Caring for Hip Dysplasia - Page 1

Hi Guys,

I am kind of new to this site. I am trying to get all of the info I can on caring for a dysplastic GSD. The vet told us it was as bad as he had seen. I was told keep him lean and his hind quarters strong. Swimming would be the best low impact excercise for him but it is 2/5/08 and the middle of winter. Also, I have just started giving him Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM. 

I am also trying to learn about the sugical option of joint replacements in dogs.(pitfalls, happy stories, etc.) Experience people have had personally would be most beneficial. My dog is 1y 2mo old and weighs 82 lbs. Anyone that sees him says he is thin.

Included is a pic of Duke's films. I appreciate any insight that can be thrown my way on this while my fiance and I try to get through this hard time.

Thanks

Duke, I agree that they are not good. I have seen worse, though.

There is a surgical option where essentially the femoral balls are removed, and the end of the tibia beings to move towards the femoral socket. The hips of a dog are bound very much by the muscle mass, and after this type of surgery the muscles hold the "joint" together.

I am not sure whether it is an option for all dogs, and maybe someone else can offer further and/or better advice. I do have some questions though. Why are the femoral balls so far from the sockets? Was the dog heavily anesthaesized and this done on purpose? What does the natural extended view (without anesthaesia) look like?

Regards,

Bob-O

Hello Duke,
Sorry for your situation.  Hope you get some good tips on here.  In the past I have used the suppliments you mentioned above.  I can only share from limited experience so again, I hope some with more experience will help.
The surgical options that I explored were not good.  It was quite intrusive, quite expensive (maybe 2-3 k) and the likley hood that the dog would be without problems the rest of their life were not good.  I talked with 3 vets that were recomended by I believe the OFFA that did these surgeries and none of them seemed to want to give any guarentee of the long range results.

I am giving you the worst of it.  This was just my experience, I ended up not doing anything but my situation was not as critical as yours.  Some things you may want to research on the internet or possibly with the OFFA  would be the best way to keep the dog comfortable.  You are going in the right direction and I want to encourage you to do as you are doing.  Wish I had more hope to offer you.  Good luck

Hi, You may want to look into what this company is doing.  I do not have any personal experience with this stem cell therapy,  but it is cutting edge and getting a lot of attention:

http://www.vet-stem.com/smallanimal/

Good luck with your dog.

Duke,

  Bad hips can and do happen even with properly screened parents and the utmost care in the raising of the puppy.  Keeping the dog lean and swimming him are very good suggestions.  You may also want to research the value of using Ester-C.

Best of luck.

Sorry about your pup.

You might look over at http://www.germanshepherds.com , there are some folks over there with GSDs who have had the different hip sugeries.

Best of luck,
Barb

Duke:  SOrry for the news on your pups hips...I dont reccommend the surgery as I have a good friend who spent close to 4,000. in Houston at the best hospital for hip surgery and had more complications than would have time to tell...The female never actually got over the surgery   , had difficult walking and spinal problem arose,,,dont know why,,,except for the poor hips, may have been from poor nutrition as a baby in womb....who knows....but the dog died about two years after surgery and had gained a tremendous amt of weight because of the length of time to recover...

Vets make no quarantee...I have seen and have knowledge of at least 7 or 8 gsd who had hips xrays worse than yours , and those gsd are running, happy , active with out a sign of any hip problems and from the age of 2-9 years old....the 9  year old has just started a slight limp  and wont stop his eager play or his running a herd of cows....He has dog food with glucsomine and lots of Ester C added and raw meat which gives you a natural vitamim c also....

The few pups with bad hip dysplasia were 9 months to 19 months old ,,so bad and effected them at an early age were put down due to not feasible to do surgery on...by the families owning them....

I would never try the surgery, myself...

My Tiekerhook dog had a  hip replaced at 10 years old, which is when he started showing signs of pain.  It was the best thing I ever did, he was like a puppy, and had more than 4 years left after that.  I remember a malinois at the police Nationals in the mid 90s  who had both hips replaced - that dog did a hold & bark where all 4 legs were on the level of the helpers chest each bark! 

If you go the route of hip replacement it's important to go to a really good bone doc who specializes in hip replacement and can provide testimonials from clients.

There are many more options available these days to manage the disease than even just a couple years ago, and more to come in the near future. 

Keep in mind,  there are no guarantees in any medical treatment, whether the patient is 2 or 4 legged, the best thing you can do is research what's available and them make an informed choice.

I know someone who did replacements on both hips and it was a success.  She is now showing in Utility obedience with the dog.  I, myself did a FHO  (removed the femoral head) on my dog around 8 years ago and she did marvelous too.  She was lighter than your dog, however, but I think I have heard that they are doing that surgery on bigger dogs now.  I continued to train her in obedience (including jumping)  and tracking until she was 11 with no problems.  She had the surgery at age 5.    Like sueincc said, do your homework and really check out the surgeons.  Very important.  I also found that Adequan shots (mega dose of Glucosamine) really helped my girl before the surgery and also on my current mildly dysplastic girl.  I would ask your vet about those.  Also this this a very helpful Yahoo orthopedic list:  http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthodogs/?yguid=204197812

Good luck!!

One thing that I can recommend is Flexi-Cose for Canines.  This has really improved the mobility of my old GSD when she started showing syptoms of DJD when she was 10.  Within a few weeks, she was more active, happier and you could just tell felt a whole lot better with this.  This has been a god-send to me. 

I've also recommended this to other people and have heard good success stories from them too.

Peggy