Vet: hip dysplasia confirmed - Page 2

I agree with Blitzen.  My Molly's were worse than these and she went on to obtain her SchI.  I retired her shortly after as the jumps and long bites were to difficult for her, but at 7 she is still going strong.  No signs of pain. I keep her lean and active and crate rest when needed.  Good luck with your pup.  I too was devastated when I received the news, but other than not being able to continue in Schutzhund, she has lived a normal, happy life.

Cheryl

Sorry your dog has HD.  I have a five year old gsd with HD.  She has not had surgery and is doing just fine.  We supplement her with vitamin C, turmeric, coconut oil, and fish oil.  She has the run of an acre, along with our other 2 gsds.    I give her one aspirin on cold, rainy days or if she seems a little stiff.   Like others advised, keep her weight down and let her get exercise through natural play in a grassy area.  Also, provide her with a good orthopedic dog bed.  

I had a gorgeous black and red female who had it...I was warned to watch it in the bloodline she carried.  I picked up on the gait indicators early on and xrayed at a year.  Both hips had it.
 She lived until 12 before it got bad enough that I had her put down.  I kept her lean and swam her every opportunity (she loved it).  Her last 2 years were her worst and managed her with pain meds.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

Had a post op check with the vet today to make sure Shelby had cleared all of the anesthesia out of her system. We discussed the xrays (we did decide on 3 different positions, since we were checking for more than just HD and didn't want to have to anesthetize her more than once), and I told her that we wanted to do the hydrotherapy, so she just sent off a referral to a certified pool in Newmarket (so we can claim insurance). The vet has started her in a short term anti-inflammatory and told us to start her on a glucosamine supplement. The ones they had at the vet were really expensive, so does anyone here recommend one that I can buy at a store?

We'll be going back to the vets in a month for her to check on Shelby's progress. She said that we can decide on seeing an orthopedic surgeon to discuss options at any point and that she'll suggest one for us. I do agree that the xrays are really good. They don't use plates, but use a radiograph (I think that's what she called it)- so she said that they can take multiple pictures until the image is perfect, and they only charge for the final product. We've been keeping Shelby's weight pretty consistent so far- as she's had a mild growth plateau I think. 

As a side note, early this morning we went to Lakatamia K9 Academy to see Adrian Hornsby to meet each other and to discuss Shelby's training. I think that her training is really going to excel with his help.

I know this is a long post, but I was wondering about Shelby's exercise. I thought that we would need to build up her muscles through exercise instead of giving her more rest. There's an enclosed park very close to here with lots of hills and dirt and sand and craters (lots of bombing in the area during WW2). She likes to play about in there (supervised of course), but should I not take her there? Shelby and I go there with her best friend Wiley (another GSD), and they love to frolic about. Should I limit the frolicking? 

I would NOT let her frolic with other dogs for a few months. The most important thing you can do for this dog is to force her to REST. You positively  do NOT want her running and/or jumping, dogs do not know their limits. It will not build her muscles, it will makes her lameness and pain worse and add to her recovery time.. The hydrotherapy will build muscle strength, it's not weight bearing.  I think I told you about a dog I had with very, very bad hips. He had no sockets and could not rise or walk far when he was 6 months old. His hips were much, much worse that Shelby's.  This was back in the day when vets weren't so fast to suggest hip surgery for puppies as they knew that many were going to recover on their own. After 3, 4 months of forced rest, walking ONLY on a leash, and being kept thin, he was jumping 6 foot fences and lived 13 years without any problems other than arthritis which even dog with normal hips get. Shelby may not want to spend a lot of down time, but it is what you must do if she is to do well in the future.

Just use common sense and don't let her on her own to run and jump and play right now even if she wants to. I hate frisbees for large breed dogs, even those with good hips can suffer injuries from jumping into air to retrieve them. That is one toy I would never own and probably nothing that Shelby should ever have either. Whatever she is doing in your avatar is clearly what she should not be doing now. She will have plenty of time to play and run free when she passes this period known as juvenile expression of HD. It won't last forever.

You should be able find the supplements on the net. Human supplements are generally cheaper and contain the same ingredients.

And I would not have her trained right now. Wait til she's passed this painful period and then make those plans.

Am sorry to hear your pup has HD, but can second what everyone said, that she can still live a long and happy life despite it. I just lost my girl who had HD, and I didn't lose her due to the HD, she was nearly 11 bless her. She had been on Metacam for the last few years, and supplements. I got on well with Yumove. I also gave coconut oil. I swam her regularly. 

Do remember that you can ask for a private prescription from your vet, and then buy whatever the product/medication is from a reputable company like Hyperdrug or Vetmedic online. I guarantee you will save over 50% of what the vet wants to charge you for the same thing.  Same applies for any medication she might go on to later in her life. 

I agree with Blitzen, no manic play with other pups for a while, though you have to strike a balance and also let her be a dog and have fun. I didn't really restrict what my girl wanted to do, if she wanted to leap off river banks (and she did) when she was mature, I didn't stop her. Exercise is a key factor in maintaining healthy muscle, restricting exercise is counter productive, but common sense needs to be applied especially while she is still growing.  I would be careful as to what you do with her in training, be very wary of sharp turns at speed, jumping, or things like weave poles, or better still put that off for now. 

Exactly, Abby - the key phrase being, "when she was mature". Right now it is imperative that this young puppy not be allowed to overdo it as we know most puppies will do if they can. The hydrotherapy sounds like a great idea to me.

Hope you are feeling better, your common sense posts have been greatly missed. I feel for you, I'm not great at handling the loss of  dogs either, it takes me months, years too. Keep the faith.............

Thanks Blitzen. I don't have much heart for it now.

KYLE and Blitzen are correct.  I don't know how some here feel about the PennHip test, but I personally feel it could give you some useful additional info about the current condition of the hips.  Also what kind of anti-inflamatory did the vet prescribe?  I wouldn't be doing any long term NSAID's with a young dog.  Instead, if I were you, I would put this dog on Adequan or a generic version of it and at the same time, use over the counter supplements with good quality control such as Cosequin, Dasquin or the human version Cosamin.  Also as stated above your dog should probably be on HA for the rest of its life to keep synovial fluid built up in the joints. I have used human supplements with both HA and Type II collagen, in addition to Glucosamine and Chondrotin, daily.

Here is a another product line my vet check up on.  He found them to have good quality control, but we decided against using it because of cost, since it had no obvious benefit over Cosequin combined over the counter Type II collagen:

http://www.animalhealthoptions.com/Products/ProMotion

In regards to physical training, my vet said a fit, strong, lean dogs muscles will be able to hold bad hips in place.  The problems come later when managing arthritis, combined with the bad hips and old age muscle atrophy.  Hydrotherapy can be good if you have daily access to a body of water nearby, but from what I have seen in the cities I have lived in its impractical to go to a special facility regularly enough to gain a real benefit and there will also be a cost issue.  The Adequan will likley give you a better bang for your buck than hydrotherapy 3 days a week.  Low impact, stamina building exercise should be priority if you don't have access to a body of water.  AKC tracking or RH/FH level IPO tracking should be a plenty of low impact exercised for both you and the dog, assuming you will never "jump" them when you resume training.

i have a 8 year old with servire HD and she still runs and jumps with no problems most of the time if she gets running hard for when we throw the ball then you may see a limp sometimes , but with no pain and that just started this year, i dont plan to do anything except maybe get a joint supplement which i have not done yet, maybe she will show more signs as she gets older but not yet.
i also dont think at 6 months would of been when i would of taken the xrays as she is not done growing and the hips could get better , i always wait 12 months to check. the xrays to me dont really look bad at all , i wait and retake after she is 12 months to see, if they have gotten better or worst.
i have also seen puppies bunny hop that had excellent hips. so i wont use that as a tool to if the dog has bad hips only xray will tell you for sure.
i had a male thats bunny hop and did his hips at 14 months and they were excellent hips one of the best the vet had seen in awhile.
my HD dog also placed first place in SV shows as she never show any signs, her gait was excellent, diff VA movement , just did not go forward with her cause of her hips.
good luck