hip dysplasia???

JEEPGIRLTX- Just a couple of questions for you

1. Is the "malformed muscle" smaller than the other side, i.e. does it look like there has been a wasting of the muscle?

2. Is she putting weight on the leg that is showing a difference in the muscle?

I am asking these question because I went through a similar situation with my puppy at 10 months of age (she is now just over a year old). She was in doggie daycare and they called me in the middle of the day because Lola (my puppy) was favoring her right hind leg and would lift that leg when she stood still. I picked her up that afternoon and did notice that she was not putting the rear leg down much at all. After a week of her still favoring the leg, I took her in to see her vet (her daycare is affiliated with her vet's office). The vet thought it looked like she had a partially torn ACL probably secondary to a larger dog stepping on her the morning that she started to favor that leg(yikes!), and recommended that we give her pain meds and a week to see if she improved, the next week I took her back in (she was not showing any improvement) and the vet gave her more pain meds and said to give it another week, this happened one more time (i.e. 3 weeks had elapsed since the injury presented) and I noticed that the muscle on her rt rear quarter had completely atrophied and wasted away from lack of use.

Well, I decided that she needed to see a specialist asap, because I wanted to fix whatever was wrong with her, not just keep waiting to see if she would get better, because that route was obviously not working. And it was heartbreaking to see her hopping around on 3 legs.

I took her to an orthopedic surgeon at a very good local animal hospital that specializes in rare and trauma injuries. The surgeon immediately said he did not think it was her ACL (knee) at all, he thought it was more likely her hip, but they would need x-rays to be sure.

Well, the x-rays came back and she was diagnosed with Legg Calve Parthesis (avascular femoral necrosis) in layman's terms the top of her femur that goes into the hip socket had it's blood supply cut off (they think this is an inherited condition) and had died becoming weak and brittle. When the dog at daycare had stepped on her her femoral head (the top of the femur that goes into the hip socket) had collapsed which caused it to rub on her pelvis and cause pain when she put pressure on it while walking or standing. The only way to fix this was to perform a femoral head ostectomy (FHO), which basically meant they would cut off the top of the femur, and she would need to rest and then work on developing the muscles in her hind quarter to stabilize the joint.

All of the information I found on the internet said this condition is somewhat common in small dogs, and that it presents around 10 months of age.

I just thought I would throw this info out there as I had never even heard of it before Lola was diagnosed. I really hope that Daisy does not have this disorder or hip dysplasia. Good luck at the vets and make sure they take x-rays so they can give you an accurate diagnosis.

Poor Lola!!! Has she has the surgery yet? How is she doing?

Daisy's hip / leg doesn't seem to really bother her. She runs and jumps normally and for the most part, doesn't act like there is anything wrong. I have noticed that she favors it slightly when she's running up stairs, but it doesn't slow her down in the least. The muscle in question doesn't exactly look like it's wasting. It looks like there is a large lump where there shouldn't be and an indentation under that (which also shouldn't be there). It's like she's using a different muscle on that side of her body. I noticed the lump before, right after her rabies vaccine, and the vet thought it was a vaccine reaction. Now I think it was probably there before and I just happened to notice it then because the vaccine made her sore and she seemed to have trouble walking. But her vaccine was like 4-5 months ago, so surely this can't be a residual side effect.

In any case, I think it has recently gotten worse (the lump seems bigger) because the other day I was looking at her sitting down and it seemed REALLY obvious.

My main concern is that this is one of those injuries that doesn't bother her NOW, but will result in crippling arthritis later in life.

My vet is pretty cool. If I tell her I want x-rays, she'll take x-rays. She knows I research all this stuff before I bring my pets in and I usually have a fairly accurate theory of what the problem is. And she'll give me the name of a specialist if I ask for one.

You know, I stepped on her when she was a baby. Maybe I injured her hip and it's just now showing signs. I feel like such a bad mom

Lola had her surgery back on August 19th and has been a real trooper. When I brought her home her entire rt rear quarter had been shaved in addition to her front leg because they gave her an epidural during surgery and had an IV drip in her front leg. She was able to come home the day after she had surgery and was so tired that she just slept and slept. I was really worried about her as I am sure you can imagine. Slowly but surely over the next month she got her pep back and wanted to play again. She had staples in her suture for 2 weeks and did noticably better once those were removed. The surgeon had suggested that I let her swim in the bathtub to help strengthen the muscles in her affected leg, as the faster she could build muscle the faster the "joint" (it is actual a false-joint because the bone was removed during surgery) would be stabalized and she could go back to her pre-injury level of activity. All of her hair has now grown back and she is still building the muscle back up on the right side, and one leg will always be shorter than the other, but she has adapted in is getting along very well.


The bump you are describing on Daisy does sound like the lumps that can occur after the vaccination shots. Lola had one on her neck when I first got her, and the vet assured me that the little dogs sometimes develop them and that I shouldn't worry. On a side note- she also gave Lola her shots just behind her shoulder, which Lola did not seem to mind at all. In fact, she didn't even cry. When we went back for her 2nd set, she saw one of the other vets in the office and he gave her the shot in the scruff at the base of her neck and she cried like crazy! From then on I always ask that any shot be given behind her shoulder.

I think it is great that you are getting her looked at right away, a lot of the problems that crop up can be corrected if caught early enough. I wish that I would have gotten my second opinion sooner, as it would have helped Lola's recovery a lot to have not lost so much muscle mass in her affected leg.

Your not a bad mom! If you had caused an injury to her hip when you stepped on her, it would have been obvious right away, ie she would have been limping around and would not have recovered without medical intervention. Don't beat yourself up. You are taking the right steps to take care of her by taking her to see the vet.

Please keep me updated, I really hope that it turns out to be something minor.

GOOD NEWS!!! I am an over-protective weirdo!

The vet said that all it is is a pocket of fatty tissue. She says that they see them a lot and it's perfectly normal and harmless. Of course, I made them do x-rays anyway (because I didn't believe them). They x-rayed her hips and her knees and they are fine. She showed me the x-rays and her hips looked really good! Not that I am an expert on what they SHOULD look like, but I did see a few examples as I was researching hip dysplasia online, and hers looked really good!

The dog I had growing up used to get the fatty lumps too. She had them all over and it was kind of gross. I hope Daisy doesn't get any more. I don't want her to be lumpy Of course, I'll take lumpy over hip dysplasia any day....

HURRAY!!!

rachael7 -- I hope Lola continues to improve. I'm sorry she had to go through such an ordeal. Does she swim in the bathtub? I bet that's cute