Oreo is a sweet 9 year old pomeranian. He came to see us in May when he had been playing with his friend in the back yard and been run over by the bigger dog. He wasn’t able to put any weight on his right rear leg. X-rays showed Oreo’s hip was dislocated. Under anesthesia, Dr. Josh was able to put Oreo’s hip back in place and place his leg in a temporary sling. He went home later that day with some pain medications.

Getting a hip to stay in once it’s been dislocated is a tricky thing. Not every hip will stay in place after the trauma. The leg is placed in a sling for about 10 days so that the dog can’t use it while it is healing.

Oreo came in a few days later for a progress exam, his bandage slipped off the day before and his hip was dislocated again. He would need surgery if he was going to be able to comfortably walk on his right leg again.

Oreo’s very sweet owner was not able to do the surgery for him and Dr. Josh didn’t want him to live in pain nor did he want to euthanize this otherwise healthy, sweet boy. So, Dr. Josh offered to keep Oreo and find a rescue group that could take him in.

Through the joint efforts of Dr. Josh, Dr. Budd and Houndhaven, Oreo had a femoral head ostectomy (FHO) on June 16th. During an FHO the head and neck of the femur are removed to alleviate pain. The surgery was performed by Dr. Budd here at Tavares Animal Hospital and went very well.

Oreo lived here in the animal hospital while he was recovering from his surgery. Jamie, a technician here, couldn’t stand to see him live in a cage so she took him home to foster him until he could walk on all four legs again and find a home.

While he was waiting for his surgery, Oreo got used to walking on three legs and was quite good at it. After his surgery he didn’t see any reason to start using his fourth leg again. At the end of June, when he had had plenty of time to heal and wasn’t painful any longer he started physical therapy.

Two weeks later, he still wasn’t using his leg like he should and Dr. Budd started electroacupuncture.

After a few sessions, Oreo was rebuilding the muscle mass he had lost in his right leg and was putting it down when he wasn’t thinking about it.

After several more acupuncture sessions Oreo was walking on all four legs again pain free.

Thanks to Dr. Josh, Dr. Budd, Houndhaven and Jamie, Oreo is now running around and playing like nothing ever happened.  He has fit in so well with the other dogs and cats at Jamie’s house that he is living there for the time being. When Jamie is ready, Houndhaven will find the perfect forever home for him.

For information on adopting Oreo visit Houndhaven.org.