Barley, our “chesapeake bay retreiver”, has pretty severe hip dysplasia. We took him to a specialist, who conceded that we might be able to get along without surgery if we are careful about his activities and such. This was somewhat relieving since the recommended surgery, a TPO, costs about $2200 per hip.
Since the initial visit, Barley’s gate has quickly degraded, and he’s walks with his front legs splayed out in a V, and his back legs are very loose. We put him on Cosequine, and I want to blame that for making him all loose, but that’s virtually impossible (according to the vets…)
So, it looks like Barley’s going to have hip surgery. I’ll have to sell my Apple stock, which should cover most of it, unless he ends up needing the surgery on both hips.
I think what’s most frustrating is the lack of options we seem to have, and the lack of time to make decisions. Technically, we could skip the operation, but he wouldn’t be able to go hiking and play with other doggies. Who knows, maybe a miracle cure will surface in the next week and a half…