Gotta love a rescue dog.
My parents have a border collie who has hip displasia. At about the age of 5 or 6 she was really slowing down (for a border) and no longer doing quick turns or jumping up onto funiture etc. Medication is a good option for some dogs, but Maggie has a history of liver disease, so we were really trying to avoid putting her on long term meds if at all possible to avoid strain on her liver.
Since she was still a young strong dog, she had an alternative surgery, where instead of replacing her hip, they cut the head off of her femur bone - apparently hind-quarter muscle is more then strong enough to stabilize the hip joint in small to medium sized dogs that don’t work under a load. This was cheaper (that’s not why we chose it) and had a significantly shorter recovery time. Maggie was on her own 4 feet when she came home from the vet the day after her surgery. She was taking short walks (the equivelent of around the block) with 10 days. she surpassed her pre-surgery abilities within 3 weeks and is now back to running and jumping.
She’ll never be quite as stable on slick surfaces as a dog with normal hips, but she can do everything she wants to do - which is all we ever wanted for her.
