Trooper the dog with orthopedic problems
Trooper's family abandoned him at a shelter in Shreveport, Louisiana. Judging from his condition, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Trooper was emaciated, his ribs sticking out. His left front foot twisted sideways, and his right rear leg was cocked up in the air.
We flew this hound dog into Spokane, Washington, and then the next day took him to see our surgical specialists there. X-rays showed Trooper's hip joint had been shattered from trauma, and his front leg was bent because of a birth defect that prevented the bones from growing at a consistent rate.
Our surgeon said he didn't even consider Trooper a three-legged dog. The surgeon said, "No, he's more like a 2 and ¾ legged dog!" He recommended that we get Trooper's hip fixed first, then decide what to do about his front leg.
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But before we could do surgery, we had to get some weight on Trooper. Our vets were concerned that he was simply too emaciated to cope with a major operation. So after a few weeks of feeding this boy all he can eat, our internal medicine specialist in Helena performed the hip surgery, called a femoral head ostectomy or FHO. This procedure essentially uses the muscles to provide the necessary support that the hip joint once did.
It took Trooper quite a while to realize he really could use that rear leg again; he hadn't been able to use it in so long that it had become a habit to hold it up in the air. But sure enough, eventually he started bearing weight on it, and then it became a functioning leg again!
His twisted front leg was more of a mystery. While it looked grotesque, it didn't seem to cause him any pain, and Trooper could run, twirl, and bounce up and down using it. It simply didn't seem to be a problem for him. We asked our vets in Helena to evaluate the leg and how he used it, and they came to the same conclusion we did: despite its appearance, it wasn't painful and didn't affect his quality of life at all.
The surgery to correct the twist in his leg would be a very painful procedure, with rods and pins inserted up and down the limb, right through the bone. The initial convalescence would take several weeks and the pins would need weekly adjustments for months thereafter. Our surgeon in Spokane showed us X-rays of another dog who had gone through this. The images reminded us of the X-rays of the racehorse Barbaro's shattered leg after it was pinned back together. If that weren't daunting enough, the surgeon said there was only a "fair prognosis" for the outcome. And if it didn't work, we might have to remove the leg.
Yikes.
Watching Trooper run around the dog yards, jumping and playing with the other dogs, we realized there was no point in putting him through that. He was a very energetic boy, the leg didn't bother him, and we firmly believe in the "first, do no harm" approach to medicine!
Trooper is now a different and much happier hound dog than when he first arrived. Best of all, he's got two girlfriends at the ranch, the blind Poodle sisters Molly and Priscilla. (See their story here.)
Posted September 2008.
