Advice on what I should do about my 1 year old dog

[Lolaandnova]

Hi everyone,

First time posting, so I apologise if I've posted in the wrong place or anything!

We bought a female golden retriever (Lola), from a girl who didnt want her anymore (she said she was moving - I don't think that was true). Lola was 10 weeks old when we got her and she is now only 12 months old.

Eventually, after a few months we took her to the vet because she was limping and we found out she has double hip dysplasia in both back legs. We were willing to pay £16,000 and our insurance was only £1000 a year since we didnt expect a dog to get so sick that quickly.

We took her to Noel Fitzpatrick (supervet) for both her double hip replacement surgery, but while we were there he also diagnosed her with double elbow dysplasia in both front legs, and this would required a further £5000 one elbow and £500 for another. Later on, the better elbow would require the £5000 surgery.

In total she will have to have 4 surgeries and about 8 months of recovery in a cage. Noel Fitzpatrick said it would improve her current quality of life but she still has osteoarthirtis (arthritis)

It would cost us over £25,000 to £30,000, 8 months of surgery and recovery and possibly more later, and constant arthiritis management. He did say he has no idea how quickly her arthiritis will spread and how long she has before it cripples her. The operations would just delay everything or possibly delay.

We have no idea what to do and are considering euthanasia as we cant see her wanting that many operations and even with the ops, her quality of life would most likely drop. She has a brother (not same litter) who plays quite rough, which would need to stop, and I imagine no big walks either.

We have no idea what the right decision is and are really struggling.

Also, after telling the girl we purchased from, and asking for breeders address to report, she has blocked us and stopped replying. She did give the breeders number ages ago and he never replied, and now is saying he never sold puppies and won't answer calls.

Does anyone know who we can report him and her to? And please give advice on what to do with our poor baby girl?

Should we pay for the operations in hopes that she improves and possibly gets to live a longer life? Or should we euthanise and not put her through the 8 months of ops and recovery and then arthiritis? Would you do it if money wasn't an issue?

Thank you for reading this and sorry for the long read :(

So sorry - the outcome doesn't sound great and am sure that the vet would suggest a pain management program if this was the best way forward but for such a young dog, it will only get worse.

Yes, would also suggest pts...

oh how awful, poor you for this and the poor dog. I would also euthanise, and would absolutely not put her through this. It is far too much for any dog for a double hip, never mind elbows and possible other issues.

I would also not delay this, they hide pain very very well, poor thing.

After your updates I’d 100% say there’s only one decision. Unfortunately it’s the sad one. I’d have a few days spoiling her rotten, making a fuss of her, doing all her favourite things then have her quietly pts at home. That’s what we did for our last dog.

I wish someone could track down the breeder and punish them for not checking this potential issue when deciding to breed.

@LEMtheoriginal

Vet nurse here - just because you can do something, it doesn't mean that you should. Some people will quite happily take your money though.

8 months cage rest with no guarantee she wont be in constant pain for the remainder if her life doesn't sound like a great outcome to me.

Vet nurse here too , my thoughts entirely . Poor girl , at least whatever you do will be done with compassion and love , things its sounds like she didn't have much of previously .

Yes, spend a very special time with her doing everything she loves. It is heartbreaking to lose her this way but however short her life will feel lived to the full to her. I am very, very sorry.

I love my dog but if I was faced with your choices I wouldn’t put her through 8 months in a cage. She wouldn’t know why or that it was for her own good (short term good at that).
Make the decisions that you would want someone to make for you if you were in her position.

I am also very sorry to hear her plight. Have you asked Noel for his opinion on what he feels would be ethical?

Would the 8 months rest be divided into smaller chunks?

I have just finished a month of cage rest for my dog with a spinal cord injury and it wasn’t anywhere near as awful as I expected. I also have a dog with hip dysplasia and my decision to have her hips done will be based on her vigour and enthusiasm for life at the time. If she is still happy, and Noel feels there is an optimistic chance of a good life afterwards, I would find it hard not to give her a chance.

How sad. You sound like a wonderful dog owner. I agree that you should let her go as it sounds like a lot of pain and misery with no likely good outcome.

Oh my. The poor dog. And you.

Echoing everyone else - this isn't fair, I don't really see you have a choice. Loads of ops, months in a cage? Anaesthetics are really rough for dogs - our goldie was so ill after an op that we swore we'd never put him through it again. No way, that is just horrific.

Sending

My heart is breaking for you having to make this decision. We've had dogs for over 30 years, some have developed arthritis and I know from my own experience that the anti inflammatory meds can cause horrendous side effects, they are savage drugs. I would eco what others have said, a few days of pampering and then pts. Pts is a decision we have always agonised over before and afterwards, but I think you know when it's the right thing to do.

Update: Thanks to everyone replying, I appreciate it so much. So Noel Fitzpatrick basically said that the success rate for hip replacement is 95% but the elbows are more complicated (from everything I've read, it seems very successful). He said he can do a procedure that will show how much the arthritis has developed so far, and that would cost £5500.

He recently sent us a letter detailing everything and from what I gather, he believes he can fix her elbows and hips and her elbow disease can be treated successfully through surgery and careful management (though it would be 4 operations or possibly more, and obviously she would be recovering in her cage etc).

He said that the arthritis can't be cured, just delayed, and the pain could be managed to a certain extent but doesn't know to what extent. And he doesn't know how quickly it would spread. He said that her quality of life would be better than it is currently but we don't know how good that would be. Whether that means less walking, less playing with her brother, less jumping around, less playing in the water (everything she loves). So we're not sure if whether managed successfully means just living in less pain or living and playing. If it is just living, without everything she loves, I just don't feel I can do it to her. Has anyone reading this, had a dog with arthritis? and how has it been for them? Are there any bad side effects? Has it been managed?

He said that he has done these operations before and has seen dogs live a long life. I obviously really want her to have a chance and live a long and happy life, but then I also don't want her to suffer operations, any risks, any side effects from pain meds / anti inflammatory, or a low quality of life.

The reason I'm having trouble making a decision is because I have no idea if she could recover and live a full happy life or whether I would regret more, putting her through it all and not having the quality of life she should have. She currently does play and run around but gets really tired, limps and takes really long breaks, and just looks unwell. And Noel said that because she is only a year old, she can hide pain very well. I'm just not sure if the pain she is in right now, is more from the dysplasias or the arthritis, or whether the gamble is worth it.

You have all helped me so much, I will forever be grateful and you have convinced me again that human compassion exists. Sorry for the wall of text, I just feel like I need to give all the facts. Thank you

I really wish I could, I've been so angry at them honestly. There must be other dogs from that litter with the same issues which is heartbreaking but I can't do much unfortunately

I have a rescue german shepherd that I found out had severe hip dysplasia at 9 months old. He also has poor elbows.
I debated surgery but decided not to put him through it. I felt it was too much and too damaging for a young and sensitive dog to go through all of that especially as he had a terrible start.

Anyway, he is 12 now and still enjoying life. For the past 12 years he has really managed well, it’s only now where the balance is tipping to more bad than good days. Originally the prognosis was very poor and I was fully prepared to put him to sleep at any point once I felt he was too painful to continue, but it hasn’t happened yet!

No he hasn’t been able to climb mountains and run marathons however he is able to do normal dog things. He has regular exercise which really helps. I’ve never allowed him to chase balls etc as that can trigger a flare up but he can run, play with my other dogs and walk for about an hour before he gets tired.

He sleeps on orthopaedic mattresses and I am careful not to let him get cold as he can stiffen up. We also do regular swimming, hydro and he’s even had acupuncture at one point.

Medication wise he has been on NSAIDs and a joint supplement since a year old. I would rather him comfortable and live a shorter life so I accepted the risks and medicated from the beginning.
More recently we added in other drugs to keep him comfortable, there any many different options and some suit better than others. There’s also a new injectable painkiller called Librella which could help.

If he had not coped so well and been so happy I would have had him put to sleep though. I wouldn’t want to watch a dog who cannot enjoy life nor do I think it’s in the best interests of a dog to have so many interventions when the outcome isn’t 100% guaranteed to be brilliant

Thank you so much, it really helps reading other peoples experinces so I appreciate you taking the time to write it all out!

Do you know how bad the hips and elbows were? Maybe through xrays? And does your dog have osteoarthritis? If so, was it diagnosed when he was younger?

Also, did he show any signs of pain like limping or getting tired when he was little? Really sorry for all the questions, just want to know any similarities to help with Lolas situation

I’m so sorry for what you’re going through @Lolaandnova

Just chipping in with my experience of a dog with arthritis: my 10-year-old Labrador has arthritis in both front legs. I’ve had her since she was 5 but it was diagnosed when she was with her previous owner, so when she was fairly young.

For the first few years I had her she was absolutely fine, you’d never know there was a problem. Then a few years ago she developed a limp, which very quickly got worse and worse. Initially the vet suggested laser therapy, which we tried but didn’t seem to make much difference. Then the first medication, can’t remember the name of it, again little or no improvement.

Then we tried Previcox. It worked a miracle - her limp went and it seemed to take years off her, she was leaping around with an energy I hadn’t seen since I first got her.

She’s been on Previcox ever since and is still in great shape. I did take her to see a veterinary surgeon at one point to see if it was worth surgery (they scrape out the inflamed tissue I think? don’t quote me on that, I can’t remember the details!) but he examined her and said that as she was doing well on the medication, he’d advise sticking with it.

I realise your situation is more complicated with the dysplasia but just wanted to say that my experience of managing arthritis has so far been a positive one.

I wish you all the best with whatever you decide. What a heartbreaking situation to be in ❤️

@Lolaandnova mine was diagnosed by xrays once I had taken him home and noticed he would be lame after running around and that type of thing. I can’t remember how bad they were- bad enough to offer a referral but at the time 11 years ago I don’t think hip replacements were as widely done as perhaps they are now. He was insured so that wasn’t really the issue but I had worked with some dogs who had extensive surgeries as puppies and they all had quite bad behavioural issues around strangers/vets/other dogs and I didn’t want to send him down that road. I still wouldn’t do any sort of dramatics without a guaranteed or very high success rate outcome. I had discussed it and was fully prepared for him not to have a long life, I would have rather filled him full of drugs and him had a happy year or two and then put him to sleep than dragged him through so much surgery and rest and stuff like that.

He has been on previcox for I can’t remember how many years. It helped after about a week and I really notice if he misses one. I also give a joint supplement and then add in some stronger meds as and when we need them, on a very cold week for example but it’s not as often as you might expect.
More recently we did discuss librella however the results are mixed.

He has lived a good life…been on holiday, raised lots of other animals in his time and then my DC. He has competed in competitive obedience and enjoyed plenty of short walks so I don’t think he’s really suffered or anything like that. There are things he can’t do but we just substitute them for something else.
I have had to be careful around strange dogs etc as he can be sore if he gets ran into and it made him a bit grumpy with them!

He did have arthritic changes on X-ray originally then about 3-4 years ago I xrayed him again and found that he had a lot more arthritis in both carpus, lumber spine and also stifles! He’s gradually been slowing down but I had no idea it was so widespread. He still is very happy enough, always playing and is at the front of the que at walk time. He is painful on manipulation though and can have a lame day but never to the point he can’t get up or walk, the day that happens is the day we will say goodbye but hopefully not yet. He is 12 though and I expect lots of old dogs need to take it down a notch at this point.

I do however have a friend who’s GSD did have a hip replacement last year and that’s also doing amazingly well. She opted to just do one hip as the other wasn’t as bad. Could it be something where you don’t have to do it all? Could you do the hips and then conservatively manage the elbows if that will give her a happier life?

I haven’t had hips done - but my last dog had elbow dysplasia...

Went lame at 16 weeks, had an arthroscopy on his elbow at 6 months, it wasn’t completely successful.

His second elbow went when he was about 2... that one we didn’t do anything about as by then he had other issues.

On NSAIDs after the arthroscopy he could do walks of about an hour as long as we didn’t let him run about too much off lead and fairly normal amounts of bumbling about the house and garden.

But, he had some pretty serious issues with the NSAIDs, had to come off them at 3 and despite varying cocktails of painkillers he was never as comfortable, so very short walks, periods of no walks and at 6 he started getting much worse, nothing made any difference and we had him PTS.

So basically IME, if the painkillers work it’s a slightly limited, but pretty decent quality of life... if they don’t, it’s very restricted.

Also - cage rest takes up a lot of your time, I mean a lot! Because obviously it’s not just sticking them in a crate, you have to entertain them.

For our Golden, we took her in for her front leg, but the vet immediately pointed out one of the back legs which looks quite funny, she also walks whilst doing her business. We have heard the success rate of hips is 95%, and the elbows are quite successful to, right now considering maybe doing the elbows and chancing the hips. Did you ever get told your dog had medial coronoid disease or medial compartment disease? We were told she has this along side the osteoarthritis in her elbow, perhaps even in both (we didn't do the arthroscopy).

I think right now we are favouring doing nothing, and just doing the new injections to help her pain as we have heard these have less side effects and are better at reducing the pain ever month. I think the only reason I am worried is because of the coronoid disease which we were told could cause a bone to crack leaving fragments of broken cartilage in her front leg.

However, basing from her actions she is exactly like yours. Gets a bit of a limp every now and then, still loves walking, still runs and play fights, still wants to jump on everything. I heard young dogs can hide their pain but I cannot seem to get the thought out of my head that a dog seriously in pain would do all these behaviour. I think when she gets shattered after the play its the current pain killers having an affect.

I agree, i would like to just take it day by day and see how long she can go before i start personally seeing what i believe is pain or changing behaviour and that is when i believe i would consider putting to sleep. Your message has been amazing, thank you.

I'm sorry for your loss :( but thank you for the message , could you tell me what went wrong with the arthroscopy as we have been suggested it for both elbows.

What issues did you have with the NSAIDs?

Currently she sleeps a lot when on pain killers but has quite a few bursts of playfulness and looks like the crazy one out of both of our dogs. I think she would hate being in a crate even for 3 months so I'm pretty sure I won't be doing the surgery - even contemplating doing 1 elbow and leaving everything else.

Did you ever considering putting to sleep early (sorry to have to ask this) and did your dog ever show any signs of pain? What was it at the age of 6 which made you feel it was time? (Sorry again for the questions) Thank you so much for your message.

I’m so sorry OP 💐

For what it’s worth we rescued a German Shepherd puppy from a rescue shelter. At 4 years old she developed problems with her legs/hips that would have cost us £30,000 to put right, with no guarantee the series of ops would work. Our pet insurance wouldn’t have paid. We couldn’t afford it. We had no choice than to put our very much loved dog to sleep.

It’s a terrible decision to have to make.

Thank you very much for your message, I am so sorry as well for you, your dog and family that it had to happen but I am sure you made the best decision possible. Did you put your dog to sleep straight after the problems with the legs and hips were found or was there a long time before you had to do it? Thanks again

We made the decision after many trips to the vets. The outcome was that Ddog, even after £30,000 worth of surgery, may not be able to live a normal dogs life. She was only 4 years old. I couldn’t put her through a lifetime of being bound in bandages and confined, for the most part, to a crate to prevent her from causing further damage. That’s without not being able to afford the £30,000 for surgery. Being realistic there are not many families who have £30,000 on hand.

As I said it was a very difficult decision but there was no alternative 😣

I completely understand, we can't afford it either to be honest, I just really don't want to make a decision on money (even if i probably may have to soon). It is an insane amount of money. The confinement for me is really preventing the idea of surgery and some other peoples comments in this forum as well.

Thank you again and i wish you all the best :)

@CausingChaos2

I am also very sorry to hear her plight. Have you asked Noel for his opinion on what he feels would be ethical?

Would the 8 months rest be divided into smaller chunks?

I have just finished a month of cage rest for my dog with a spinal cord injury and it wasn’t anywhere near as awful as I expected. I also have a dog with hip dysplasia and my decision to have her hips done will be based on her vigour and enthusiasm for life at the time. If she is still happy, and Noel feels there is an optimistic chance of a good life afterwards, I would find it hard not to give her a chance.

I believe they said they could do the elbows, have a break for a while than do the hips, the elbows would be 6 weeks break between them and 2 to 3 months recovery for the other. so over 4 months - and then we would have to come back for the hips at some point (even if i left the hips, i still worry 4 months is still too much for her).