Our dog Charlie, a 5.5 year old Bichon Frise has recently been seen by our vet, and after x-rays, etc. been diagnosed with hip dysplasia in both hips. His limp is particularly pronounced on his right hand side He's always had a bit of a 'John Wayne' style to his walk and I suspect we're now finding out why.
This was about a month ago, and Charlie is currently on previcox and a joint supplement (Yumove) and has just had his first acupuncture session today (we’re currently on a 3 week waiting list to commence hydrotherapy)
Unfortunately the anti-inflammatories have had no effect and if anything he has got worse over the last month. We have already discussed with our vet the possibility of a Femoral head and neck excision arthroplasty.
Charlie is c. 8.2 kg so we have been told that he would be a reasonable candidate for this surgery as opposed to a total hip replacement.
We have pet insurance and our claim has been accepted. and whilst this is a lifetime policy, it has an annual limit per condition of £2,000. This doesn't go far of course and we've spent c. £850 just getting to this point.
When discussing the FHO op, our vet is suggesting a figure of c. £1800 and I have no idea whether this is about right or a tad expensive. I had a quick look online and the only place I could find with prices listed on the website was Towcester Vets. Admittedly there are 1.5 hours down the road, but the est. cost is £600-£800 and they take surgical referrals from other vets seemingly!
So my questions are, and sorry it's taken me so long to get to the point, has anyone got any experience of using another vet to carry out an operation? Does the 'local' vet who undertook the initial investigation generally co-operate with sharing copies of the x-rays, etc.? And are we possibly even jumping the gun a little with regards to considering an op when the condition was only diagnosed a month ago?
All in all, I'm thoroughly confused and a work colleague of mine mentioned this as an excellent site, where others may be able to offer some practical advice.
Thanks for reading this far - I'm sure I've read shortly books.
Regards Pete
This was about a month ago, and Charlie is currently on previcox and a joint supplement (Yumove) and has just had his first acupuncture session today (we’re currently on a 3 week waiting list to commence hydrotherapy)
Unfortunately the anti-inflammatories have had no effect and if anything he has got worse over the last month. We have already discussed with our vet the possibility of a Femoral head and neck excision arthroplasty.
Charlie is c. 8.2 kg so we have been told that he would be a reasonable candidate for this surgery as opposed to a total hip replacement.
We have pet insurance and our claim has been accepted. and whilst this is a lifetime policy, it has an annual limit per condition of £2,000. This doesn't go far of course and we've spent c. £850 just getting to this point.
When discussing the FHO op, our vet is suggesting a figure of c. £1800 and I have no idea whether this is about right or a tad expensive. I had a quick look online and the only place I could find with prices listed on the website was Towcester Vets. Admittedly there are 1.5 hours down the road, but the est. cost is £600-£800 and they take surgical referrals from other vets seemingly!
So my questions are, and sorry it's taken me so long to get to the point, has anyone got any experience of using another vet to carry out an operation? Does the 'local' vet who undertook the initial investigation generally co-operate with sharing copies of the x-rays, etc.? And are we possibly even jumping the gun a little with regards to considering an op when the condition was only diagnosed a month ago?
All in all, I'm thoroughly confused and a work colleague of mine mentioned this as an excellent site, where others may be able to offer some practical advice.
Thanks for reading this far - I'm sure I've read shortly books.
Regards Pete