Ellie is a shelter dog--a terrier or poodle mixed with a Lab. She is medium-sized, only about 48 lbs. She was 2 when diagnosed and barely turned 3 when I put that hip in. There are two kinds of hip implants--one that is "pushed" into place and one that is screwed in. Both work well but because I was so flipping paranoid going in, I had my surgeon do the screwed in one.
Recovery was long--4 months in a crate and 4 months of LOTS of walking. I haven't done any hydro for her nor have we done swimming.
She is VERY energetic--but she became very withdrawn those 3 months before surgery, so that concerned me. She normally walks 2-3 miles a day and she goes to daycare, and she plays with her brother quite a bit, too.
Her recovery was easy on her and hard on me, where I think FHO is hard on the dog but easier on the owner. Ellie walked on her leg immediately following surgery so she was like Ann's Teddi--thought she was well and fine. She only took 10 days of Rimadyl and that was that. She felt GOOD.
I had done obedience with her, like Ann's Teddi, and having those commands saved us so much heartache. Ellie listened to them and carried them through. She really grew accustomed to her new schedule so it worked. I know worrying about how sad she'd be during recovery concerned a lot of folks (even those on the Yahoo board), but to be honest, it's like nothing ever happend to Ellie. She is back to her old self, only LOTS better. She can do so much with her hip. So much. I'm amazed and eternally grateful that I could afford to do this for her.
I have her littermate whose issues far exceed Ellie's (which makes me think HD really is genetic, but that's for another post, perhaps). His have gone on longer and that's why I jumped on hers right away. He had one FHO and is scheduled to have another and honestly, I dread it. I really do. But, he's smaller than Ellie (about 42 lbs) and he's super determined and he needs to do it because he can't live with his hips being as deformed as they are. He can't have a THR because the chances of it being successful are too low for me (75%). He lays weird with his legs, etc., so I know, already, that we're pushing it there. And he's borderline small for having a Kyon implant (screwed in). So, I'm getting him in shape for his FHO and he'll probably do hydro after.
One thing--Ellie's THR side is bigger than her other one now. She uses that baby all the time and it shows--pretty darn muscular on that side.
Saving just one dog won't change the world . . . but surely the world will change for that one dog (unknown)