Hello and welcome to Nova! This little dynamo is only a pupster and totally crazy  crackers! We have had a challenge to keep her calm for her rehabilitation!

This poor thing has had quite a journey. There is a complex family history and no one is entirely sure how it happened, but she had a luxated (dislocated) hip. It wasn’t as obvious as you might think. The brave mite carried on like all was fine, but her dad knew it wasn’t fine.

Under x-ray, the luxation was diagnosed. Luxation is a very difficult issue to fix. The hip often pops back out soon after, and the longer it’s been out, the harder it is to keep it in. I actually have another patient with this same injury at the moment, and they tried to keep the hip. That meant that the patient had a toggle fitted. Sadly that failed in just a week and she ended up needing a pin put in to keep it in place for 8 weeks and then finally that one did work, but it’s a very long and difficult journey and not very practical for a crazy young dynamo.

Back to Novas story. Nova had to have her hip removed. A femoral head and neck excision. The vet removes the ball of the hip and the amazing body, forms a pseudo joint (a fake joint out of scar tissue). This is incredibly effective and is something that many humans have had done in the past, too, including the famous Roald Dahl!

Then it was my turn to do the rehab. We had to work a pace that worked for her crazy excited personality as we didn’t want her to go stir crazy. We had mental stimulation, too. She hasn’t had the simple path back. She needed a lot of rehab, and her mum and dad had to work hard to stay on track and do her home plan.

There was a small hiccup as there was crepitus felt in the stifle at one point and it felt unstable. But after vet investigation, nothing was found and it resolved, thankfully! But we are monitoring. 

There can be complications with this surgery. They can end up with other problems, like a luxating patella, but with good management we can stay in top of things like that.

She still has some muscle to rebuild, but she has now made a fabulous recovery! Well done, Mum, dad, and Nova! Your hard work has paid off, and she is a very happy girl!