Mumbai: 2 dogs running & kicking after rare hip replacement surgery

Aided By Russian Experts, Mumbai Vets Perform Surgery. Foreigners To Fly In Again To Operate On Other Canines In Need Of Implants

Maple has started taking baby steps once again. The 11-month-old Golden Retriever is one of two pets who underwent an unusual hip replacement surgery for dogs at a vet’s clinic in Borivli last week. Two more dogs could undergo the surgery in November, one of them a Husky which could not undergo the procedure last week because of a skin infection, and the other a Bull Mastiff which could not make it due to a knee problem. Their surgeries will proceed once their temporary ailments are resolved. The Borivli clinic was aided by a team of veterinary experts from Russia, who will visit again in November to ensure that the standard operating procedure involved in the rare surgery is followed to the T.

Maple, who could barely stand, lie down or move around due to arthritis, is bouncing back, days after the procedure. The surgery could well be the first such documented so far in Indian veterinary literature. Hip replacement is common in humans, but “such a surgery for animals is so far unheard of in India at least”, said Dr Vikram Dave, veterinary surgeon.

Maple had ‘crazy hip dysplasia’, a condition in which the ball-and-socket joint at the hip is not properly formed, due to which friction takes place. This develops into arthritis, causing much pain at the joint. When Maple was barely six months old, she was unable to sit properly, said her pet-parent Aparna Bakshi. “When she would run, the hind legs folded rabbit-like,” the Kandivli resident said, adding that Maple’s posture was different from the other three pet dogs at her home. Ascan at Dr Dave’s Blue 7 Vets Clinic detected the condition. Five days after the surgery, Maple is walking with much less discomfort and can bear her weight, said Bakshi.

The surgery was done on another pet, Jack, an eight-year-old German Shepherd who is also recovering. Both dogs had hip dysplasia, mostly a genetic disorder, said Dr Ashlesha Dave who assisted in the surgery, along with Russian veterinary orthopaedic experts Dr Ilya Vilkovyskiy and Dr Serik Baizykhanov.

Arthritis in dogs is a common degenerative joint disease which causes inflammation, pain and stiffness in the joints. Though it’s usually seen in older dogs, it can also happen in younger canines either due to some genetic factors, injury or in certain diseases. The general notion is that arthritis affects only older dogs, but arthritic changes can even be seen in a dog as young as six months of age whenever there is an illformed hip joint or femur joint, which is due to hip dysplasia. Constant friction at the ball-and-socket joint causes this condition.

“One option to treat it is to cut the ball to prevent friction, but we now have innovative prosthetic implants to replace the ball and it restores mobility and gives a better quality of life as the pain is down to zilch,” Dr Ashlesha said, adding that the procedure is gaining acceptance globally. One reason that petparents could stay away from such a surgical procedure is the cost of the implant, she said, adding that efforts are on to make it more affordable.
It was a couple of months ago when Dr Ashlesha and Dr Vikram Dave visited Moscow for an orthopaedic course in total hip replacement that they invited the Russian veterinarians to India.
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