Duke's Journey ~rhodesian ridgeback/lab/pit mix

Hi! My pups name is Duke and he’s a 10 month old rhodesian rhidgeback/lab/pit mix. He’s a medium guy at about 45 pounds and so full of love. He’s a very gentle and mellow guy who loves everyone.

We are still trying to decide what is the best decision for him…

This is Duke’s story so far – the short version 😉

Duke was hit by a car in July 2016 and fractured his left femoral head/neck and cranial displacement of left femur. Here’s his X-ray..

We’ve seen numerous Veterinarians/Surgeons. 1st Vet said he needed “amputation” (we didn’t have Duke at this time) or we would have amputated. 3 weeks later we acquired Duke and the new Dr said “no surgery needed”. We didn’t know if leaving it as is was the right decision so we saw another Vet. They said “FHO” was needed but quoted a VERY high price so we went to another recommended vet who agreed to do the surgery at a reduced rate. This Dr saw the X-ray before we went in for our appointment and also agreed FHO was needed. During the pre-op appointment, he took a NEW X-ray and concluded that surgery may not be the best option at this time and recommended we see yet another surgeon (which we haven’t done yet). He was concerned with the displacement of the greater trochanter and not knowing what it was attached to. He said if we did FHO and removed the portion of his bone, we weren’t sure what the trochanter was attached to and we may end in amputation. He also saw that Duke did occasionally put weight on his leg.

Here’s the X-ray from that appointment (which may also show thinning of his bone)..

Duke uses his broken leg to hobble on..he plays hard with his buddy and runs on it a lot but then limps quite a bit in pain afterwards or doesnt use it at all. He gets around by mainly hopping on 3 legs but does put weight on his bad leg. He licks it a lot, shifts a lot in his bed, and sits a lot (rather that standing/sitting)…he’s uncomfortable.

We are still searching for the right answer. Is it to push for amputation (which no vet has liked this option), leave as is (I don’t like this option) and use pain meds when he plays too hard, or do FHO and hope it works? If we need to amputate then we can deal with funding that at that time..