we got some bad news about the hound this weekend. last summer the vet took some x-rays and told us she had hip dysplasia, a common hip problem in labs. they told us there wasn't much we could do outside of pain meds and possibly a hip replacment. over the winter, we gradually watched her back right leg deteriorate. she rarely uses it, and just kind of drags it around. lately, she can't get comfortable and seems to be kind of sad. otherwise, she's still such a good girl.

so we made the decision to go ahead with the hip replacement. we took her to a different vet to get her hip digitally x-rayed so that the scans could be sent to iowa state university, where she would have her surgery. they got back to us on friday with this news: she never had hip dysplasia. she has had a BROKEN hip for over year, and now the nerve endings and stuff are all damaged. poor girl. i can't believe what a trooper she is.

now, unfortunately, all they can do to ease her pain is amputate the leg. they are going to take one more look at some new x-rays we had done on saturday to make sure, but they don't think she'll have the use of the leg even if they repair the hip. we feel horrible. i do think that she will get along pretty well on three legs, anything will be better than where she's at now. she might even get to hunt again, which would just make her life complete.

sigh.