Orthopedic Surgery

During an orthopedic assessment, our team will examine your pet and use all of our tools to determine a diagnosis. Dr. Pedraza has the experience and expertise to fully diagnose an injury and assess whether surgery is necessary. Radiographs under mild anesthesia is often recommended to diagnose injuries smoothly with minimal pain for our patients.

The cruciate ligaments are two bands of fibrous tissue located within each knee joint. They join the femur and tibia (the bones above and below the knee joint) together so that the knee functions normally.

Symptoms of a cruciate injury in dogs can appear acute or progressive. Injuries can occur suddenly from jumping or turning the wrong way too quickly or they can slowly degenerate as a dog ages before eventually rupturing completely. The most common signs of a cruciate injury in dogs include:

• Hind leg lameness and limping

• Stiffness after rest, following exercise

• Swelling around the knee

• Difficulty rising and jumping

Unlike the ACL in people, in dogs, the cruciate ligament is load-bearing because a dog's leg remains bent while they are standing. If your dog's cruciate becomes injured or torn, your dog's knee will become unstable, reducing your pup's ability to run and walk normally and causing pain.

At Sevilla Vet, our surgery team has various ways of repair a torn cruciate ligament in your pet. The determination is made by the pet’s medical history, weight, age and breed.

The patella is a small bone at the front of the knee. In people it is referred to as the ‘knee-cap’. It is positioned between the quadriceps muscle and a tendon that attaches to the shin bone. This is termed the quadriceps mechanism. The patella glides in a groove at the end of the thigh bone as the knee flexes and extends.

The signs of patellar luxation can be quite variable. Your dog may start experiencing a ‘skipping’ motion with the hind leg being carried for a few steps is typical. This occurs when the patella slips out of the groove and resolves when it goes back in again.

Diagnosis is determined with a orthopedic assessment and x-rays.

Fractures occur commonly in dogs and cats. There is a huge variety of different types of fractures, and these all have different treatments and carry different outlooks. Although having a fracture can be very traumatic for both pet and owner, the good news is that with the correct treatment most fractures in dogs and cats will heal well and most animals can regain normal use of their limbs.

Many fractures occur as a result of significant trauma, such as being hit by a car, and in these patients it is important that any life-threatening injuries are recognized and managed before treating the fracture which can generally be attended to less urgently. Diagnostics such as radiographs, ultrasonography and blood tests may be necessary in order to detect possible chest, abdominal, brain or spinal damage.

Depending on the type of fracture, different forms of treatment might be recommended. Initially, radiographs are performed to assess the broken bone and plan the treatment.

Options for stabilizing the bones include:

• bone plates and screws, pins that are placed inside the bone, or

• external frames that are connected to the bone using pins going through the skin.

Some fractures are relatively straightforward to manage and others are very complex.

A femoral head and neck osteotomy, or FHNO, is the surgical removal of the head and neck of the femur. In simpler terms, it is the removal of the ball part of the ball-and-socket that makes up the hip joint. This way, the bones of the joint are no longer in contact, which alleviates the pain that is caused by the abnormal contact of the bones in pets.

This procedure is usually used as a last resort procedure in pets with femoral head and neck fractures, severe arthritis of the hip, Legg-Perthes disease (known as avascular necrosis of the femoral head). Once the femoral head and neck are removed, the surrounding muscles and developing scar tissue work to support the area, and act as a false joint. The ultimate is goal is to restore pain-free mobility. This means that now when the limb is moved, the forces are transferred to the pelvis rather than the leg itself. Most pets return to normal activity after surgery.

In many cases, the goal of the FHNO procedure is to relieve pain associated with hip dysplasia, rather than create a joint with completely normal function. Therefore, while there are no specific weight guidelines for the use of an FHNO, smaller pets typically have a better outcome since less stress and force is carried on the false joint than would be in a large pets.