Boss goes to surgery

Boss’s owner, through tears, agreed to relinquish ownership. She could not find any other financial avenues to continue to provide care and, unfortunately, the reality of owning and caring for Boss became all to evident.

As soon as I had time, we anesthetized Boss again and prepped for the pinning I wished to do. Dissecting down to the hip I found significant muscle damage, much more than I expected. Finding the fracture end was easy but I was now able to see the true damage to the femoral head. I found a growth plate fracture but a large section of the femoral head luxated from the pelvis with the rest of the femur. This type of fracture was not evident on initial x-ray and complicated the entire surgery.

I spent 2 hours attempting to place “trangular” pins and feel comfortable that that fixation would hold for healing. After multiple attempts, I finally decided that setting pins was not going work; the damage was too extensive. I proceeded with a salvage procedure called an FHO. This removes the entire femoral head and neck, eliminating pain but reducing the function of the hip joint. The final result of an FHO is the formation of a fibrous false joint, which has an unpredictable result. Small dogs can do quite well with an FHO due to limited weight on the area; large breed dogs, however, have more loss of function and potential debilitation. We can only wait to see how big Boss will get and how he can handle the situation. This procedure was not ideal, but should at the least make him more comfortable in the short term.

Boss is recovering well from the procedure and is even starting to get around on the surgical leg and feeling very well. I continue to be amazed how quickly most dogs and cats recover from these procedures. Today is a good day. Tommorrow is uncertain for Boss, but hopes are high and we will know soon enough how good his leg will be.

If all goes well, I hope to find Boss a new home soon.