Do we operate ? Or not ?

[TheScrapMonster]

Background is had a dog rescued from abroad ( I know ) she turned up and was nothing like her description, we have spent hours of time effort and money with behaviourists to turn her round due to her nervousness . She is now in the house ok as long as you stick to her routine , she has always been excellent with the children outside however she is still very nervous we no longer walk her ( this is not so much of a problem as we moved to a small holding before we got her so she has 38 acres of land we can walk her round without her seeing other dogs or people . )
Problem is ... at age 1.5 her hips are knackered . Vet is shocked at the X-ray at her age . We had to sedate her to get her into the vets , she is now on painkillers and seems happy and in no pain apart from when she sits or her up from lying down she gives a little groan .
She is going to need extensive surgery ... cost isn't an issue petplan top policy and they will cover .
The issue is do I put her though it , mentally the surgery , staying in vets , strangers , rehab ( she will need physio and hydrotherapy to get the best result ) and it keeps being said she is so young to have hips this bad . I'm not sure if mentally she will get though the treatment and rehab without at the very least reverting to spending 4 months living under a table trembling .
I'm torn . She is such a brave loving girl , despite her not being what we wanted from a dog we love her and she is part of the family but on the other hand the damage is already done mentally and to put her through more trauma ... is it fair ?
I'm a bit muddled at the moment head wise myself as have recently lost my dad so struggling to think of making a decision on her future which isn't just the best for me

[sillysmiles]

Personally I would think she is young and she is now in a lovely home. Dogs are amazingly forgiving and once she knows she's loved that helps.
Personally I would think if the finance side of it is covered and she is young and the vet thinks she has a good chance, I'd go for it.

Also the reluctance for walks was possibly because she was in pain.

[SlothMama]

As she's young and you are willing to give it a go I would, she has a long road ahead of her but she has years ahead of her yet.

[BiteyShark]

I'm torn on this one as I have changed my mind a lot on how much is too much for a dog.

Our dog has suffered behaviourally and mentally with lots of vet admissions and interactions. Fortunately the fear and nervousness was never aggressive and was more terrified trembling behind my legs type fear and we eventually have mostly overcome it but it was really hard on him mentally. But this has really changed my mind over whether I would put my dog through any long term operations and rehabilitation in the future. I would be wanting to know exactly how many visits and what they entailed. I would also be wanting to know if it failed what would be the outcome and long term affects. For example I know someone who treated theirs dogs cancer to prolong their life but they ended up back and forth for a year with issues and still had a traumatic rush to PTS as the dog was suffering.

Sorry OP I don't think there is a right answer but all the best if you go ahead.

[GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman]

I don't think there's a right answer here: you are the person best placed to know if your dog would cope with being at the vets and with all the strangers.

You need to weigh that against the prognosis. Will the results of the op last a lifetime? What are the odds of failure? How fit will she be after a successful op?

[tabulahrasa]

At that age I would err on the side of yes - depending on what the expected outcome is, but you’re potentially looking at years of normal quality of life.

There really isn’t a right or wrong answer though, just that at so young, My bias would be towards getting it done. Because otherwise what you’re looking at is probably a fairly short life of limited exercise and stronger and stronger painkillers.

[fivedogstofeed]

I'd be very torn, and only you know your dog.

One of mine went through two cruciate surgeries a couple of years ago. He's the nicest, most laid back dog, but he still found it very stressful and visibly aged through the process.

At the time I couldn't help feeling that had it been my vet phobic reactive dog we would have had some very difficult decisions - for example our other dog could never have done hydro which was key to recovery.

There is a school of thought with hip issues that you can go with conservative management for some time - painkillers, supplements,sensible exercise, weight management, adaptions in the home - but obviously I'm saying this with no knowledge of what the actual problem is.

[MindYourLanguage]

We got an extreme rescue dog about 9 years ago. She was brutally abused and never been out of her cage when she was rescued. She had 2 broken hips from being mated with a much larger dog and she underwent bilateral femoral head ostectomy (sp?)
She went through the surgery like a fighter and came out the other side, smiling and happy. She was rarely in pain, but we did make sure the house was adapted for her. 9 years later, she occasionally limps, especially in the cold, but otherwise she is a normal functioning dog - she is brilliant with my kids, great with other dogs and she gets more comfortable with every passing day. She is nervous and difficult because of the abuse, and I dont think she will ever get over some of that - but safe spaces helped her massively (crate, closets she can access etc.)
I just wanted you to have a positive story from a similar position.

[Baybetterdays]

I would op, subject to being pretty confident of a good outcome. It’s 24hrs at the vet, medicated so that will help with coping, and then 6 weeks or so recovery (times two) versus watching her go through progressive degeneration. She may well get arthritis later but you’d be buying pain free/ reduced pain years. At her age, I would go for it, because the progressive degeneration otherwise is heartbreaking. But you know your dog, so whatever you decide, worth making sure you know the implications in terms of length/quality of life.