dog hip replacement?

[T.P.A]

I have a 2.5 year old walker that broke his femoral head in his back leg when he was six months old. I had surgery performed on him and had pins put in it and it had been fine until now but i noticed him limping so i took him to the vet and they said that he was getting poor blood flow to the part of the bone that had been broken. Which is called avascular necrosis kinda like arthritis. so i was wondering if anybody has had a dog or known of a dog that has had a hip replacement, or a surgery that has taken the ball off the femoral head. I would like to know how they got around and performed hunting after the surgery and what age they were able to hunt to. This is one of those 1 in 1,000 dogs. he catches bobcats consistently by himself, and without him i couldnt catch a cold! There is no doubt i will be doing one or the other so the pain stops but i was just looking for some hope. both of these options are super expensive i hope somebody can help me out with some information about what to expect after the surgery, any information helps.

THANKS, T.P.A

[houndnem]

I had a dog like that. spent three nights in a foot trap in -30 and her leg had to come off to save her. I tried to hunt her after that, but she was slow and got ledged up and normal obsticals became huge hurtles for her. I decided to quite hunting her and she now works in a school for disabled kids up in washinton. I really tried to keep her hunting, but it was no different than if you or I lost a leg and tried getting around in the hills. good luck, I hope they do have some sort of replacement for that, cuz dogs like that are not a dime a dozen. in my opinion the only way to get a dog like that is to raise it from a pup or started dog. you might go through ten pups trying to match him, but eventually you can and it will probably be cheaper than the hip surgery.

[briarpatch]

Tom White, who comes on here on occasion, could give you some first hand info about removing the femoral head. He had this done to a Kemmer Cur (thanks to a bear).
If I remember correctly the dog was laid up for a few months, but recovered about as good as new. She later climbed a big rock to a lion which promptly killed her.

briarpatch

[mark]

you could sell him to me!

[African]

Removing the femoral head will do him no harm and the muscles will compensate for the loss of bone. The operation is not that expensive (here at least) and the dog will hunt almost like before the procedure.

[Redwood Coonhounds]

I've seen the femoral head removal sx done to a couple dogs at my work, Labs and Cattledogs mostly. Once the healing is done, and they get back into shape, you'd never know they had it done. It's not that expensive either. Looking at about $900.