# Urgent help please dislocated hip yorkie



## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

My little yorkie had a bad injury last night. The emergency vet said she had a dislocated hip and needed surgery within 48 hours to take off ball joint and repair damage. I took her to my vets this morning, thought they would do this, was told this afternoon they had relocated joint manually (reduction?) and everything was fine. Went to pick her up and was told she had torn bandage off, dislocated hip again, vet had put hip back in again but she needs ball joint removed in a week (orthopaedic vet away). I feel angry and upset. Dog has suffered needlessly, vet has charged £180 for diagnosis I paid £280 for last night. BUT more importantly, is it OK to wait a week when first vet said surgery had to be done within 48 hours? I don't trust today's vet, he couldn't even communicate properly in English. Advice desperately needed soon. Tried to ring emergency vet but he's not on duty today, by the way.


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## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

That's awful! I'd expect my dog to have preventative measures (ie lampshade collar) if under vets care and not being supervised! 
I would keep trying to call the emergency vet, or call your own vet first thing in the morning for his opinion.

x


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Yes, I will try to speak to a vet I trust first thing tomorrow, if there is one available. I don't know what's happened to my vets' surgery, they used to be really good. I can't help thinking that the main vet is running up to retirement and has maybe sold his surgery to a company that just uses the cheapest vets it can find. I have been going there forty years since I was a small girl but this is making me think of changing vets. I am desperately worried about the dog. I forgot to mention she is in a cage to control her movements a bit, but this makes it worse for her, she's stuck in a cage for a week with no benefit if she's got to wait that long for surgery and we'll be back to square one.


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## Colsy (Oct 3, 2008)

Oh your poor little girl.
Hope you get a vet sorted out very soon.
Take care and let us know how things progress.


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Thanks for good wishes. I spoke to a vet I trust today and she will be examining my dog tomorrow with a view to immediate surgery. Poor little girl is very unhappy, hasn't eaten or weed or anything and is just making croaking sounds because of yesterday's anaesthetic.


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## xxwelshcrazyxx (Jul 3, 2009)

OMG that is so bad, this dog should not have gone through all this pain and stress, get in touch with you own vet and tell him what happened. your dog should of had a surgical cone coller to stop him reaching the dressing etc. what are they thinking of, and then the cheek to charge you for alll that aswell, tell your vet that your dog didnt have a collar thing on. see what they say. good luck


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

I see what you mean about the collars, that hadn't occurred to me. Anyway, the good news is Polly had her surgery today (the hip was still dislocated), she's recovering well, I'm told, and I'm collecting her from the vets tonight. Poor little thing was only just starting to recover this morning from the last lot of sedation and now she's had it done again, but thankfully she's had the surgery she needs.


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2009)

Lulu's owner said:


> I see what you mean about the collars, that hadn't occurred to me. Anyway, the good news is Polly had her surgery today (the hip was still dislocated), she's recovering well, I'm told, and I'm collecting her from the vets tonight. Poor little thing was only just starting to recover this morning from the last lot of sedation and now she's had it done again, but thankfully she's had the surgery she needs.


Thank god you have one vet who knows what they are doing!!!!
Glad it's done and over with, a few weeks of love and care then hopefully you will have a happy little dog


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## RebeccaArmstrong (May 23, 2008)

In terms of the operation - the FHO (femoral head osteotomy) it is a operation that they recover well from - the key part is the cage rest afterwards, you need to ensure that you keep to that so the healing can take place, I would also recommend you get her into hydrotherapy and get her a magnetic collar

I work with dogs who have had this so happy to offer any advice i can - email me on [email protected]


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Hydrotherapy sounds good but I don't drive unfortunately, so I'm not sure it's possible. Vet said Polly should make a good recovery but will probably have one leg shorter than the other and not be able to jump much. She's eleven so it should be easier for her to behave more calmly than a younger dog. She's never been very keen on walking (she had an undiagnosed luxating patella for years and I kept mentioning the limp to the vets but of course she didn't limp at the surgery, and it was only found when she tore her cruciate ligament and had an operation for that). She likes to go out, but prefers being carried. After the previous leg operation I used to take her out in a pram, which could be pretty embarrassing sometimes. Looks like we'll be back to pram walkies in a few weeks from now.


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Polly's home now, and resting in her cage. Vet says the surgery went well and showed me the ball joint, amazingly tiny, like a small pea. I still feel very angry and upset that they didn't do the surgery straight away, but they don't seem to think they did anything wrong. The receptionist has given me the name of the practice manager to put in a complaint if I choose. I have used this vets since I was a young child with a hamster 45 years ago so feel very torn about changing vets and wonder what other people would do? Partly it's the money, today's bill was another £400 nearly, so I could have done without the pointless £160 bill, and mainly it's the extra suffering the dog has undergone.


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2009)

Lulu's owner said:


> Polly's home now, and resting in her cage. Vet says the surgery went well and showed me the ball joint, amazingly tiny, like a small pea. I still feel very angry and upset that they didn't do the surgery straight away, but they don't seem to think they did anything wrong. The receptionist has given me the name of the practice manager to put in a complaint if I choose. I have used this vets since I was a young child with a hamster 45 years ago so feel very torn about changing vets and wonder what other people would do? Partly it's the money, today's bill was another £400 nearly, so I could have done without the pointless £160 bill, and mainly it's the extra suffering the dog has undergone.


I had used the same vet for 30 years, but as the partners approached retirement the surgery started to go downhill, they had an endless succession of newly qualified vets, and not one of them knew me or my dog 
I changed to a smaller practice and nearly always seen the same vet for the last 5 years.
Ask around for other recommendations


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Yes, I can't help thinking that is what is happening here. I wonder if there are many old-style practices left? Mine seems to have gone wildly commercial recently, hassling you to join some monthly payment club that supposed saves you money but doesn't actually if you do the sums. The only slightly awkward thing is that I have to take my mum's cat to the vet (she's disabled) and my mum has no wish to change vets, so I can't cut off contact with them 100%.


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2009)

We still have to take our Chessie to them because of the complexity of his condition. The vet I now use for Alfie only has two full time vets and they are linked to another very good larger vets that give proper 24 hour treatment, with a vet on site for 24 hours a day


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## dinks (Apr 10, 2009)

Lulu's owner said:


> My little yorkie had a bad injury last night. The emergency vet said she had a dislocated hip and needed surgery within 48 hours to take off ball joint and repair damage. I took her to my vets this morning, thought they would do this, was told this afternoon they had relocated joint manually (reduction?) and everything was fine. Went to pick her up and was told she had torn bandage off, dislocated hip again, vet had put hip back in again but she needs ball joint removed in a week (orthopaedic vet away). I feel angry and upset. Dog has suffered needlessly, vet has charged £180 for diagnosis I paid £280 for last night. BUT more importantly, is it OK to wait a week when first vet said surgery had to be done within 48 hours? I don't trust today's vet, he couldn't even communicate properly in English. Advice desperately needed soon. Tried to ring emergency vet but he's not on duty today, by the way.


Hi Sorry to hear about your poor yorkie.Quite often vets will try to save the hip joint and prevent putting the dog through surgery if need be.Unfortunately when the hip dislocates the muscle,tendons and ligaments are all torn and this is what keeps the hip in place.Most vets as i said will attempt to put the hip nack in place and hold it in place with a bandage but if the hip keeps popping out more damage is done to the joint and the likelihood of the hip staying in place isnt very high.I think your normal vet has tried his best to salvage the hip joint and tried to prevent your dog being put through surgery but i think now your vet will probably recommend whats called a femoral head excision.Neither of the vets treating the dog has done anything wrong they will both have their own opinions but in my experience i have to say it us noraml to try and save the hip rather than rush straight to surgery!The femoral head is removed and fibrous tissue is formed to replace the joint.Hope this helps.


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

dinks said:


> Hi Sorry to hear about your poor yorkie.Quite often vets will try to save the hip joint and prevent putting the dog through surgery if need be.Unfortunately when the hip dislocates the muscle,tendons and ligaments are all torn and this is what keeps the hip in place.Most vets as i said will attempt to put the hip nack in place and hold it in place with a bandage but if the hip keeps popping out more damage is done to the joint and the likelihood of the hip staying in place isnt very high.I think your normal vet has tried his best to salvage the hip joint and tried to prevent your dog being put through surgery but i think now your vet will probably recommend whats called a femoral head excision.Neither of the vets treating the dog has done anything wrong they will both have their own opinions but in my experience i have to say it us noraml to try and save the hip rather than rush straight to surgery!The femoral head is removed and fibrous tissue is formed to replace the joint.Hope this helps.


Thanks for this. Sounds like you have a lot of veterinary knowledge, so I'll recap what happened and would be interested in your opinion. The emergency vet tried to put the hip back in place and failed. His advice was very clear, that the joint could not be repaired manually and that my normal vets must operate within 48 hours to remove the ball joint. My usual vets ignored this next morning and put the joint back in place manually under sedation. The dog dislocated the joint again while she was in a cage at the surgery, before I even collected her, and they put it back manually again. (As people here have pointed out, why didn't she have a neck collar on, why was she unsupervised and able to bite the leg bandage off?) When I collected her the vet who spoke to me, who had extremely poor English, told me that there was no chance of healing without surgery but that I was to take the dog home, put her in a cage for a week until his boss came back off holidays and even if the joint came out of position en route home I was still to keep her in a cage for a week. He made no mention whatsoever of conservative wait and see treatment. I was not prepared to just leave her in a cage for a week with a dislocated hip. Whether or not it's clinically acceptable is beside the point, the dog's welfare also comes into the equation. I insisted on seeing a vet I trust, who confirmed the hip was still dislocated, and they operated to remove the ball joint yesterday, the same day I took her to the vet again. Polly is in her cage recovering, whereas if I'd followed the previous vet's advice she'd still be in her cage with a dislocated hip for up to six more days. I'd really like to know your views as I am considering making a formal complaint to the vets.


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## dinks (Apr 10, 2009)

Hi yes you have every right to have an explanation i can only comment from a nursing perspective and from what i have experinced.Did she chew the bandage off - or did it fall off as it wasnt applied correctly - if dogs are going to interfere with a bandage you can usually tell the types lol!But if this was an emergency clinic why wasnt she supervised?Also the hip could have popped back out of place even with the bandage on.
With regards to surgery - very much depends on the patient and why the injury has occurred - if it was an rta the very last thing a surgeon is going to do is operate for a good few days - and yes sometimes up to week - its very important to stabilise the patient if suffering from shock and also other potential injuries that would complicate anaesthesia and put them at a much higher risk.Im assuming she would have been on pain relief pre - op?It is distressing - probably more for us as we are worrying about what they are going through but also because of loosing control of the situation and you feel you cant be there for her.
As regards to the 48hrs to operate -hmmm many dogs have bad painful hips - some what we call sub luxated so they are almost dislocated but not quite - these dogs will under go the same surgery as what your dog has.Also many cats(i know not a dog but same injury)that have been in RTAs which often will have fractures of other legs,pelvis, severe shock, internal injuries - all these things have to be corrected and the patient stable before any surgery is performed and as said this can take up to 7 - 10 days.I would trust your usual vet sounds as if they doing a good job but definately raise your concerns with them - they will want to hear them and they will also be able to give more of the answers to questions and as to why this other vet was pushing for surgery 48hrs after the injury - i could understand this if they were trying to save the hip joint itself but it is definately worth questioning.
Hope your girl is comfy - she will need plenty of spoiling!


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Thanks for the reply. My initial anger has worn off now and I just feel upset that my poor dog has suffered so much. It's day two after the op and she's still very wretched and hasn't even weed or anything (she's going back to the vets tomorrow morning for a post-op check). We don't quite know what happened to cause the accident, my mum let her out for a wee and it was dark, we think she must have had an awkward fall because my mum suddenly heard this awful screaming and thought a fox was attacking her. Polly chewed the bandage off, I think. This was at my normal vets, who did the ball joint removal.Regarding pain relief, she's been on 4ml of Metacam daily, but I think she was definitely been in some pain despite this prior to the surgery. I don't think my usual vets do want to hear my complaint actually and I still think I might change vets after this. I get so fed up of one vet saying one thing and another saying something else entirely. At the moment, one vet said keep the dog in a cage for 7 days after surgery, the other vet at the same practice and on the same day said 2 days. How can a layperson evaluate the advice and do the best for their animal when the professionals are so inconsistent in their approach? Poor little Polly is very wretched at the moment but I am hoping she will cheer up soon (hoping I will cheer up soon, too!)


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## dinks (Apr 10, 2009)

Hi no probs hope it helps - even if only a wee bit!If thats the case and you feel they do not want to listen then you have to do what you feel is best for your pets.Its not great that the vets are giving conflicting advice - i would be tempted to stick with a weeks cage rest and then the exercise has to be built up to encourage the tissue to form around the joint - its not like healing a broken leg.This will mean lead exercise only for a good while to encourage her to use the leg properly rather than racing around and not using the leg at all.Also make sure you ask to see the same vet - tell whoever books you in when you book your appointment - consistency is very important - and dont let them fob you off with excuses!Smaller dogs can feel a bit more sorry for themselves but the metacam should be providing adequate pain relief - if you feel she is still too painful - which maybe why she is reluctant to pass urine as she will have to squat and this may be uncomfy for her - then again you must tell your vet and they should be able to prescribe additional pain relief on top of the metacam.Hope shes feelin better soon.


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## flufffluff39 (May 25, 2009)

My vet is excellent. Being a long term animal owner I know what to expect aswell from the vets and ask any questions that may not be answered


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

dinks said:


> Hi no probs hope it helps - even if only a wee bit!If thats the case and you feel they do not want to listen then you have to do what you feel is best for your pets.Its not great that the vets are giving conflicting advice - i would be tempted to stick with a weeks cage rest and then the exercise has to be built up to encourage the tissue to form around the joint - its not like healing a broken leg.This will mean lead exercise only for a good while to encourage her to use the leg properly rather than racing around and not using the leg at all.Also make sure you ask to see the same vet - tell whoever books you in when you book your appointment - consistency is very important - and dont let them fob you off with excuses!Smaller dogs can feel a bit more sorry for themselves but the metacam should be providing adequate pain relief - if you feel she is still too painful - which maybe why she is reluctant to pass urine as she will have to squat and this may be uncomfy for her - then again you must tell your vet and they should be able to prescribe additional pain relief on top of the metacam.Hope shes feelin better soon.


Good news, Polly is cheering up, she's eating (so long as it's freshly boiled chicken!) and she's toileted today. The vet I trust most saw her today and says she mending well. She is now taking approximately the same view as the vet who did the op, she's no longer saying a week's cage rest (I suppose they defer to the one who carries out surgery) and she's saying to put Polly in the playpen provided that she doesn't behave wildly. She advising five minute walks three times a day even at this early stage, I think it was to get the muscles strengthened though I'm not absolutely certain. I'm going to leave her in the cage till tomorrow night (four full days post-op) and then maybe put her in the playpen in the day, so long as she behaves herself, and the cage overnight or if I go out. Seems a reasonable compromise, I hope.


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## dinks (Apr 10, 2009)

Hehe shes allowed to be spoiled lol!
Glad things are back on tract for you both - yes they do like to get them moving very soon post op.Hope she continues to improve.


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

dinks said:


> Hehe shes allowed to be spoiled lol!
> Glad things are back on tract for you both - yes they do like to get them moving very soon post op.Hope she continues to improve.


Thanks. Things have been chaotic and miserable for this past week but life seems to be brightening up now. I should probably tidy the house up now as all the chores have gone by the wayside.


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## Stellabella (Jan 8, 2009)

Glad to hear Polly (and you) are feeling better!!


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## Lulu's owner (May 1, 2009)

Polly's in the playpen now and it gives her a bit more room than the cage. It makes things easier for me, there's more space for food and water and I don't have to get down on the ground to get her out, which was difficult as I'm not very fit. She can also see what I'm doing in the front room and the kitchen as well, so that should make her happier. She's not doing anything much, just resting mostly, which she's meant to do, but she's taking an interest in life. She's going out for three tiny walks a day, on vet's instructions, just to the top of our little street and back. Cats are a bit grumpy that the dog is dominating the living room with her playpen, their favourite chair has had to go and the sofa has moved, but then that's typical cats, isn't it. They're showing their disapproval by staying out, I don't see them nearly as much as before.


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## Guest (Sep 14, 2009)

It sounds as if she is being a very sensible girl 
So glad she is making a good recovery


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