# one leg shorter than the other after femoral head removal surgery



## katies mum (May 8, 2012)

Hi.Katie is a boxer bitch 2years 9months of age.She has hip displaysia and had surgery for it this year.Im glad to say she has recovered now and is very active and enjoying life again thanks to some feeding advise from people from this forum.

The problem is she now has one back leg about half an inch shorter than the other one and although uses it very well she is suffering from mucsle wastage.I want to try to use something on her to bring her leg back upto the correct height.I have just ordered a pair of summer reinforced orthopedic boots with insoles from neopaws.They reccomend that i take them to a shoe fitter and have another sole attached to bring them up to the correct height.I dont know if this will work and wondered if any of you had any other ideas?.When she is standing still,she stands on her toes with hardly any weight on them but when she is walking or running she appears to use it normally but as there is so much mucsle wastage i guess she isnt putting enough weight on it.

Any ideas would be much appreciated


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

That sounds like a question for the doctor or surgeon who did her HD surgery.


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## g00dgirl (Nov 18, 2009)

I've researched fh removal and also hip replacement for my boxer, also suffering from hip dysplasia. 

Have both hips already been operated on, or were both necessary? How much does your boxer weigh? 

But yeah, i'd definately be asking the surgeon.


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## katies mum (May 8, 2012)

Hi
Only one hip has been operated on as the other one is nowhere near as bad.
I live in spain and im afraid here dogs are treated rather differently to how you or i would wish.My vet seems to think she is doing fine and she is.She is able to come on very long hikes with us she can jump into the car,manages stairs and loves swimming so overall the operation was a great success.Im just concerned about the amount of stress she is putting on the other leg by not taking the weight properly on the bad one.She has reasonable mucsle on it but the other leg is much better mucsle tone than the other one.

I would say she weighs around 27kilos now.If you are going to have your dog operated on i would reccomend you do it before he/she gets to bad as they seem to recover better the more mucsle they already have.She was in alot of pain for the first 3 days but after that she became more and more mobile.If you were to see her out on one of our hikes you wouldnt know she had had the operation and i would have to reccomend it,although it is really difficult to get your head around.

Good luck with your boxer and please let me know how you get on.


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