Variations in Vet's Views
Some vets will recommend hip replacement at any age over puberty, if suitable conditions are met. Others view it as a surgery to be avoided at all costs unless there is no alternative. The issue here appears to be threefold: consideration of cost, avoidance of surgery where possible, and historical reasons that this has usually in the past been a treatment afforded older dogs and not usually considered for young and middle aged animals or less advanced conditions.
There is now a significant amount of clinical experience of hip replacement in younger and middle aged animals that it cannot be considered "unusual" to perform hip replacement in younger animals or milder cases. These days, it is not uncommon for vets to perform hip replacements upon a younger animal, or with a less advanced case of hip problems. The main criteria seems to be, is the hip condition suitable for surgery, have non-surgical alternatives been fully tried, and is the owner willing to spend the cost involved. So in the case of a hip condition suitable for hip replacement, the issue revolves more around affordability and balancing the possible benefits with the risk of major surgery.
Aftercare recommendations vary also. Some vets recommend as little as 1–2 days in hospital after replacement, others as much as 4–7 days. All vets agree that movement must be restricted for a significant time after surgery. Some suggest that normal activity can be resumed after 5 weeks, others state it is unsafe until after 8 weeks. In both cases, a cautious approach will probably do no harm, if there is doubt.
Read more about this topic: Hip Replacement (animal)
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“I may be able to spot arrowheads on the desert but a refrigerator is a jungle in which I am easily lost. My wife, however, will unerringly point out that the cheese or the leftover roast is hiding right in front of my eyes. Hundreds of such experiences convince me that men and women often inhabit quite different visual worlds. These are differences which cannot be attributed to variations in visual acuity. Man and women simply have learned to use their eyes in very different ways.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)
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