Any Experience With Prosthetics?

[MachosMom]

I was just wondering if anyone has had an experience with prosthetics for dogs? Any good companies I should look at?

 

Here's the why: When Keiva (the racer formerly known as Booty ), broke her hock, there was an issue with after surgery. From what I've been told from the owner who had her at the kennel, the person in charge of her care, did not check up on her when they should have. Her pain medicine wore off and she was in so much pain she chewed two toes off on that back foot. I can't even wrap my brain around that level of pain. The owner was very upset and angry, as I would have been too!

 

So, she does pretty good - as it's been 3 or 4 years since that happened. She hops along and will walk on it in short bursts just fine, however it makes it difficult for her to stand, and the pad of her foot is bigger and swollen from that constant stress. My partner and I would like to research prosthetics for her back foot to help with the weight bearing and balance.

 

We will be scheduling a consult to review her xrays from the break and it's healed status with our normal vet and another vet recommended. I am not sure either have experience in this, so we wanted to start our research first. (This will be part of our check up with our vet like we do with all our new additions)

 

It's going to be expensive I'm sure, and we've been told from the group that had her to do short walks and stay off the pavement. Which we've been doing, even when she boogie oogies down the grass like she's in a race for first! Love her! Just if there is a way to help her be more comfortable on that leg, we want to give her that opportunity (even if we have to eat ramen noodles only for the next year! ha!)

 

 

[MaryJane]

Check this out --

 

http://inhabitat.com/nakio-is-the-first-bionic-dog-fitted-with-four-prosthetic-limbs/

 

I had a post about this a few months ago.

[silverfish]

I don't know anything from personal experience, except that Sid's amputation was too long ago and too high to consider a prosthetic!

 

However, if Keiva's hock heals well, I have heard that foot prosthetics are usually very, very successful these days. It seems that the higher up the amputation, the more complicated it is and the higher the risk of failure. With the hind foot you have the toes, with if you take the hock as well, you have the toes plus the hock (ankle) joint to replace, and the prosthetic has to be more flexible and also more foolproof because you can't tell a dog not to twist on it or that she must take care with the limited range of motion.

Edited January 12, 2014 by silverfish

[Tallgreydogmom]

Vallery has a prosthetic. We used Orthopets in Denver Co. We felt the price was very reasonable for the service and prosthetic she received.

 

 

This is an old video from when she was breaking it in. She still does the hop skip at times. Her foot had been missing for 5 years before we adopted her. Her leg was in very poor shape due to lack of bone density from lack of use. It was in sure poor shape the vet would not even consider amputation.

 

Edited January 12, 2014 by Tallgreydogmom

[greysmom]

Poor girl! I hope you find an anser for her. You might look into an appointment with a good orthopedic vet, just to get an informed opinion about her leg/foot and what's going on.

[JJNg]

Does she favor the leg because of the foot, or because there is still discomfort/instability at the old hock fracture? Since she's just missing a couple toes, I'm not sure what the prosthetic options are, unless you're considering amputating her foot at this point? Have you tried Therapaws, or any other footwear options? Or something like this might help: http://orthovet.com/shop/orthovet-bootie-splint/

[MachosMom]

Does she favor the leg because of the foot, or because there is still discomfort/instability at the old hock fracture? Since she's just missing a couple toes, I'm not sure what the prosthetic options are, unless you're considering amputating her foot at this point? Have you tried Therapaws, or any other footwear options? Or something like this might help: http://orthovet.com/shop/orthovet-bootie-splint/

I guess its not just really prosthetics but something to help her. We have conflicting info on how the hock has healed as it needed screws, however that does not seem to bother her a bit. The issue is with only two toes on her back leg, its tiring to balance her weight properly and we just want to see how we can eleviate some of that stress if we can and help her balance better and reduce injury risk.

 

That brace looks like it may help, I have bookmarked it to review with the vet...but am open to any booties or anything to help her