7.5 Months Post FHO Surgery

I can understand now why it was hard to find a lot of updates on dogs who went through the FHO surgery, after about 6mos, change is subtle and there just isn't much to write about.

We are going to be 7.5mos post FHO surgery on January 15th.

I don't know if I can say the surgery was successful until we reach the 1-year mark. However, he is doing absolutely amazing.

When I chose to do the surgery I had a good feeling about it, but even so, there was a small speck of doubt in the back of my mind. If we went through with the surgery and it wasn't successful, we wouldn't be able to go back. The surgery was a very permanent thing to do. On June 19th, 2013, I accepted a few things:

-It was okay if we could not compete in IPO.
-It was okay if he could not jump as high as he could before.
-It was okay if he walked funny.

7.5mos later, Seppel CAN compete and train in IPO, he CAN jump just as high as he could before, AND he doesn't walk too funny.

I chose to do the surgery because Seppel is a very active dog, regardless of the things we were doing it was important to me that he could exercise without hurting himself. It has only been in the last few months that I have upped his exercise and he hasn't become sore or lame afterwards. I am still a bit on the cautious side sometimes, but he is basically back to a normal exercise routine.

For me, I am very happy with this surgery but it is not something I would recommend that everyone do. If money is no object, a total hip replacement is absolutely the way to go. However, if money is a bit of a problem and you are willing to be committed to the rehab I think an FHO can be a great option. When I considered the surgery for Seppel, I also took into account his personality and his athletic ability. He has always been a very athletic dog and I felt very confident that his body could compensate, I also felt his personality was very stoic and biddable and that he would, and did, allow me to do the rehab that was necessary.

I can't believe 7.5mos have passed, when you're in the middle of rehab time seems to go by so slowly. Below I'd like to share a couple of pictures:

Summer of 2013 Pre-sx

Post Surgery 1/2014

 

Pre-sx 2013

Post-sx 1/2014

Pre-sx 2013

Post-sx 1/2014

As you can see by the above photo comparisons, not much has changed. He does run a little bit differently, his right leg kind of flails around a bit and looks odd - but it doesn't slow him down. Occasionally he does have moments where he's not fully weight baring, but I think he's still adjusting and learning more and more to trust the leg. He never three-legs it in the yard anymore and is comfortable trotting. I'm sure it feels weird for him and has been a bit of an adjustment, but he hasn't complained too much.

Anyway, there's a decent FHO update, here's to a wonderful 2014!