Pectineus tendon surgery for the management of canine hip dysplasia

Pectineus tendonectomy is a useful procedure for relieving pain and rehabilitating the dysplastic dog in select cases. Relief of pain is believed to come from a combination of releasing tension on the hip joint capsule and providing a better loading contact surface on the articular cartilage owing to the increased abduction of the hind legs after surgery. Some pain relief also may come from the release of tension on the pectineus muscle. The modified procedure described in this article results in less seroma formation and less reattachment of the severed ends of the pectineus tendon of origin than the procedure originally described by the author.