Bug's Hip Dysplasia - Update #1: X-rays

I took Bug to the vet today (after much confusion with the receptionist over FHO vs. OFA and ortho vs. repro specialties).** We had good x-rays done under sedation and compared it to ones from last July to see the progression. The BEST news is her right hip looks great still! Her left is showing some pretty serious arthritic changes, but she's a perfect candidate for a Femoral Head Osteotomy (FHO).

Go home, Bug, you're drunk! The sedatives
lasted a bit longer than it took to take x-rays ;)

An FHO is where they remove the top of the femur that's supposed to rotate within the pelvis, because none of it is shaped right and it's currently just grinding bone-on-bone (OUCH!). This creates a "false joint" of muscle after healing, removing the source of pain and inflammation from the dog. Some range of motion is lost, but no more pain! Some reasons she made a perfect candidate:

• she's a small or medium sized dog (less than 45 lbs)
• she's an active dog that stays leaner, unlikely to get overweight and overstress her "good" hip
• she doesn't need it done bilaterally - one hip is good as is, so only rehabbing one side is necessary

There's a few other surgeries that treat hip dysplasia, but Bug isn't really a good candidate for them - triple pelvic osteotomy (TPO) is done for puppies that have signs of hip dysplasia but do not yet have arthritic changes to the joint. This surgery re-orients the pelvis, so the angle of the hip socket is better. A total hip replacement (THR) is exactly what it sounds like - bionic puppy hip! However, it's extremely expensive. They recommend THR for larger dogs that would be too big/heavy for an FHO to be as successful.

Now for what you've been waiting for -- the x-rays!

This is from a year ago (Bug was almost 2). There are some arthritic changes and you
can see the left hip (right side of the image) doesn't sit in the socket entirely.

Image from today, two weeks shy of exactly one year later. Bug's right hip
(left on the image) looks good still, but there's a decent progression of arthritis in the
 left hip - the femoral head is no longer smooth and correctly shaped, but
bumpy and rough from grinding in the joint. 

Although it's sad to see how much the arthritis has progressed in a year, I'm glad to have one more expert agree that an FHO is a good plan for Bug. She's still a young dog so I can pretty easily make her life less painful. We've scheduled the "big day" for a month from now while Bug and I are in Columbus watching a friend's dogs. Follow along for pictures/video and updates of Bug's process and recovery!

There's exactly one day left for the Bug shirts fund raiser! https://www.bonfirefunds.com/see-bug-run We sold TWENTY SHIRTS!! A HUGE thank you to everyone for helping my little dog! The fund was successful, so start looking for yours to come in the mail mid-July (right when Bug is going in for surgery!)

**OFA is a registry for pure-bred dogs to prove a veterinarian has x-rayed and examined hips and elbows for genetic orthopaedic problems. I have no clue why they thought I'd want my spayed, mixed breed to get an OFA exam, but.... eh?

Bug also got to do some paddle boarding before the vet appointment today, so today wasn't all bad!