The Daily Dog

Woo hoo!! Our first post! So we are about a week pre-op and I am so nervous, scared, excited and sadly sad. A little background would probably be nice so here goes... After putting pictures of Golden Retrievers all over my house, throwing a few temper tantrums and begging like a pro, Lucky was the best (19th) birthday present in the world. He is amazing, I love him soooo much and he is truly my best friend. At the age of three he was diagnosed with Hip Dysplasia. I cried for weeks. With loads of poor guidance from some not so good vets I didn't think getting a hip replacement was the best choice. Lucky has been on Cosequin Ds since the age of three and it has made a world of difference. Around the age of five I started to notice him having more difficultly getting up when laying down and his front legs started to "click". After a period of lameness and a false diagnosis of a torn ACL I took him to a ortho specialist. He said Lucky needed to go to MSU and if he didnt have a Total Hip Replacement in two years he would be immobile. My heart broke again. Before leaving the office the vet said, "And no more fetch". Well that was it, Lucky's most favorite game is fetch and without it his quality of life would start diminishing. We went to MSU and here we are a year later preparing for the operation that will take place in less than one week. I see Lucky run, play and even jump to catch the ball (yes I know he shouldn't) and then I see him struggle to get up from laying down, his legs shaking and him barely making it up the stairs. People always say wait until the pain is unbearable before resorting to surgery. That way you know that no matter what happens you in a better state then you were before. Well I don't know if that is all true. Why should I let him suffer, wait until he cant get up before I help him? I know the 10% risk all to well and I am not okay with the chance of infection, bone splinters or the other that i refuse to acknowledge out loud. I just know it has to be okay. So for today and the next couple days I am going to remember there is a 10% chance you could get hit by a car crossing the street (thank you to my brother for the piece of mind).