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Our Injured Pom



 
 
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Old December 11th 06, 03:33 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
ceb2
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Default Our Injured Pom

Friday night, our 9 - 10 YO red Pom fell down the stairs and dislocated
her back left hip. We adopted her 2 years ago with an already injured
knee in the same leg which she sometime favors by walking on just three
legs. We brought her to our vet who X-Rayed, sedated and tried to put
her joint back in place but it just wouldn't stay.

She gave us several options:

1. Let the inflamation go down and try again in a week. We are
reluctant because we don't know
how successful this would be.

2. Open reduction - surgery to replace her hip in it's socket which we
were told would cost around 3 -4 $ thousand. We can't afford that and
aren't sure it would help that much considering the knee on that leg is
damaged (a tendon is out of place and her cartelidge is wearing down -
we were told this is common in older Poms).

3. Amputation, which we were told would cost around $1,000.00, which we
also cannot afford. We were led to beleive it would be successful and
that she could adapt, and we'd be willing to accomdate her compromised
lifestyle but we have already spent a lot for her care and that's just
too much.

4. Do nothing and hope she adapts. The vet said she might deal with
this okay, and it seems like it would almost be the same as an
amputation, assuming she isn't in pain. She would be living with three
good legs. We were told to monitor her and evaluate her ourselves
before we make any decision.

She seems to be doing okay, and getting around. This AM after falling
over the first time, she did the "Pom Poop Thumper Dance" and
compensated for her bad leg. We will not know truly how she adapts for
some time.

Under my vet's advice, yesterday I spoke with a local pom shelter to
see what they thought. He told me a number of reassuring things but
most importantly, stressed that amputation is NOT an option. Even if
she favors the leg, or stops using it, she still needs it for balance.
He assured me that even if we did nothing, there's an excellent chance
her hip will go back in on it's own. Also, he's confident it can be put
back in when the swelling goes down. He also assured me that despite
the health of her leg, the breed is much tougher than they look, and
she will adapt.

I am writing this for three reasons:

1. Are any of you familiar with the breed or small dogs with dislocated
hips? Do these options make sense? Should we get a second opinion?

2. Are there any other small dog/Pom specialists around (we are in
Wolcott CT) we could consult with?

3. Do you know of anyone in Southern NE who will help us financially?
Or at least be willing to do a free/low cost evaluation?

We are committed to our loving pet, and might consider some of these
expensive procedures if they were not as much and we were convinced
they would increase the qulaity of our friend's life. We are led to
belive she is near the end of her life expectancy. We love her dearly
as we do our Aussie and two cats. It it very difficult to put a price
tag on our loved one, but we recently spent over $1,500.00 on a cat who
had a bladder blockage due to crystals, and ultimately had to put him
down on Thanksgiving morning. My wife is a recent Breast Cancer
survivor and is very upset over the prospect of two of our family going
through this so quickly.

Our Pom's name is "JD". She's a tough old lady, but quiet and stoic so
we can't tell how much pain she is in. We don't want to prolong her
agony and we want to do what its best for her, but need some guidance
as to exactly what that may be.

And for the record, we have NOT considered euthanasia. We already have
an offer from the shelter to foster/adopt her before it comes to that.

Thanks

 




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