# Avascular Necrosis of the Femoral Head



## Marie (Apr 22, 2006)

My poor little sweet Chloe just got diagnosed with this yesterday. She just turned 8 months on the 14th. We had noticed for a few days previous that she had been having a problem with her rear right leg...wasn't always putting full weight on it. My husband took her to the vet yesterday and an xray clinched the diagnosis. Apparently it's usually genetic and most often shows up around 4 -11 months of age. 

Anybody else here have a baby diagnosed with this??? It's also called Leggs-Calve-Perthes disease.


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## Ms_P (Apr 25, 2004)

Here is a web site with some info on it:

http://www.offa.org/leggperthinfo.html

http://www.ahtluvr.com/ahtleggperthes.html

http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/deleggcp.html

I've never heard of it but good luck and I hope it doesn't get too severe.


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## Ms_P (Apr 25, 2004)

This is from the last web site I posted:


Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease*(aseptic or avascular necrosis of the femoral head)* 
Avascular necrosis occurs when the bone that makes up the ball portion of the hip is damaged from lack of blood supply. The reasons this occurs are not clear. Since a higher incidence of this disorder is noted in several dog breeds, including terrier breeds, miniature pinscher, poodles and possibly schipperkes, it is assumed that there may be a genetic component to the problem. In Manchester terriers, the genetic component appears to be a strong influence and heritability is pretty high for this problem. 
Most of the time the clinical signs of this disease occur in 4 to 11 month old dogs and usually consist of lameness of one leg only. Pain may be mild to very severe. Some dogs have mild forms of this condition and do not require medical care. In other dogs, the condition cause sufficient pain and deformity of the hip joint to require surgical intervention. The disorder can usually be confirmed with X-rays. Atrophy of the muscles of the affected leg is not uncommon. If this is severe it can slow the recovery period considerably and may make medical therapy less likely to work. 
Treatment of this condition varies according to the severity of the signs seen. In mild cases, enforced rest may be sufficient to allow healing of the damaged areas to occur. In some cases, immobilization of the affected limb using an Ehmer sling may be beneficial to recovery. Many dogs have advanced cases of this disease by the time they are examined by a veterinarian and medical treatment is not likely to work. In these dogs, excision of the femoral head (ball portion of the hip joint) is often beneficial. Removal of this section of the bone diminishes painful bony contact in the hip joint. Recovery from this surgery can be slow with recovery periods of up to one year sometimes occurring before good use of the affected leg returns. If muscle atrophy is not present at the time of surgery the recovery time is usually much less. Pain relief and anti-inflammatory medications may be beneficial. There is a stronger tendency to treat this as a medical condition prior to surgery right now. A general rule of thumb is to allow non-surgical therapy a month to show a beneficial response. If one is not seen, surgical repair should be considered more carefully.


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## momto4chihuahuas (Nov 13, 2006)

Awww Im so sorry to hear that


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## Lin (Jun 7, 2006)

I am so sorry. I always hate to hear of someones baby being sick.


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## rachel (Jun 16, 2006)

I'm sorry to hear about this. I've never heard of it before. I was reading the article that Ms P posted...Will Chloe be okay with just rest or will she have to have surgery? I hope she feels better soon either way.


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## Marie (Apr 22, 2006)

Thanks for the links, you guys. I've been doing a lot of reading. Vet says we should try to keep her quiet...no jumping, romping etc Not having much success at it though. She doesn't seem to be in any significant pain and still races around the house like a little banshee. Anyone just looking briefly at her wouldn't even notice the problem with the leg unless they were told to pay attention and look closely...even then you might not notice it right away either. 

I'm not sure yet whether this is going to be a mild case or end up needing some surgery to remove the hip joint someday...lordy, I sure hope not. Just the thought of soon having those little tiny tummys cut open to get them spayed was a horrible enough thought...but now, thinking that Chloe might suddenly break a hip or have to have the head of her femur amputated someday to stop the pain is horror multiplied by a thousand!!!

I was hoping someone else had a little one diagnosed with this kind of problem who could tell me how things have worked out in the long run for them, but I guess I'm the only one here. 

Thanks again though. For now she's just as happy and contented as she was the day before she got diagnosed with this.


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## Xymenah (Dec 4, 2006)

I am a vet assistant student, from what i have read that once they have the surgery after it has healed, the muscle and scar tissue will make what is called a false joint and they will be able to get around like normal. I had a cat that broke the ball off his hip from jumping from the top of the stairs to the bottom. They removed the broken ball and smoothed the bone, he limped for a short while until the muscle became strong enough to make a false joint and then you could never tell what had happened. Vets are getting to be very good at giving pain meds for the procedures and part of the after care. In the end even though surgery doesnt sound like fun if it needs to be done it is better for the dog. I hope this helps a little bit. Lost of other good info has already been posted but this is as close to the experience as i can get as i only have cats at this point in time and my aunt who owns two chi's has now got me thinking about one for the future so I am here to learn more about them. Good luck with your chi. Take care.


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## *Andrea* (Jan 30, 2006)

How did you notice this to take her in and get it checked out? Just curious.


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## Marie (Apr 22, 2006)

XYMENAH
Thank you for telling me what you know about this kind of problem in cats. Since I first posted this, I've spoken to someone else who has a larger type of dog (now 11 years old) that had this procedure done for avascular necrosis at the age of 8 months. She said her dog did fine with the procedure, and gets around perfectly well except for a cute little butt sway when she walks. That made me feel a lot better about what the future probably holds for my little Chloe.

ANDREA
I just happened to notice one day a few weeks ago that she wasn't always bearing full weight on the right rear leg...it just doesn't fully touch down on the ground all the time but it's not that noticeable and isn't all the time. She doesn't limp or anything and it doesn't seem to inhibit her in any other way. The fact is, anyone else who sees her doesn't even notice it at all...unless we specifically point it out to them, then they'll see it. 

I had thought she just pulled a muscle or hurt herself jumping off the couch and was waiting a few days to see if it resolved or got worse before taking her to the vet. Then I was at work the 3rd day after I first noticed it and my husband was home with them and suddenly noticed it himself ( I hadn't yet mentioned it to him) ...and he went straight off to the vet with her that day. The vet took an xray and it's very obvious on the xray.


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## janiebabes (Mar 30, 2004)

Leg perthes is known in the chihuahua breed It is also a hereditary factor. I don't know where you are from but there are lemon laws for dogs and your breeder may be responsable for the treatment. A dog with perthes should never be used for breeding


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## lecohen (Feb 13, 2005)

Hiya...Scruffy had this in both hips and has been operated on twice...the first op was successful but the second does not seem to have worked as well...I really hope that your baby gets better, iot is so horrible seeing them suffer so much.

I didn't read all the posts here but I give Scruffy glucosamine sulphate capsules daily and I think it has helped somewhat.


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## lecohen (Feb 13, 2005)

Please feel free to contact me if you want to ask me anything


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