For owners of dogs with clinically moderate to severe Hip Dysplasia the impact on the whole family can be considerable. We purchase medium and large breed dogs such as Labradors, Retrievers, German Shepherds and so forth, to fit into our active lives. Unfortunately these are the breeds we see presenting all too often with clinically significant Hip Dysplasia or its sequel Hip Osteoarthritis.
For many dogs, Hip Dysplasia does not result in clinical problems. For those that are affected, managing weight and activity with intermittent pain relief and anti inflammatories may be all that is needed to improve their quality of life to reasonable or (in some cases) even a good level.
For those patients who have tried the above and still have a quality of life which does not meet their expectations, surgical management by Total Hip Replacement is an excellent option. As the main pain source in dogs with hip dysplasia is loss of articular cartilage which has no nerve endings and the exposure of the sensitive bone underlying it, the best way to ease the discomfort is to eliminate contact between these two surfaces. This can be done by excision arthroplasty. In medium and large breed dogs however this will not be as effective as replacing the two components of the hip joint with prosthetic joint components. This is because excision arthroplasty destroys the anatomy of the ball and socket joint, whilst THR recovers the perfect anatomic relationship between the femur and the pelvis. Have a read at the file linked on the left for more information.