# hip surgery cost?



## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

So my 5 year old Djenga has HD. She was diagnosed at about 7 months old. She has appeared pain free and has been on joint supplements (ester C, glucosamine, chondroitin, etc) since that first x-ray.

I was hoping she'd make it through life without pain from her hips as I've heard can happen sometimes, but unfortunately she's just started bunny-hopping when she trots and she doesn't seem as energetic as she used to be.
So it looks like surgery is in the cards for her soon. I will be calling the vets that I use to see if I can get an estimate, but honestly, vets around here are way overpriced.

I know there are at least a few people on this board who have gotten their dogs' hips replaced (if I'm wording that right...) so I was hoping to get an idea of what is a "normal" price for one hip.

I will try some other joint supplements before making the leap to surgery. Too bad it's not summer because she LOVES to go swimming







She'd swim in the river in the middle of winter if I let her, but I don't know if that's such a good idea LOL

But now that I think about it, if she's in pain now then it'll probably come back at some point even if supplements help. And I'd rather do surgery now while she's still young than when she's 10 or 12...


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

For hip surgery, you want to go to a specialist. If you have a vet school nearby, they are often the most experience, and sometimes even cheaper?


----------



## Spiritsmam (Nov 10, 2007)

I've been the hip replacement route several times with my dogs. The cost really varies depending where you are in the country and the type of replacement you have done. My dogs have all had cementless (BFX) Biomedtrix implants at NC State vet school. The cost there is around $3800 per hip which includes the 3 month recheck exam and radiographs.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

when was her last set of x rays? if arthritis has set in, she may no longer be a good candidate for surgery.


----------



## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Actually, the THR is the surgery recommended when there is a lot of arthritis in the joint. 

My Massie had severe bilateral hip dysplasia. It was diagnosed when she was 10 months old and although she lived a very active life, her hips deteriorated over the years. She had lots of arthritis. When she reached 5 years old she was having a lot of mobility issues. When I took her in for her surgical consult the surgeon laughed when he saw her x-rays. He said it was amazing she could walk at all and asked which hip I wanted replaced as they were both really bad. I chose the hip and 6 weeks later she was like a new dog! I didn't end up having to replace the other hip at all. 

At the time (this was 15 years ago) I used a board certified surgeon in Phoenix, AZ and the cost was $2000.


----------



## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: BowWowMeowActually, the THR is the surgery recommended when there is a lot of arthritis in the joint.


perhaps _bone spurs_ is the issue i'm confusing arthritis with then - i was told by two orthos that THR was no longer an option for us and to up the supplements and cross our fingers.


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

I paid $3800 for a cementless THR in Annapolis, MD. I had to pay $200 for followup x rays.


----------



## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

Wow - I wasn't expecting it to be so expensive








There is Penn State about 2-2.5 hours away from me. Maybe I'll bring her in and see what they say. 
There is also an orthopedic specialist I know of in NJ but my family had a dog that ruptured her cruciate ligament and the specialist gave her the run around about bringing the dog in...

I did have new x-rays taken fairly recently... One hip looks great but the other one was pretty ugly.

Here is her x-ray from...last spring, I think?









She wouldn't stop peeing on the bed in her crate, so I took it out a couple weeks ago. She also hasn't gotten as much excercise as she normally does. Maybe that's why she's gotten ouchy.
I'll start saving LOL and hope that I can put the surgery off for at least a little while.
I've heard of pet insurance that will cover HD - which companies do this?


----------



## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

Sorry Djenga is not doing well!

Penn State (State College PA) does NOT have a vet school - you need to go to U of PA Vet School in Philly - great orthopedic department - headed by Gayle Smith (developed Penn Hip)

I doubt a pet insurance policy would cover any of this as she has had the condition since she was 10 months old....









Good luck - TTYS

Lee


----------



## JenM66 (Jul 28, 2005)

UPenn would be the way to go since you're in NJ. Where in NJ are you? You could look into Red Bank or Garden State Veterinary Specialists. Most pet insurance policies will NOT cover HD as it is considered a genetic condition. You're probably looking at $4,000 - $6,000, unfortunately.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

There's also Care Credit http://www.carecredit.com 

I used it for Nina-so far I haven't had any problems with it as far as a credit company goes. 

I think that I understand why the surgery has to cost so much, but feel badly that it does, because you have a lot of dogs who would benefit but that do not have owners who possibly ever could pay for it (would want to but can't afford and won't qualify for credit) or owners who would not (could afford but wouldn't want to). 

I know it's not ideal, and not recommending it for your dog, but the FHO seems to offer some dogs a greater quality of life for much less cost. That's what Ilsa had-for her it was what I decided was the better surgery because she's smaller, lighter and she's done great. The vet who did hers does them for people's pets who just could never swing a THR, but don't want their dog to suffer with severe HD, with good results. I have seen some of the dogs before and after-they were barely walking and then were able to move freely. 

And people may disagree with that whole line of thinking! That's okay-I would understand why a majority of GSD owners, with dogs well over 50# would prefer the THR.


----------



## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

No wonder I couldn't find the number for the Penn State vet clinic LOL I must have mixed it up with the UPenn one. I have heard good things about Red Bank. I am in NW NJ so Philly is about 2 hours away from me. 

Djenga is just 55 lb, so maybe an FHO would work for her. I will try to get her into a vet soon to discuss our options. Unfortunately I don't think I'd qualify for Care Credit at this point, but I'll apply anyway.

Of course their online application is down at the moment...

I don't know how I didn't realize how expensive this was going to be. I guess I had my head in the sand. Oh well, we'll figure something out.


----------



## kelso (Jan 22, 2007)

I just asked my husband to be sure...

but Meeka (GSD) had an FHO 8 years ago and it was around $3,000+.

Jean, does that sound ridiculous? That is what he remembered it to be...and how could you forget that!

Meeka was around 65lb, GSD, 7 years old when she had the surgery. She lived to be 12, with great mobility until the last year or so of her life.

Wishing you and Djenga the best


----------



## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

No wonder I couldn't find the number for the Penn State vet clinic LOL I must have mixed it up with the UPenn one. I have heard good things about Red Bank. I am in NW NJ so Philly is about 2 hours away from me. 

Djenga is just 55 lb, so maybe an FHO would work for her. I will try to get her into a vet soon to discuss our options. Unfortunately I don't think I'd qualify for Care Credit at this point, but I'll apply anyway.

Of course their online application is down at the moment...

I don't know how I didn't realize how expensive this was going to be. I guess I had my head in the sand. Oh well, we'll figure something out.


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

I've seen FHOs range in price from $800 to $1800. 

If you have a consult, make sure it is with a board certified orthopedic surgeon. I am lucky, I live within ten minutes of one of the best, and he never pushed surgery. He said he would not perform surgery until Rudy was in pain. Afer a year, Rudy was in pain, so we had the surgery done four years ago this February.


----------



## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

Kayos just had a THR in September at WSU (Washington State University). The cost was $4300, the estimate was $4500. her followup in October was $126 and she has another followup next Monday and it should be the same. 

The impant alone is about $1800.

The surgeon that did Kay's surgery DID NOT recommend the FHO. Her weight made no difference as he had doen FHO's on 200 pound dogs. His problem with that surgery is that the recovery is more difficult, the dog has more pain and the potential for permanent pain after the surgery is higher. The dog's gait is altered with an FHO and they are more limited with activity. 

I would recommend the THR if you are going to do surgery.


----------



## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

So this might have been a false alarm...

I had not actually seen her "bunny hop" myself - my husband had described seeing her do it a lot and I just assumed that's what it was. I took her outside today and just watched her run around for an hour and she didn't do it once. My husband came home from work and I asked him to point out if she did it...well right away he did...but it was just her running for a stride or two and then breaking back into a trot again LOL

She seems herself again personality-wise, so maybe she just wasn't feeling well for an unrelated reason. She's been having a lot of accidents in her crate this last week, so maybe she has a bladder infection...I'll take her into the vet to get that checked out.

So...my fingers are crossed that it was just a false alarm for now, but at least I'm aware of how much this is going to cost me when it's time. I'll start saving up bigtime now.

She was jumping all over me and running around like usual today, and I don't think she'd jump like that if she was hurting. I laid her down and moved her leg/hip around in every direction and it didn't seem to bother her at all.
She's never shown any difficulty getting up stairs or any other signs of HD, but with her being a little down and the supposed bunny hopping I was thinking her hips were acting up.

I realize I am not a vet, but if she was in pain from the hip I think I'd be able to spot it since I know her behavior very well. So *hopefully* it was a false alarm, at least for now! I feel pretty silly, but better me feel silly than her be in pain right? LOL


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Ilsa's FHO was $700-so that $3000 does sound high! Maybe he did a THR and just got it messed up?

I am not disagreeing with Kathy's surgeon-he's an ortho vet for crying out loud, but in Ilsa's case at her yearly check-up which was about 8 months after surgery, she had equal muscle tone and no change in activity or gait. NOW-she seems to have a high pain tolerance in general, so I will never know if she is hurting without being doggy detective with her, which is how I ended up having her hips x-rayed in the first place. So I have to watch very closely and thus far she's not giving off signals for that leg. So again, just in Ilsa's case, it was a success. Perhaps a THR would have been better-and I will be posting in 5 years complaining about the FHO! But for right now-she's able to do everything she did before, just better. There's also a link in the sticky section on the FHO and you can see the recovery is scarier in its own way. 
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=898279&page=2#Post898279 does show Ilsa-and again-she seems to have had an exceptional experience with the FHO. 


Good articles (I think-I hope): http://www.workingdogs.com/vchipdysplasia.htm
http://marvistavet.com/html/body_hip_dysplasia.html
http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/vmth/clientinfo/info/saortho/hipdysp.shtml

Also check out orthodogs on Yahoo! 

Hey-just read your post-yeah, it could be a UTI type thing! 

Supplements, etc...maybe? I can't remember what I read about that for her.


----------

