Most dysplastic dogs do not need surgery this year, and many never do: lean weight, muscle and sensible pain relief hold a comfortable line for a large share of dogs. Surgery earns its place when pain persists through good management, function keeps shrinking, or a young dog's x-rays predict a joint that management cannot save.
Good management is a lean dog, measurable muscle, planned exercise and reviewed medication, run like a program. A repeat prescription and hope is not management, and dogs failing that version are not failing management; they never received it. Before concluding a dog needs a new hip, it is worth one honest look at whether it first needs a real program. That is a cheaper opinion than an implant, and we give it when it is true.
Send the x-rays and a video of your dog moving. An honest read, from $250.
Dogs almost never cry with joint pain; they edit their lives instead. Shorter walks, hesitation at the car, not following you upstairs anymore, grumpiness when handled: that is what chronic pain looks like. The saddest version is the dog everyone calls lazy.
Take the paperwork seriously, but the dog's future matters more than the transaction: get proper scored x-rays and a treatment map first. Refund conversations go better holding a specialist report anyway.
An independent written opinion on the diagnosis, the technique and the quote. From $250.