bad hip needs help - Page 1

I just had a person call me who said he had a female whom he loved very much, who is a pet dog, she has been spayed. He recently did an xray and she has one bad hip. `He wants to get it fixed or replaced but need a reputable place he can get it done at. He lives in california but does not care if it is not close by. any information would be great

there are other alternatives to hip replacement. How bad is it? A bad x-ray does not mean that the dog is actually showing symptoms. For starters, if there are no symptoms I would not do anything yet other than feed a high quality food (www.eaglepack.com), keep her lean and fit, but not overexercise. Big thing is to bring weight down so that you can easily feel ribs, and to increase muscle tone so that the joint is properly supported. Avoid jumping, stop and go motions, any overexercise. Swimming is great exercise. Alternative methods are: - gold implants for pain management if changes in the joint are not too great. - removal of the femur head, see http://www.thepetcenter.com/sur/fhn.html - cutting of one of the muscles so that the joint will be pulled together, my dad's ex girlfriend had this done with her Rottie and that dog lived past 12. A less invasive treatment. - PROLO Therapy, which causes scar tissue to build up around the joint and thus strengthens the joint. Its a series of injections, takes 6 weeks, non-invasive. Its the first step I would recommend. Have seen dogs with positive results. Comes from human medicine.

who does these injection treatments i really need some names of doctors and places that will see the dogs and give all of the choices and ideas to these people

If it is a young dog, then total hip replacement is an option, albeit a very invasive and expensive one. But this is typically done before the dog is fully grown. Another surgery involves splitting one (1) side of the pelvis and then rotating it so the socket covers more of the femoural head. The pelvis is then spliced together with surgical hardware. As D.H. asked-how bad is the hip? To take it further; has degenerative joint disease (arthritis) begun, and progressed to the end that there is pain or the potential for severe pain? A dog can be mildly dysplastic and live a normal life if the dysplasie is merely caused a a shallow hip socket and the ligaments and muscles are relatively tight. That is, provided that arthritis is not causing a pain issue. As was mentioned before, the body weight must be controlled to the end that the dog maintains a normal, slender build. Bob-O

I have heard that this place has clients from all over the USA, some even from out of the country. http://www.vetspecialty.com From everything I have heard, the specialists there are amazing, with unmatched facilities as well.

My oldest GSD right now is 8.5 years young and is going very strong despite a diagnosis of severe hip displaysia in both hips (right worse than left) at 4 or 5 months of age when we suspected a problem. The vet said without surgery she won't make it past a year because the pain will be to much to bear. We decided to not go ahead with surgery but made care not to run her to hard as a pup, lots of stairs, etc. She also did swim therapy to help build muscle without weight bearing exercise such as biking or roadwork. The muscle was important for later on. Recently she has needed some anti-inflammatories, but now is completely off them with only glucosamine and cosequin supplements. She has recently become obsessed with this "Jolly ball" which she cannot put her mouth around and dribbles it around the yard, throws it in the air, into the pool, chases it, tosses it out...it is actually never ending and great fun to watch. Due to this she is left outside most of the day and she exercises herself. At her last vet visit she was in better shape - more muscle and looked healthier - than last years' check up. The reason I am giving you this information is that a hip repair is not the only alternative to this disease. My girl's last x-rays at 2 years old (we stopped because we weren't going to operate) showed so much deteriation, it was a wonder she was still up and walking. Swimming is a major help, if at all possible. We have a pool but also took her to nearby beaches and our rowing club. We decided not to operate because at the time we didn't want to immobilize her and crate rest her as a puppy for 8 months (4 months recovery for each hip which was the recovery time info we were given by our vet) when she should be a dog and have fun. To this day we have no regrets about the decision and she seems to be doing great. As said, other people have done different procedures and are also very happy with it. A lady that I train with just put gold bead implants and the dog is back to jumping 2 weeks later - with clearance from her vet.(although if she has really bad hips, I wouldn't be jumping her.) I would just give all options - operation, injection, or just swim therapy to the owners. It is important that they have all the information and then can decide what is best for them. Good luck. Elizabeth

If the dog is in California, I would recommend UC Davis. I have had a lot of great work done there. 530-752-3037 They will give him a quote on his first visit. Good luck

You didn't say where in California your friend is located or what the dog's status is but here are a couple of contacts that may be useful. The Southern California Veterinary Referral Group is excellent and they have a state of the art facility. They are located in Irvine, Southern California. http://petsurgery.com/services.html If they want to avoid surgery, acupuncture may be helpful or gold bead implants. (Gold bead implants act like permanent acupuncture points.) Dr. Kevin May in San Diego performs this procedure. Your friend should be able to do a Google search for his number. Tizz