As per my previous post, yesterday was Finn's appointment to be neutered, have his hips x-rayed and check out his tummy in the x-ray as well to make sure he didn't have something stuck in there. There was good news and bad news, so we'll start with the good.

The good news is that Finn's surgery went very well. He has two incisions one of which is low at the base of the scrotum where they usually go to neuter and another on his abdomen (this one is larger). The vet hoped he'd find Finn's other testicle through the first incision but no such luck, he had to go in the abdomen and as soon as he opened it, there sat the jewel. He handled the anesthesia well and was very alert when we went to pick him up. The wounds look great and he doesn't have a cone on, we just have to tell him to leave it if he goes to lick. I think it's more the close shave they gave him that is bothering him rather than the actual wounds. They had to shave both of his front legs because the vet said the nurses were having trouble getting the IV into one leg so they had to use the other. Poor boy, I wonder how many time they jabbed him with the needle first. He whimpered quite a bit yesterday but was looking more comfortable by bed time and today is doing even better. The big chore is trying to get him to take the pain meds. He can smell it no matter what food we hide it in so we've started having to put it down his throat, but all in all, things are going well.

As far as his tummy goes, the vet said the fact that Finn is eating and going potty makes him think there isn't anything stuck in there and perhaps he just has a sensitive stomach and needs to have a snack before bed to prevent the acid from making him sick. We'll give it a try and hopefully that's all it is. The pre-op blood panel didn't show any problems with his kidneys so that's good because I was concerned that might be the cause.

Now we've reached the bad news... the hips. The vet said Finn has very bad hips, in other words, hip dysplasia. I was so afraid of this. When we got Finn at 8 weeks he was barely able to use his back legs and we were extremely worried. His breeder said he had seen that before in Cardi pups and he was not worried. He said just as human babies are more loose jointed and some learn to walk faster than others, so are Cardis. He does guarantee his pups against genetic defect and said of course if something were wrong or we decided we were to worried to keep him we could give him back. Once we had him that was not an option. How do you return part of your family and what would the breeder have done with him anyway? Right away we had our vet look at him and he said it felt like his tendons were very loose in his hind legs and he just needed to strengthen them. After a month or two he was running and moving with no problems but in the back of my mind I was still worried. Things he does like kick his hind legs to one side when he runs concerned me which is why we asked to have the x-rays done. I saw the x-ray and the his socket is very shallow and there is a big gap between the ball of the joint and the socket, that leaves it looking like it's not even in there. The vet said he could easily pop the hips out of place. Hewants us to put him on Glucosamine and fish oil now. His suggestion is keep him on that and if and when he shows he's in pain we would do pain management and as a last resort hip replacement surgery. He said he's seen dogs with bad hips that are crippled and others that show mild or no symptoms so there's no way to gage how Finn will be but if he were to guess, he'd say by 8 years at least he will be having some problems. I'm still overwhelmed by the news. After all I went through to get him and all the scares along the way and how much I love him, I can't stand the thought of losing him at an early age. I do everything to keep him healthy and happy so he'll be with us for many many years and then something like this comes up which is out of my control. From what I have read, there are other surgeries that can be done but some have to be done now before he has arthritis but not knowing if he will ever get bad I can't decide if we should jump to surgery. Not to mention the cost and the pain and healing he'd have to endure.

I told the breeder about the x-rays and he said shallow sockets are common in Cardigans and you cannot judge his hips by an x-ray. He said hips actually becoming painful in Cardis is very rare but if Finn shows symptoms he wants us to bring him to him so he can observe him for a couple weeks and have his vet friend look at him and if he does have dysplasia he would refund our money. I don't know if this means he would take Finn back or what, but that's out of the question. We can't afford to go out of state to get Finn to him plus I wouldn't want to leave him with the breeder for weeks. I wish I could see x-rays of other Cardi's hips so I had something to compare it to.

Sorry this is so long by the way, this whole hip thing is just really bothering me.