Puffin more like Puffing Billy.

I had a 92 year old man in today and I asked him his secret. He said, the piano, an odd whiskey or two and keep the brain ticking over. I asked Puffin a 13 year old 3 kg Maltese the same question, his response a big lip smacking nervous kiss on my chops and I am sure I heard him say “My Mum… and certainly not You!”.

Puffin came in for a routine check. On the way home he decided to take a leap of faith off the back seat and he ended up in the foot section of the car. He was screaming in pain. As it turned out Puffin dislocated his hip But unlike any of his wimpy cousins Puffin with the aid of a small bandage walked well on his ‘dislocated hip’ until we finally spoilt his little party and took some radiographs a week later. Luckily we were able to relocate the hip under anaesthetic. Puffin did great for a short time.

The hip joint is held in place by a combination of the round ligament, the bone of the pelvis and the joint capsule. For Puffin’s hip to be where it was he certainly had stretched if not ruptured the round ligament and the joint capsule. This was possible as he had a form of hip dysplasia.

6 Weeks later Puffin’s hip popped out again. So we performed what is called a Femoral Head and Neck Excision Arthroplasty. It is a procedure where we remove the bone on bone contact to enable function of the leg without pain. 3 days later he is running around almost not detectably lame. This procedure is used for dislocations, fractures and in the treatment of Hip Dysplasia in dogs that are not suitable candidates for a total hip replacement.

Since the surgery Puffin has aged a bit and is certainly not 100% but he is walking well although he tires on long walk.