Wire replacement surgery

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Wire replacement surgery

Posted : 7/5/2011 7:43:14 PM

hi. i am new to the forum and I have been looking to get some opinions on my dogs situation. He is 5 and 1/2 poodle mix. weights about 27 pounds. He got out of our backyard and was hit by a car in front of our house. our whole family do really feel terrible for not keeping a better eye on him. He was rushed to ER and was diagnosed with luxated hip and left elbow. he had FHO surgery done on his right rear leg and closed reduction done on his elbow which failed. In order to save his leg, he had gotten the wire repair/replacement surgery done, which replaced his damaged ligaments with wires to stabilize the bones from slipping out. we had gone to a specialist and the total cost of the surgery for his front leg was about $3800. he had the cast on for a month and they took the cast out about 2 months ago. however, he hasnt been using the leg at all... he refused to put any weight on his front leg. his hind leg which had FHO done seemed to have healed fine but his front leg.. well, hes just carrying the leg. Worried that something might be wrong, we took him back to the surgeon. She told us that looks like he has broke one of the wires but it seems stable enough to leave it like that and that its most likely he would not use his leg at all except as a cane... sigh.. it was heartbreaking to hear that. She told us before the surgery that his leg will be healed in 2 weeks after the surgery and he will start using the leg in few months to come (of course he will develop arthritis) but now shes saying he wont be using it at all.. if we knew, we would have chosen to amputate his leg instead of saving it.. that way at least he wouldnt have any joint pain.. Is it normal for the dogs who get the ligament replacement surgery to not use the leg like that or has something gone wrong with the surgery or recovery process? hes still young and we want a full life for him.. I was considering physical therapy (underwater therapy) but the surgeon doesnt think it will be of much help to him... does any one have any experience with the therapy? and has the surgery gone wrong? should we opt for another surgery? I am so confused as to what to do. please help. thank you

calliecritturs

Posted : 7/5/2011 11:15:49 PM

To be honest, if a surgery has gone "wrong" it is **VERY** difficult to get an accurate estimation from that surgeon (they really don't like to admit something has gone 'wrong' and may try to get you to just accept the situation).

I think it's time for a second opinion ... and honestly, you may be best served to go to your state's best vet school. Often it is far less expensive than a specialty vet and can tell you what a 'repair' might cost.

I wouldn't give up on him -- there are many many things that can be done to maintain arthritis and you can do a lot of pet massage on your own. You will want to keep that leg toned or it will atrophy.

Simply having the leg removed may not have been the best option either -- that does place stress on other parts of the body (which in turn creates arthritis elsewhere -- any time one part of the body has to compensate for another that occurs).

I don't have a ton of personal experience with this but I have a good friend who is the head neurosurgeon up at the University of Florida so I've been to a ton of seminars on topics like this -- no, it's not typical for a dog to simply stop using a leg once healing has begun to take place and I would *not* think just letting it be unused is the best course of action.

The first thing to do is get this properly diagnosed -- x-rays shouldn't be difficult (these sorts of things tend to show up well on x-ray).

Good luck and bless you for trying to find another answer for him.

sl2crmeg

Posted : 7/6/2011 10:07:12 AM

I agree with Callie - second opinion time.