Heart Broken

[Rwy]

My dog had hip surgery 13 weeks ago. Last week he came up hobbling after a walk on the hip he had replaced. I figured we had been doing too much walking and he needed a couple of days but something was rubbing me the wrong way about how bad he was limping. It seemed like a different limp then the one he had post surgery.

Our post op x ray was yesterday so if he continued to be in pain the vet could look at it. The initial concern is the hip popped out. So I dropped him off and three hours later the vet calls me and tells me after the xray his hip is in. There is something that could be the beginning of an infection so I am going to treat it but I don't think there is anything to worry about. Come back in 3 weeks and we will go from there. I go but its nothing serious and he tells me no.

I start him on his antibiotics last night and I am looking at the meds and think to myself why is he on 450MG of antibiotics for 21 days. So I start googling his medicine and notice that its for Osteomyelitis (bone infection) and is extremely serious especially 2-3 months post operation where a prosthetic is used. So I call up the vet and I ask him if he is treating my dog for this and he tells me x rays that we have are not conclusive to diagnosing it but it could be the start so he is trying to get in front of it and treat it now.

I told him if I were in front of you right now I would really be debating whether or not to punch you in the face. How do you treat my dog for such a serious infection and tell me everything is going to be fine. He apologizes for telling me that and then I asked him to start telling me the worst case scenario. Which would be removing the prosthetic hip. Making an $8000 surgery a complete failure. I would like to think the best but I know my dog and all of his mannerisms. I work from home and we spend every minute together and I could just tell something is off and this was different but yesterday I was totally put to ease from the Vets diagnosis. I understand with every surgery especially ones where prosthetics are used have risk for infection and I can't blame anyone. I am just totally bummed that my dog has to go through this......

Sorry guys just needed to vent...

[bass]

that really sucks, poor dog.

[derekkpapa1]

Sorry man hopefully everything gets better.
It's definitely tough I lost a pet after 14 years.

[Hazard]

Infections are possible with any surgery but the implant itself shouldn't cause an infection. If they use proper sterile technique...... There shouldn't be an issue. If its an infection..... It was cause by them. I'd fight for my money back.

Shit.... If they can charge that much then they are liable for infections just like MD's/hospitals are.

Idunno..... I wish him the best man!

[lovbyts]

What happened to the good old days when a dog had a bad hip you gave it an aspirin?

I'm not sure what is the bigger waste in medical skills, plastic surgery or veterinary surgery. It's all about $$$$
Just my opinion. Sorry for what you are going through. Ive had many pets and of course lost many but I'm old school.

[Rwy]

Infections are possible with any surgery but the implant itself shouldn't cause an infection. If they use proper sterile technique...... There shouldn't be an issue. If its an infection..... It was cause by them. I'd fight for my money back.

Shit.... If they can charge that much then they are liable for infections just like MD's/hospitals are.

Idunno..... I wish him the best man!

Sorry I worded it wrong. The infection is at the implant and antibiotics cannot get to it which is why it needs to come out. I cannot believe I will have to pay to have this thing removed also.

[GirlyGymRat]

This is awful. Seems there should be some liability for vet. I question if I want this same vet to touch my dog a second time. Tough situation. Hope it improves!

[bass]

This is awful. Seems there should be some liability for vet. I question if I want this same vet to touch my dog a second time. Tough situation. Hope it improves!

unfortunately they make you sign a waver. I know how hard it is to lose a pet, I cried my eyes out for my first dog who was killed by a car. he liked chasing cars, he jumped the fence, chased a car and that was it. since I learned never to get attached to a pet, they have a short life span and its very distressing when they get old and die. just put my 12 year old greatdane down, she couldn't move anymore. was still hard to see.

Sorry RWY. I know this is not what you want to hear, but just letting you know I know how it feel when your pet is in pain!

[jimmyinkedup]

I am not trying to minimize your pain by any means. I feel for you, I do. Id be asking what the vet was going to do for me if it has to come out. I wont get into details but I will say this, I have an immediate family member that went in for preventative albeit serious surgery while seemingly in perfect health and she has been in icu for 6 weeks now and has a feeding tube and a trach to breathe. You wanna talk about pain and wanting to punch medical personal in the face? I know yours my friend.
Oh insult to injury - the "medical personnel" just mistakenly ripped her feeding tube from her stomach and stomach acid was leaking into her body. Another surgery to reinsert the tube. I wanna kill someone.

[lovbyts]

I am not trying to minimize your pain by any means. I feel for you, I do. Id be asking what the vet was going to do for me if it has to come out. I wont get into details but I will say this, I have an immediate family member that went in for preventative albeit serious surgery while seemingly in perfect health and she has been in icu for 6 weeks now and has a feeding tube and a trach to breathe. You wanna talk about pain and wanting to punch medical personal in the face? I know yours my friend.
Oh insult to injury - the "medical personnel" just mistakenly ripped her feeding tube from her stomach and stomach acid was leaking into her body. Another surgery to reinsert the tube. I wanna kill someone.

Wow. Very sorry for your situation

[jimmyinkedup]

Wow my goal here was not to kill the thread man it was to empathize. A pet becomes like part of the family. They are the epitome of unconditional love. I hope this works out for you I sincerely do. I know and share your frustrations and feelings was my point.

[Rwy]

Wow my goal here was not to kill the thread man it was to empathize. A pet becomes like part of the family. They are the epitome of unconditional love. I hope this works out for you I sincerely do. I know and share your frustrations and feelings was my point.

I didnt take anything negative from it at all. I hope it all works out for you its horrible feeling helpless like this. I didnt eat the whole day and then I ate a pie of pizza.


I got a second opinion today and the vet said he had no business reviewing anything the surgeon I used as he is a "****ing diplomat" in their industry. Explained to me that the training that you have to go through to become a board certified surgeon is grueling as well as a pioneer for a hip replacement in dogs. Was semi comforting knowing the surgeon is beyond qualified and I could just be that unlucky.

[David LoPan]

Well crap. I came in this thread thinking it was about Redz and its about a dog. WOW, I really feel for you. I am a dog person and I miss my Rhodesian Ridgeback I lost over 7 years ago. I am a dog lover and there is nothing worst than what is going on with you. I hope it works out. Hang in there and do what you can for your dog. You might want to get the x-ray and medical files and get a second vet to look it over.

[bass]

I am not trying to minimize your pain by any means. I feel for you, I do. Id be asking what the vet was going to do for me if it has to come out. I wont get into details but I will say this, I have an immediate family member that went in for preventative albeit serious surgery while seemingly in perfect health and she has been in icu for 6 weeks now and has a feeding tube and a trach to breathe. You wanna talk about pain and wanting to punch medical personal in the face? I know yours my friend.
Oh insult to injury - the "medical personnel" just mistakenly ripped her feeding tube from her stomach and stomach acid was leaking into her body. Another surgery to reinsert the tube. I wanna kill someone.

wow! don't want to take away from RWY's thread but this just made me grind my teeth.

as for dogs, where there are tragedies there are good things happening. we just adopted a dog yesterday.

[Rwy]

Today was draining. 2nd, 3rd, 4th opinions and everything comes back to the prosthetic most likely needs to be removed.

I went down to the vets office today and got very aggressive. No physically threats or anything like that but they are doing tests on Monday for free to make sure the infection is 100% there which I think is pretty much a fact at this point. We have the prosthetic removed and the dog creates a faulty hip joint in place of the prosthetic. This is actually a procedure for people who cannot afford what we did or do not want to try because of the risk of complications. Looking back I wish we went with it but what can you do.