Legg Perthe's Disease

Affected hip joint showing flattening and deformation of damaged femoral head and socket. Normal hip joint, showing rounded femoral head and deep socket with good seating of 'ball' in the socket.
This is a disease of the hip joint, occurring in pups of around 6 months old.

Symptoms
The dog will limp on the effected hip side, this will not be regular until the dog may have jumped down from a chair. Then lameness with pain will show up the problem.

If your Westie is seen to have a limp for more than a few days take him along to a vet. X-rays taken regularly will show up any bone changes. Loss of blood supply around the joint will cause the bone to die.

Treatment of this disease is by surgery to remove the damaged femoral head and neck.



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