Hip dysplasia? Arthritis? What did they do to my dog?

Hip dysplasia is genetic (that's why parents should be DNA tested prior to breeding). If she had dysplasia, it would have shown up years ago and not now.

They do lay them out straight on their backs to do the surgery but virtually all dogs have no bad effects from that. However, that being said, your dog at 8 years old is a senior dog and will take a much longer time to recover especially if infection was involved and any stiffness incurred will take awhile.

I would get a second opinion from another vet. 3 weeks seems to be a longish time for her to recuperate from this. It's possible she's pinched a nerve, stressed a muscle. Some meds can aggravate arthritis so even if it wasn't noticeable to you, she may have had it and now it's more prominent.

It is not a result of the 'hysterectomy" aka spay. During a spay procedure the following happens"

Dog is brought to the back where they take blood and do a presurgical exam. This includes looking at the eyes, ears, heart, limbs, taking the temperature pulse respiration, checking the mucous membranes etc. Dogs (most) tolerate this very well.Dog gets put into a kennel unblood workwork is complete.

If blood workwork is normal, they proceed with the pre-medication, which is an injection to make her sleepy/sedate. !5-20 minutes afthe teh injection, they put her on the prep table.

Here, they place an IV catheter in one of her front legs, and give her an induction drug. This drug knocks her out. While she is knocked out, they intubate her (Put a tube into the trachea that hooks up to the anesthetic machine) They do this so she can have the anesthetic inhalant during the surgery preventing her from feeling pain/waking up.

Next, her belly is shaved and they do a surgical scrub with alcohol and hibitane anti bacterial soap. She is then moved to the operating room. Her legs are tied (This is NECESSARY, as it prevents the dog from rolling/moving while the surgeon makes any incisions. They tie the legs, and hook her up to monitoring devices that measure the heart rate, oxygen level, etc. Doctor makes the incision along the linea alba, and removes both the uterus and ovaries. These are ligated and crushed prior to incisionison to remove them, to prevent bleeding. Once they are removed she is sutured back up. Then she is cleaned up and recovered. She is put into a recovery kennel, and someone sits with her until she wakes up monitoring her heart, respiration and temperature.

There is nothing in this procedure that can cause hip dysplasia. If she had asymptomatic dysplasia prior to surgery there is a very small risk that the necessary tieing of her legs could have irritated it, but either way nothing can be done, and it is not the vet's fault.

Put her on a super high quality senior diet, and give her glucosamine+chondroitin supplements to help with ehr joints.

If you want faster results you can ask your vet for cartrophen injections.. she will need one a week for 4 weeks, and then on an as needed basis after that.

I would recommend having X-Rays done to confirm it actually is hip dysplasia/arthritis... this is visible on an xray, but so are things like bone infections (may have spread from the uterus) or bone tumors.. which she could have had all along, but only showed up when her immune system was weak with infection/ and surgery...

The hip displasia & arthritis are genetic & would have nothing to do with the surgery. The position they put her in to do the surgery may have caused the existing situations worse.

They are laid out on their backs with the hind legs sticking straight out. Now this position may have aggravated the hip dysplasia & arthritis. It had to be there long before the surgery.

There are medications for this to keep them out of pain. Rimadyl is one of them. It is an anti inflammatory & helps a lot.

sorry for your difficult decision. I can only say that it sounds like you are doing the right thing based on what is best for your beloved pet instead of what is best for you. I believe it cost me $45 for a 50 lb dog plus additional costs to get his specific ashes back or a little less if you do a group cremation and get some ashes back.

I would get a second opinion at a different vet...

well they couldn't give her arthiritis,but they might have damaged her ligaments when they stretched her legs straight,or dislocated her hip.Keep taking her to the chiropractor and consider fyling a lawsuit against them for further damaging your animal.

rereerertret