence to drugs i would have lost him when he got into Richs morphin.

Right now he just feels abused