My 2 year old BSH male has hip dysplasia which is causing him a great deal of pain and in time will potentially lead to his right hip joint crumbling completely. With the advice of my vet he is going to have an operation to remove the head of his right femur called a Femoral Head Ostectomy. Does anyone have experience of their cat undergoing this procedure as I am interested to hear from somebody?

Not my cat but my little yorkshire terrier, who's smaller than a cat, had this operation a few weeks ago and has just recovered. She had to be prevented from jumping for a few weeks, that was the hardest bit, and was on cage rest for a week. I don't know about cats but perhaps they would need to be on cage rest for longer as they're harder to control than a dog? Anyway, I'm sure you'll get a reply soon from someone whose cat has had this op, which will be more helpful to you than my experience with my dog!

Thanks for replying Lulu's owner - I appreciate you sharing your experience. The operation is scheduled for Thursday and I hope to get him home on Friday evening and he will be caged for two weeks (which I am not looking forward to at all) but hopefully after that he will be able to take weight on the leg. From what I have read it seems that within 8 weeks a full recovery should be made so finger's crossed. I hope your dog is doing well!

If anyone has advice on caging a cat for two weeks after an operation I welcome your views!

Thanks, Polly's doing really well with her leg. She starts off with a hop and a skip but then walks fairly normally, and her leg is now a fraction shorter than it was, but this is hardly noticeable. Actually, my mum's cat (now passed away) was on cage rest about five years ago after a serious road injury to his leg and he didn't seem to mind one little bit, he adjusted to it rapidly, so hope yours is the same.

PS If you start a new thread asking for advice on cage rest you'll probably get more responses on that topic!