My dog has FCP. Should we do elbow surgery for long-term health?

Yes there is something but unfortunately it is invasive and not cheap. Surgical intervention that involves removal of any bony fragments, or cartilage flaps (joint mice) that are in the joint is curative in most cases of elbow dysplasia, which is a multi-factoral disease that can involve one of 4 different disease processes including: 1) Osteochondrosis dissecans, 2) Elbow incongruity, 3) Ununited anconeal process or 4) Fragmented medial coronoid process. Unfortunately no amount of medication given by mouth will eliminate signs of his condition and surgery has to be highly considered to alleviate Oska's pain. In the meantime your vet can add on an opiate (i.e. Tramadol) to help ease the pain somewhat for Oska. Or weekly Adequan injections can be discussed with your vet.

It may be a good idea to remove the chip, or at least go in arthroscopically (with a tiny camera) to see what the joint looks like and clean it up if necessary. My guess is there was significant trauma if it was enough to dislodge a chip there so it may predispose her to arthritis as she gets older, so going in while she's young and not having any signs could be beneficial. I would see if your veterinarian can recommend a boarded surgeon that performs arthroscopy to take a look at her and her x-rays and see what they think.

Hello, sorry to hear about Shiro. He does indeed have hip dysplasia as is evident in his x-rays. This diseases does indeed require surgical correction, but only if Shiro seems to be in discomfort. Hip Dysplasia results in secondary osteoarthritis which in the long term can impact your pets ability to walk and overall comfort. There are two different procedures with regards to surgery, an FHNO were we remove the femoral head and neck or a total hip replacement were we replace the ball and joint with metal implants as they do in humans. Ultimately, the best contributor to decreasing osteoarthritis in dogs is by maintaining an overall low weight and lean body condition score. Obese pets with hip dysplasia tend to do worse. Now, with regards to surgery, it does not need to occur now, typically with either surgery, we want pets to be fully developed so that their bones are fully grown and they have developed all of the musculature. I would recommend asking your veterinarian to refer you to an orthopedic surgeon who may be able to better assist you with Shiro's hips dysplasia. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Hi, it is impossible to keep an elbow still enough to allow healing of the fracture.. being a joint there is always the tendency to move. So yes I agree that surgery would be the way forward. Hope Rubble makes a speedy recovery.!

I do see some abnormal opacity in the elbow joint where the arrow is, so I would have to agree with your vet here. It is not possible to zoom in on x-rays that are copied here however, so its best to get a copy of the x-rays on a CD and then having them reviewed by a 2nd opinion doctor that way. Or you can ask your vet to send these to a radiologist who is well trained on picking up on small details that the untrained eye can miss. Another option is to treat medically for a minimum of 2 weeks, and if there is no improvement, then you know that is not just a muscle sprain or mild injury, and that elbow dysplasia is more likely the underlying cause. Doing a process of elimination, while still treating the pets pain, is a common thing that owners do when they are looking for a more conservative approach. If this is indeed elbow dysplasia, then I would recommend a referral to an orthopedic specialist if you want to pursue treatment. Treatment for this condition is often surgery. Poor guy. I hope that you can get him some relief soon. Best wishes and take care!

It certainly could be a fracture and yes surgery is the only option for cure of her limping. However arthritis will still persist so long to her management of that will still be needed. However given Athena's age and breed I would be very concerned about a possible neoplastic/cancerous process. It is much less common in the elbow but I would discuss this with your veterinarian prior to surgery.

Treatment depends on the severity of the elbow dysplasia. In most cases, surgery is the recommended treatment, but the vet may try medical management if the problem is very mild or so severe that the joint is not likely to benefit from routine surgery. Bailey would need to be evaluated by a vet to determine what course of treatment would be best for his elbow dysplasia. Best of luck.