Hip replacement or FHO

[marahippo]

Hi
I have a two year old Maine Coon (who is a wonderful companion and I love very much!) who has had a fracture of the growth plate of his femoral head. His lameness is actually improving but I have been told he needs surgery.
I need to try and decide whether he should have a femoral head osteotomy (FHO) or a hip replacement.
I have done a lot of reading about it and understand the risks and benefits of both.
I think I am steering towards FHO but would love to hear of any cats who have had either and the experience, distress, complications and ultimately how well they have recovered.

For traffic I attach a photo of him taken this weekend- it's the lazy way of catching birds by sitting in the bird bath!! 🤣
Many thanks indeed.

Bump for the evening crowd

The THR is the superior procedure and has better long term outcome.
FHNE - femoral head and neck excision is considered a salvage procedure when a THR is too expensive.

It needs 6 weeks cage rest though and has a 10% rate of complication.
There are many reports of really good function after FHO in young cats.
Expensive (fortunately) is not a factor due to a very good insurance policy.

The both need rest post surgery and there are complication rates with both. The FHNE leads to significantly more arthritis in later life than the THR.

Are you a vet? Can you provide me with evidence for this please? (I'm a human surgeon so would like to see the papers)

My old cat had both her hips replaced at different times. She lived to 24 and had a very happy, active life, even if she did walk with a slight limp.

@marahippo this is an excellent article on cats https://veterinaryevidence.org/index.php/ve/article/download/347/582 but there has been huge amounts of force plate work and long term studies in dogs comparing THR and FHNE which recover from FHNE to much longer and long term outcome to be poorer.
This articke from DVM360 summarises a lot that and has further references.

My cat had a FHO at around 9 months ish (can't remember exactly but over 6 months, under a year). For her it was what the vet suggested as a first choice with no alternative brought up.

It was a huge success. Literally within ten days she was no longer limping. There was no cage rest, no lengthy stay at the vets - literally she came home the same day and we were advised to keep her moving. We were shown exercises to do with her which were straightforward. The only pain relief she needed was metacam. She's two now and is maybe ever so slightly stiff in that leg but if you didn't know I don't think you'd notice.

That said, she was younger than your cat is now and the vet did say the younger the better.