DEVISTATED-BAD HIPS - Page 2

pink, from looking at the x-rays nothing you did contributed to the HD. It is the bony formation that is the problem with your dog - that means she was born that way. You did everything right, don't blame yourself. molly

If you had no idea that there was something wrong with your girl, surgery is way too much to ask from you this early in the game! Vets just want your money! One guy in my club's dog is severely displastic and he won the regional championship and was selected as an alternate for the FCI World Team. The dog's drive have him working through any discomfort, but the ownder is very good to watch for real PAIN in the dog. The had a hip replacement done last year at 7, thinking the dog would still be able to do the sport, he would have, and that was the reason for the replacement, not because the dog was in pain, but he was found later that year to have a cancerous area in his back leg, and had to have muscle tissue removed from his hind leg, he can no longer really jump. So you may NEVER need surgery on your girl, and you can still compete with her until you notice that she is in pain, which she may never show. But yes please for the love of the breed spay her. Best of luck for many happy years! ~Kari

The world has not ended http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/129126.html My female was diagnosed Jan 2006 with severe bilateral dysplasia. Quite bad. Shhhh, nobody has told her yet that she is a cripple and I do the things suggested above. 1) Have her spayed, or do not breed her. 2) Keep her weight down. 3) Give joint supplements 4) Avoid really hard impact exercises, such as jumping, I add, the only thing that has given her trouble is getting wet AND cold and not warming up right after. Other than that she is wide open. Getting soaked on a cold day caused a persistent limp which caused me to take her to our vet. Our vet sent me to an orthopedic vet after x-rays. Same precaustions as you - good hips on the pedigree, proper care and excercise. It just happened in this combination and some littermates also were dysplastic. The canine orthopedic specialist who was against hip replacements in (1) a dog with two bad hips and (2) too young because they may not last as long as the dog. He felt that this should be done as a last resort for such a dog and that the dog may, with proper care, live out its natural life without any problems.

Sorry you had bad news...Ive been there and the dogs usually dont know what the vet said...lol Many years of healthy dog ahead...the way you describe has happened to several of mine and they live a normal great life....not even a hint of problems...keep slim and well fed with proper nutrition...good luck glad you could talk to us.. Give her a raw turkey wing for Christmas.....

Well the x-ray was crooked don't you think? The left hip, right on picture may be loose. Low stress strengthening of the rear may help. The left hip looks looser than it is because of positioning. Strengthen those rear legs with swimming and maybe pulling and use glucosamine and she may be ok. Not the worst I have seen. The sockets are deap.

Only one of her hips looks to be dysplastic, the other looks fairly normal to me. I have definatly seen much worse, and if she is not showing signs of being dysplastic there is no need for replacement surgery. As long as you keep her on the thin side and supplement her (glucoasamine, Vitamin C...) she should live a full life.

I've been there. I bought a gorgeous Rikkor daughter, dam was out of Neptun. Very highline pedigree. She showed quite successfully, multiple time VP1, amazing bitch in bitework, super fast, very civil. OFA moderate displaysia. It broke my heart, and in spite of others urging me to sell her as a pet, I kept her. She is my AKC obedience/PP dog and my daughter shows her in AKC juniors. My girl is also very lean, and incredibly athletic. Most people are shocked to hear she has a bad hip. It kills your breeding hopes, but it doesnt mean you cant have an amazing pet companion and a learning dog!

I can understand how you feel.. We have a female here who is now 6 she was diagnosed with severe HD and spondylosis a few years ago now .. But she too does generally very well .We feed her a good diet , give her a Glucosamine & Chondroitin supplement and dont over medicate for pain .. We only pain medicate if she is showing signs of real pain..This may sound cruel too some but we believe if we were to over medicate for pain unnecessarily she would not know when enough was enough and could aggravate her conditon making it worse in the long run...as such when she is coping well and seems pain free and comfortable we give no pain relief despite an open prescription for such .Our girl still keeps up with our others 90% of the time and as such we continue to let her enjoy her exercise with the others.. she is a driven little bitch who without her exercise would be miserable , so its an easy choice for us.. I was devastated when we saw her xrays and got our diagnosis but I have been reassured by so many others since then in the same situation that I now just let her live life and take it day by day .

Here's an interesting short article I found recently regarding Hip Displaysia http://www.sheprescue.org/Hip%20Dysplasia.html

In the photo the dog is not centered and seems to be rather crooked. So it is difficult to tell a true picture. Although the one side clearly shows that there is not a closed socket. I know there are many testimonials about Hokamix, and all that it can do for dogs with a tendency for hip displaysia. It has been know to do some pretty miraculous things. When I got my female the breeder gave me bunch of papers and in it were about 15 pages of testimonials about the Hokamix. I am sorry to hear you have such a problem, it is not easy. http://www.dogtownusa.net this is the website for Pat McDonald and he really has been very helpful to me for the past 11 years.