My sweet CharlieDog can no longer go on hikes, rarely goes for walks anymore, and spends his days just laying around the house looking sad.
It turns out his hip dysplasia, after years of being well-controlled with exercise and medication and good Texas weather, has started to rule his life.
So we're pretty much out of time in terms of conservative management, and it's time to bring in the orthopedic surgeon. We can either do a salvage procedure (they simply cut out the femoral head - the ball of the joint) and let scar tissue form a pseudo-joint, or go for an actual cure - a joint replacement.
Obviously the total hip replacement is the better way to go, but the $7000 cost is very, um, high.....
Charlie is only 8 years old and ideally has another 8 years left. I want him to enjoy hiking again (we live on a creek with 5 miles of trails right out our back door!), and even just chase a squirrel or two. He should only need to have one hip done, and the surgeon (and the almighty Internet) all say that he can return to near-puppy-dom once he recovers from the replacement (meaning he could hike again!).
It hurts me so much to close the door on him to go for a trail run or a hike - knowing he used to love doing that, and knowing that unless I do something, he'll never be able to come with me again. No more backpacking trips, no more hiking, no more running around with sticks. But if I could scrape together enough money to offset the astronomical cost of the hip replacement...then CharlieDog could hike again!
It turns out his hip dysplasia, after years of being well-controlled with exercise and medication and good Texas weather, has started to rule his life.
So we're pretty much out of time in terms of conservative management, and it's time to bring in the orthopedic surgeon. We can either do a salvage procedure (they simply cut out the femoral head - the ball of the joint) and let scar tissue form a pseudo-joint, or go for an actual cure - a joint replacement.
Obviously the total hip replacement is the better way to go, but the $7000 cost is very, um, high.....
Charlie is only 8 years old and ideally has another 8 years left. I want him to enjoy hiking again (we live on a creek with 5 miles of trails right out our back door!), and even just chase a squirrel or two. He should only need to have one hip done, and the surgeon (and the almighty Internet) all say that he can return to near-puppy-dom once he recovers from the replacement (meaning he could hike again!).
It hurts me so much to close the door on him to go for a trail run or a hike - knowing he used to love doing that, and knowing that unless I do something, he'll never be able to come with me again. No more backpacking trips, no more hiking, no more running around with sticks. But if I could scrape together enough money to offset the astronomical cost of the hip replacement...then CharlieDog could hike again!