chiara

Hi yes I would definitely like to keep a blog... not sure how to do that here do you know? He didn't check mobility or flexibility... not sure why. But it's clear that there's no way around the hip replacement so we're going ahead on the right hip first, if they have a suitable size implant in stock he said we can have it done as soon as next week if they don't it can be 3 to 4 weeks as the implant has to be brought in from overseas. It's definitely been great to have this forum to talk about this issue, I was very surprised with the great interest and all the help we have received. So thank you all and I will keep on posting about hip replacement surgery and recovery and hopefully it can be of help to others.

Last night I got a phone call from Dr Moses, he had a look at Hugo's xrays and said he was happy with those pics and didn't need do do anymore. He also said that the HD was very severe and that the only surgical option is hip replacement and referred his colleague Dr Corfield as he is more experienced with hip replacements. So this morning dear husband poor pup and I went to see Dr Corfield, he was very nice and explained things very well, he answered all our questions and got licked to death by Hugo who seemed to think the poor man was an ice cream! Conclusion: Hugo is a good candidate for hip replacement, one at the time would be best so the worst hip will get done first. The recovery is approx 3 months and after that it's expected full recovery and normal life and no arthritis in old age either. Cost $6000 per leg.

Sending you both lots of positive thoughts! Definitely wait for the results and don't beat yourself up about not noticing! it's not your fault!

MissLotus, I would definitely shop around and get insurance, as long as your pup has not been seen by a vet and you have not been told about HD by a vet then it's not considered a pre-existing condition, insurance is tricky that's why we didn't readily get it for Hugo but from what you've been mentioning I would get the insurance and when the waiting period is over go and get the x rays. Sometimes a vet can tell you if your dog has HD by looking at them and how they walk I would recommend a holistic vet they are the ones most hands on. Hugo's xray were $400, they took 4 pictures and sedation for Hugo (how in the world they managed to do xrays on a 50 kg rottie without putting him under I will never know!!!) however now he has to be seen by a surgeon who wants to do MORE xrays and an assessment which means he has to put Hugo under, this will be another $700. There are videos on you tube featuring dogs with HD they show them walking and explain what to look for. Well I used to think Hugo was plain lazy... He would stand at the bottom of the stairs, even if I had a yummy treat he would just look at me and think about it for a minute then he would get up. When he's laying down if he can get away with it he will just lift his upper body, like if there's a noise or something he will only get up if he really has to, when he does he will use his front paws to give him the lift. Something interesting our vet mentioned before he had x rays done was that she knew the hips were bothering him because there was heat emanating from the area... I thought she had lost the plot and I was ready to get out of there but sure enough she showed me and when you know where to put your hands it's true he was so hot on his hips! I was totally shocked. Nebhbet, I think Diesel and Hugo are related! they look so much alike it's scary. Sound like poor Diesel had a rough start in life, it's good to see he's been taken care by someone who knows their stuff. Hugo always had a shiny coat... I can't take credit for that one! wow I'm not sure what all those meds are but I will ask the vet, Hugo is on Carprofen which we will switch to Inflavonoid soon and he has anti-inflammatory powder he also takes fish oil liquid which is something I did from when he was a pup because I read that it's good for them. I don't think he's gangly he looks very good and considering his issues I would give myself a pat on the back if I was you! Monah, I am seeing Dr Moses at the VSS, it's convenient location wise. I will definitely consider both options, from looking at the x rays I would think his left hip can be managed conservatively but the right one is no where near what it should be. I have heard about this growth related issues, lots of people have mentioned that the dogs look really bad on x rays but they do well without surgery... definitely something to think about. The prices people have been mentioning are really different... I'm so curious to see what the surgeon will say tomorrow... About diet I don't want to go off course here but the vet mentioned raw feeding will help his condition. Has anyone heard this before and what's your opinions on this take? He currently gets fed twice a day one meal is small usually some yogurt and a few kibble biscuits and one cooked meal, meat/chicken/fish/turkey and veggies with kibble. He has puppy milk every other day and a raw bone a day.

Hi, Actually funny you ask, we took him to the vet in June and she said he probably injured his cruciate ligament, she never mentioned HD! We had never considered insurance before but oh boy what a wake up call this was GET INSURANCE! so we did, but although HD was not mentioned I think it might be a fight to get anything out of them so I'm leaving that to the husband. Signs of HD are a little tricky hence the vet thought it was a cruciate ligament injury the best tale tale sign would be lack of muscle tone in the back, Hugo looked like he had chicken legs there for a while but we are working on that! Also if they become "lazy", HD appears when they are growing and gets worse during growth spurs as Nekhbet mentioned so if the dog becomes less willing to play and unwilling do stairs, I found Hugo would sleep a lot, and always laying down on his better hip, he also would take ages to get up from a laying down position and look out for the pops, when they get up the hip bones will make a pop noise. You can also tell by looking at his walk, if the dog wiggles... sorry it's hard to describe but Hugo would walk that way and his back legs would look tense, like he was unable to bend them. It's all symptoms I've encountered and read about, but every dog is different some have high pain thresholds others less and the symptoms change, if you suspect your dog might have HD the first thing is do Xrays that way you'll be sure, do it early as it's more manageable if they have not reached the point where they are in pain and loosing muscle tone. I don't know how much the surgery is fingers crossed not too much I will let you all know, I've had a hard time finding that info online. And follow your instinct I had a feeling it wasn't a cruciate issue and I was right so take your pet to a trusted vet or keep getting opinions, we took Hugo to 6 different vets finally we found a good one!

Thanks guys, It is a very worrying time, I'm actually looking forward to talking to the surgeon al least then I will have my options and we can start on making some decisions towards making our little boy better! Wow Nekhbet what a beautiful boy you have he looks heaps like Hugo! it's good to hear that there is hope even without surgery, I would definitely consider alternative treatments he's already started acupuncture and he's doing better they also gave me different tablets which should be kinder on his stomach. Good lord $20.000 were they planning on operating with gold plated instruments!! I Weight him yesterday and he's 45.6, he lost a couple of kg as he's now doing less exercise he's eating less, I don't think he can loose more... he's really tall and he's got muscle on the front because he puts all his weight on the front paws, he was quite skinny on the back legs I guess lack of muscle tone however I've noticed that improving now. We took him to swim!!! hilarious he was a fish er dog out of water!!!! Here is Hugo on Monday... You think he's a good weight?? Sorry it's not the best of pics Mokhahouse thank you for the suggestion I will start a list, I'm really bad with things like that!

Thank you for sharing poor Mokha both ED and HD, I hope he's doing well after surgery. I'm not even going to touch on insurance... it's all very confusing. Hugo is quite 'lazy' I'm sure his condition has something to do with it but he's not very active and he's quite happy sleeping all day and night, he's been on exercise restriction for two weeks and he's doing better. I'm really looking forward to talking with the surgeon I have so many questions!! Did you get any pics of the mud roll?

I have a rottie and we got the biggest doggie door we could find got it installed tried in vain to teach him to use it, treats toys, holding the doggie door up for him, leaving him there for a while to figure things out... didn't work, he's one yrs old now and I open the door for him, I've given up on the doggie door.

I have to agree with Harlosmummy I think he might like the feel of grass under the paws, that might be why the goes on the carpet, Hugo was toilet trained quickly however I would take him out in the yard every couple of hours. Now he will only go on grass, we have concrete areas in the yard but he's never done any business there, even if it's raining he will stick his front paws out on the grass and keep half his body on the covered area and he will "aim" for the grass... it's quite the spectacle! Maybe try to restrict his access to carpet areas, for the balcony have a look at that fake grass product in pet stores. I think 2 or 3 times a day is not enough for a pup Hugo used to go way more than that, but maybe it depends on the dog?!

Hi congrats on the new addition to the family! I have a one year old rottie boy, when he was a pup I used to take him to work with me or drop him off to my mum's for her to look after him while I was at work, either way it was a good 40 min drive each way. I used to have him in a crate at first... he would cry his little heart out the whole way there and back! then I got him a dog travel seat cover, the ones you put in the back seat and it goes from one side to the other like a hammock, he liked that better, he didn't cry but he would throw up every time!! nice way to start the day! Anyway my point is he is now one and he loves the car, he can seat in the back in the from or in the boot of our 4wd, he loves the window down and he barks at the motorcycles. Try to open a window for her so she can see and smell the outside world that might entertain her and she might stop crying, if she's scared crying put her in the car with some toys without going anywhere a few times to get her used to the environment. Either way I'm confident she will get over it as she grows up, my pup did he stopped crying and throwing up in the car when he got big enough to see out the window! Good luck!

Hi Nicole, Thank you for the support! it's been a big learning curve trying to read as much as possible about HD. We are going to see a specialist in a few days provided I can make an appointment. And tomorrow we are going back to the general vet to check on his progress with the medications he's been taking. I think he's doing better he doesn't seem in pain and apart from a bit of an awkward walk style he seems OK. The muscles on his back legs are really tight which is a symptom that I've seem mentioned in a few threads. He's been sleeping lots, I've been trying to keep his mind entertained with training and tricks I think he's getting bored but he's a trooper he's being very good on his rest regime. My poor baby... let's hope I don't have to mortgage the house to get him new hips!

Hugo is a rottweiler, he's 50kg and he just turned one yesterday, I will search for dexter thank you. I don't even want to think about ED! He has given no signs of it so I'm praying! Poor Dexter, I hope he's coping, I will read the threads.

Well, finally after finding a good vet we took Hugo to get x rays, it was confirmed he has severe hip dysplasia. His right leg is much worse off than the left. We did the x rays at a holistic vet practice and although they are all for conservative practice the vet said that looking at the x rays at least his right leg will need surgery, so we are off to see a surgeon next week. I've been doing lots of research online but I'm still quite confused, I personally think he will need total hip replacement at least on the right leg. I really would love to hear from people who have experience with HD and perhaps of experiences with surgeries and hip replacements. He's been on anti-inflammatory powder, pain meds and restricted exercise, he's doing a little better now however he's very lethargic he sleeps all day and night, apart from toilet breaks and the odd bone he's not keen on anything.

Hi, Good luck with poor little Ruby's surgery. My little one has just been diagnosed with HD and he will need surgery soon so I'm learning all about post op stuff, if you need help with a vet and physio in Brisbane let us know!

Hi, I've been giving my Rottweiler lamb leg bones since he was 10 weeks old. The bones are not cooked and I get them from a pet butchery where they sell raw diet stuff. Kangaroo tail bones are good too, especially for the baby teeth it helps when they are loose and half falling out. He used to just eat the meat on the outside and a bone would last him for a few days, now 10 months on he disintegrates a bone in a few hours and gets the marrow. The point is if the bone is too big he'll just eat the meat on the outside and play with it for a while, when he's ready he'll break through it, I wouldn't give him the smaller bones, as he is a big breed he might just swallow them... bigger is better! For entertaining during the day I used to cut an old towel into strips (say 20 cm) and tie a knot in the middle or many knots and put a treat in the middle of the knot... cheaper than a Kong toy and kept my pup entertained for ages, just make sure your pup doesn't eat the towel... that can cause blockage in the intestines and that would require an operation that said my pup never ate the towel. Hope this helps:-)

Hi, Your pup is doing very well with holding on all night! I think it's ok to leave pup home in the laundry with the crate door open provided the laundry is a safe place, if he sleeps in the crate he will not want to soil his sleeping place, if he has to go toilet and he's locked in the crate it might be distressing to pup, I would leave the crate open and put down a pee pad... they are absorbent sheets (you can get those at pet stores), we used them when my mum would care for our pup when I was at work and she had an apartment so he would go on his pee pad, somehow he knew that's where he had to go. As bub mentioned I would mat train pup in the living room, the crate is his safe place to get away if things get too exciting so I would leave the crate in the laundry and use a mat in the living room. As for the growling and biting... well for the biting make sure you have lots and lots of biting toys, we would use old towels and make a knot in the middle he would spend hours biting that, when he bites something he's not supposed to say no and give him something he can bite on. Our pup stopped the nibbling once all his baby teeth fell out. Growling at the kids is not good... make sure you snap him out of it, when he growls give him a nudge or a firm no. If he continues you might have to dominate pup... don't know if they've touched on that at training but basically you have to hold pup on the ground belly up till he calms down. We had a problem with our pup where he accepted my husband as leader and would growl at me every time I tried to get him to do something he didn't want, domination worked he's now quite mellow with me. Also desexing helped, after his snip snip his aggression went away and he's now very calm. I hope this helps. Good luck and don't forget to take lots of snaps they grow up so quickly!!!!

Just a quick update... We're off to the vet today, fingers crossed we'll know what's wrong with little Hugo soon! Thank you all for helping me!

Hi sorry for the silly question but what's PM?

Hi! Thank you so much for the post! I am in the logan area, but I can travel anywhere I just want to find a good vet for my pup :-)

Hi all, I hope someone can help me, I have a wonderful 11 months old Rottweiler boy. About 5 weeks ago we took him to the vet for a check up. We thought he seemed to be limping on one of his back legs so we asked the vet to check on that. She tried, but she seemed scared and unwilling to wait for our pup to be calm before performing the check which only made him more agitated... needless to say I don't think she was able to perform a full check but at the time I thought she probably knows best, anyway she said it could be whole range of issues from cruciate ligament tear to a muscle spasm and so on, she gave us an antinflamatory powder and an antibiotic, told us to give him rest and light walks. Which we did, he seemed to get better we thought we're out of the woods! then yesterday we were outside in the garden, don't know what happened but pup just started crying and limping, now he's limping worse than ever. I need to take him to a vet problem is we haven't found a good vet yet, so my query is DOES ANYONE KNOW A GOOD VET WHO HAS EXPERIENCE WITH ROTTWEILERS?! willing to travel anywhere in Brisbane! HELP PLS