Binky's Xrays

I got Binky's xrays today. It will better illustrate Binky's condition, why she was in pain and why she needed surgery. Originally the vet thoguht it was a problem with her knee cap (sliding to the side) So the specialist vet took an xray (below) and it clearly shows her leg bones are straight and that the knee cap is not sliding. The knee cap is the egg shaped bone just above the knee.

The problem lies with the head of the femur(FH), the ball shaped portion of the thigh bone that connects to the hip bone. As you can see above, the FH of the right leg does not fit snuggly to the hip sockets like it does o the left leg. During movement, this causes pain on the joint. Sort of like rubbing sandpaper on your skin all the time.

Above is a slightly different view. The legs are spread open to show the extent of the malformed FH. According to the vet, this was most likely caused by an injury approximately 8 weeks before this xray was taken (i.e. around june). We suspect it could have been thetime when we took Binky to puppy classes. What happens is an injury stops the bloodflow to this area of the body. The FH stops growing due to lack of oxygen and nutrients. W while later, the bone starts growing again after the injury fixes itself. But y this time it is too late, this bone is already behind development and will always remain that way. I forgot the medical term for this and it happens to humans as well, more commonly among boys.

Here's a side view of Binky's right leg to illustrate that her knee cap is on the right place. In fact, if it wasn't for this FH injury, her legs are very straight and perfectly normal.

The surgery, as I'v mentioned in a previous post, is called Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO) and the procedure involves removal of the FH (the ball). See above the thigh bone without the FH.

I had some questions about this procedure and one of them was.."What happens after you remove this bone, will the leg be able to support the dog?" The answer to this was that by removing the bone, the body will adapt by forming a false joint with limited flexibility. This false joint is enough to support a dog like Binky who only ways approx 3kgs. For bigger dogs, this may not be recommended due to their weight and a hip replacement therapy (HRT) is preferred.

HRT was one of Binky's optins too but the smallest stainless steel hip replacement you can get is for a border collie, about 2-3 times Binky's bone size.

Binky is now recovering. She's started to put some weight on her right leg and getting back to her self. Hopefully she will have almost full use of her right leg in a few more months.