It all started with Girl

‘Such a beautiful animal’

Once Girl was anesthetized, Vezzoni couldn’t help but marvel at her beauty.

“I was impressed to see such a beautiful animal up close,” he recalled, adding that caution is the watchword when anesthetizing tigers. “Anesthesia is very risk for these tigers because they are very sensitive to it; in fact, that is the reason Girl died a few years after another surgery.”

The cementless THR took about three hours—and Vezzoni took extra care to preserve the animal’s physical appearance when closing the incision.

“It was really touching to be in front of that big tiger. Joop closed the incision without a suture on the outside so that it was unnecessary to remove the stitches—and it didn’t affect her appearance,” Vezzoni said, adding that all members of the surgical team—including himself and the implant producer—cared for Girl out of compassion and without compensation.
appearance,” he added.

‘The AO drives innovation’

Since that groundbreaking surgery, much has changed, Vezzoni said. For example, veterinarians are seeing a huge increasing in hip osteoarthritis in dogs—Vezzoni himself has performed more than 2,700 THRs on canine patients to date—and implants and materials have improved so much that veterinarians can ensure excellent outcomes. Vezzoni has gone on to teach THR courses every year all over the world.

“I have been involved with AO VET forever. My first course was in 1978. I really apply the AO Principles in practice. The AO drives innovation: Today we are training veterinarians to correctly perform cementless THRs on dogs and cats with very rewarding outcomes,” he said.