Hobbs' Trip to the Vet

 

When I first saw photos of Hobbs it was obvious that at some point in his life he had experienced some kind of physical trauma. He's got one leg that is much shorter than the other, and if you look down on him from above you can see that his hips and spine aren't quite straight. After having him here for a few days and checking him out I could also tell that his left femur was floating outside of the hip - a dislocation.

Hobbs has no issues hopping up on the couch, although he should have his jumping limited somewhat

In spite of all this he tore around, hopped up and down off of couch and chairs, and used the stairs. Not once did he wince, yelp, or pull up his leg.  I took the video above yesterday to give you an idea of how well he gets around, in spite of the hip luxation. To make sure that there wasn't some other issue that I was missing though and to discover what exactly was going on in there I wanted to get radiographs.

So off we went to the vet yesterday and while our senior dog Tilly had her teeth cleaned and a few extractions, Hobbs had radiographs done and a radiologist was consulted.

Everyone, including me was pretty shocked at what those radiographs showed us. Everything was healed up but at some point the vet said she believes he was hit by a car. "Smashed" was the word she used to describe it. He had the following healed fractures: 3 fractures to the left hip, one on the right, fractured right tibia, and both ankles had calcification indicating there had been trauma to them as well. In addition his hip tilts up and under dramatically and shortens his leg by quite a bit. His spine now sits crooked and to the left side of his body a bit. And his left femur floats outside the joint as I expected. Thankfully the ball of the femur is smooth and intact so he won't need a femural head removal.

On his left side (right side of photo) you can see where the ball of the femur juts out a little

 

Both Dr. Sutherland, and the radiologist recommend leaving things be. The body has healed and adjusted. He is not in pain, has good mobility and the reality is that surgery could cause more problems than it would fix. She agreed that it is pretty amazing that he didn't suffer some paralysis or at least more issues with moving his rear legs.

It's tough to see how twisted his pelvis is but this shot gives an idea of how out of alignment he is

When I asked what to look for in a future home for him, she said he should be in a house without young kids and also without dogs that have a tendency to play rough. Also, she said it is of the utmost importance for his future joint health to keep him at a healthy weight so we should ask the vet of future adopters about the weight of their current pets. Because he is going to likely deal with early onset arthritis, he should be kept on a good quality, easily utilized glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM supplement too.

And now you know what I know. It looks like I need to get busy and write up a Petfinder bio for my sweet boy. Whoever adopts this love bug is going to be very lucky. Even after going through such an ordeal he has remained a sweet-natured, loving boy who's favorite activity is hanging out with his people. Such a good boy and I'm overjoyed that he is going to get a second chance at happiness.