Veterinary Orthopedic Surgeon

If your pet is limping, moving slowly, struggling with stairs or showing signs of pain, he may be suffering from skeletal or muscular injuries. Just as humans can experience disorders or injuries that affect their muscles, bones, or joints, dogs and cats can suffer similar conditions that affect their movement. These disorders can result from a variety of causes and can occur at any age. Proper orthopedic care can help strengthen the affected areas and improve your pet’s movement and quality of life.

Common orthopedic conditions in dogs or cats include hip dysplasia, torn ligaments, broken bones and arthritis. These can occur in active or inactive animals, and they can result from physical trauma, genetics, dietary imbalances, and too much or too little exercise. Depending on the type of disorder and severity, we can provide your dog or cat with nutritional supplements, pain relievers, surgical treatments, laser therapy and even stem cell transplants to improve their movement and reduce or eliminate pain.

Please note, Powell Veterinary Service performs both PennHip and OFA evaluations to determine how likely your dog is to develop dysplasia. The PennHip evaluation is especially beneficial because it can be done when the dog is 4-months old, whereas the OFA is done at 2-years old, and by then it may be too late to correct the issue if arthritis has already set in the hip joint.

However, if you have the PennHip evaluation done, we will be able to tell if your dog has hip laxity and is at risk for dysplasia, and if he or she is, we are able to do a relatively inexpensive procedure called Juvenile Pubic Symphodiesis (JPS), which prevents OA (osteoarthritis) from occurring in the hip joint.

Make an appointment for your pet and we will identify any injuries or health conditions they may have, and give them optimal orthopedic care to strengthen their muscles or joints.