Let me start this post by saying Dodger is okay! Now that we can all breathe again, we can piece together what happened. According to a recent post on Chris Evans Instagram, his faithful puppers, Dodger, has been recovering from his second hip surgery. I missed the first one, but Chris did post about it back in July of last year. At first, he didn’t mention why Dodger needed surgery but follow up IG pics showed the laid-out pup with a Cone of Shame and bandage on his right hip. A few days later, Chris posted this shot of Dodger and his favorite lion toy that Dodger likes to sing along to, lying side by side to recuperate.
For his second procedure, Chris posted a shot of Dodger’s other hip with the same tell-tale bandage, along with an update on Lion who apparently had his own procedure. Chris updated us on both:
Hip replacement #2completed! Such a trooper. He’ll be back in action in no time.
Yesterday while he was in surgery, so was his favorite lion(which had been on IR since November after a nasty tear). I’ve never sewn anything before but I’m pretty proud of my hack job.
They’re both happily recovering in each other’s company.
[From Chris Evan Instagram via Lainey Gossip]
I have to believe that two hip surgeries eight months apart is probably a genetic degenerative disorder with the breed. If Dodger had been in an accident, Chris would have told us. Plus there are plenty of photos of a happy Dodger going about his business. I know human hip replacements are one of the easier procedures, I hope the same is true for dogs and that Dodger is back on his feet, dogging about Boston. I am almost equally relieved to know Lion has been restored without ever having known he was out of commission. Pets take their toys as seriously as humans. I got the ducks we suggested for my dogs and they are practically part of our family. I washed them recently and my dogs kept checking on the washing machine like Calvin waiting for Hobbes to get out of the dryer. Those ducks go everywhere with my dogs. I’m so thrilled both Lion and Dodger are recovering and can’t wait for their future adventures.
For those of you with or considering adopting pets but don’t happen to have Marvel money in the bank, here are two pretty good articles about pet insurance for you to consider. Surgeries like the ones Chris got for Dodger can make a world of difference in the quality of life of your pet but they can also cost a fortune so it’s not a bad idea to consider all your options before you need to make that choice.
Update by CB: Apparently Dodger was shot with a BB gun before he was adopted by Chris! Doctors thought it was arthritis but discovered a BB there. Poor Dodger.
Surgery day! Just dropped him off. Picking him up tomorrow morning. 😬😬😬😬
If today is any indication, I’m going to be a VERY nervous parent. 😂 pic.twitter.com/960bwIkPYL
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) July 23, 2020
Photo credit: Instagram and Twitter
Be well, Dodger and Lion! Hope to see you running again on the streets of Concord.
I know time has no meaning anymore but didn’t this surgery happen like a month ago?
Yeah, really late to the party. I don’t get why Laineygossip and Celebitchy are now talking about it.
He and his brother did a Comic Con interview that went up yesterday and he talked about the dog’s surgery so that might be why it’s popping up now.
He did an interview where he talked about it. Apparently Dodger was shot by someone with a BB gun when he was a street dog, and there were BBs imbedded in the bones of his hip, causing the bone to deteriorate and need replacing. Chris had no idea, obviously, until Dodger started showing signs of discomfort and X-rays were done. He was clearly infuriated by the BB bastards, and rightly so. I don’t understand why people treat poor doggos that way, just because they don’t have a home at the time 🙁
Ok thank you I will update with that. Poor Dodger. When I was a child my cat was shot by the evil neighbor! We got surgery for her and she lived many more years but that a-hole kid is on my sh-t list forever.
I had a cat shot with a BB gun, but it stayed where it was (it wasn’t bothering anything.)
I forgot how we found out — it was an unrelated matter and we had to X-ray him.
Anyhow, I was pissed.
He was a tough cat — lived to almost 20 years old as an outdoor/indoor cat.
ETA: Haha, disregard everything I said below! Just saw the comment above.
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Sounds like Dodger had hip dysplasia on both sides, had total hip replacement- possibly they always knew he would get two surgeries and staggered them to make sure he had enough time to recover.
I remember that video from a while back when Dodger was playing with another dog and Chris Evans kept saying “be gentle.” At the time I thought it was directed at Dodger to be gentle with the puppy (even though Dodger didn’t seem to be doing any rough housing), but now I think it was him telling the puppy to be gentle with Dodger because he was still recovering from surgery. Maybe. I could be misremembering, everything in pandemic seems at least twice as far away as it actually was.
Poor Dodger and Lion. They’ve had a rough go of it. Glad to see them both on the mend.
I was talking to a man at the vet’s office who had his dog in for hip surgery. She was a British bulldog and needed both hips replaced. His insurance was $85 a month and he said the double hip operation was $35,000. With his insurance he ended up paying 10% of the bill.
I have insurance and a dog who will probably need that. Your post makes me feel a lot better, waiting to hear if insurance will cover since he was a senior rescue I don’t know his background. Finger crossed, because without insurance buddy isn’t getting 35k surgery.
I could be wrong but I don’t think dogs get prosthetic joints. What I read that is done is the basically cut off the head of the femur and then sew them back up with the hopes that the muscles hold it all together. He could be less painful. I suspect function will not be as good.
The high price version is the total hip replacement with a prosthetic. The lower cost version is what you describe which involves giving time for a “false joint” to form.
So they make prosthetic joints for dogs? So I just looked it up. Price really is not that bad 5-6k. Their page said their weight cut off is 40 lbs, so the dog would have to be at least 40 lbs. I presume then that smaller dogs are not candidates. I read a long time ago, that reason the could not do it was because the prototypes are modeled on human bones and do too big. Guess they have been able to reduce the size. Thats great. Thanks for the info.
Poor fur boy. He’s got a great daddy.
Fellow Chris Evans and dog lovers, I just got a new puppy and I wish she would love her stuffies! She just chews everything up and eats it! Any tips?
Puppies tend to literally love the stuffing out of their stuffies. Give her proper chew toys during her puppy year, and as she gets older she’ll enjoy stuffies in more appropriate, less destructive ways 🙂
But yeah, stuffies in the mouths of puppies are just waiting for disemboweling. Kong makes stuffies for chewers, though, that are fluff-free and with reinforced seams. My Staffie-mix loves them, and she’s a total toy-destroyer.
She does love her antlers and Kongs and I will have to try stuffies again down the road. I suppose patience is key, and I will need to go look for the Kong stuffies, so thank you!