Hip Dysplasia

[sparkycat]

Hi all - I feel I need some advice about our wolfie x BC (well thats the vets guess) She is now 6 years old and we have had her since she was 18months. Early last year she started being unable to jump into the back of the car and limped occasionally. Xrays showed severe hip dysplasia and she underwent an FHO on the worst hip.

She has always been a bit unpredicable in temperament and has shown occasional aggression to other dogs and doesn't like her back legs being handled. She has snapped at people a couple of times. My vet said that she would have been in considerable pain for some time and was protecting her rear end. The first vet I took her to said she was snappy because of the BC in her.

She is now on pain killers and carprofen but our problem is that if the other hip is operated on will the aggression disappear or is it inbedded with her now. We can only take her for very short walks with minimum running. I really do not believe in keeping an animal alive if it is in pain and has a low quality of life. Our vet is leaning towards PTS and I am really confused as to what to do. She is a great dog and we love her dearly but.............

has anyone else had experience with aggression and pain ?

[Monah]

Oh what a shame. I have a dog with severe HD, in fact the leg is not even in the joint. This dog is an angel, just gorgeous, never ever shown any aggression at all. My other HEALTHY dog however can be a bit unfriendly with other dogs.

I'm guessing yes the dog has been in pain, but also the aggression could have many reasons. I would not expect the pain relief to get rid of aggression but I'm certainlly no expert. Maybe she was touched in her behind once and felt severe pain, and it has stayed in her subconcious, I have seen this with my viz when she burnt her nose on the dashboard and has never (4 yrs!) gone in the front again and is terrified of touching the dash. I'm sure she does not remember why she is frightened, only that she is.

I cant tell you how much pain your dog is in. Ours copes really well and we manage with short walks, swimming and previcox. No op. but maybe later when she is old.

I would see a specialist before making any sort of decision. we see an orthapedic surgeon once a year.

Very sad, hope it all works out.xxxxxxxx

[darlingdog]

Hi all - I feel I need some advice about our wolfie x BC (well thats the vets guess) She is now 6 years old and we have had her since she was 18months. Early last year she started being unable to jump into the back of the car and limped occasionally. Xrays showed severe hip dysplasia and she underwent an FHO on the worst hip.

She has always been a bit unpredicable in temperament and has shown occasional aggression to other dogs and doesn't like her back legs being handled. She has snapped at people a couple of times. My vet said that she would have been in considerable pain for some time and was protecting her rear end. The first vet I took her to said she was snappy because of the BC in her.

She is now on pain killers and carprofen but our problem is that if the other hip is operated on will the aggression disappear or is it inbedded with her now. We can only take her for very short walks with minimum running. I really do not believe in keeping an animal alive if it is in pain and has a low quality of life. Our vet is leaning towards PTS and I am really confused as to what to do. She is a great dog and we love her dearly but.............

has anyone else had experience with aggression and pain ?

I am so sorry to hear about your dog. My german shepherd bitch ( she was a rescue) had hip dysplasia and at aprox. 4 years of age she had a femur head removal. Her other hip was also very bad but she was not able to support all her weight on the already treated leg in order to recover from a second operation so we kept her on Metacam ( daily )and carprofen ( monthly) for the next 6 years. She was still able to run in the first few years after and all in all had a very good quality of life until we lost her last year at 10 years after she was diagnosed with a neurological disorder. She was a very protective dog but I can say that she never showed any aggression connected with her hip pain. I hope you can work out an acceptable solution to your situation and wish you all the best. It's a terrible situation to be in and you must do what is best for yourself and your dog, it's not a one size fits all kind of situation. I am surprised your vet is leaning towards PTS already, I must say I had a very supportive vet for all those years so perhaps another opinion is warranted ??

[toughgirl27]

Hi Sparky25,

I'm really upset to hear about your dog. Hip Displaysia is a terrible disease that can occur in most breeds of dog.

I'm not really sure what you can do about the aggression. I think it is probably because she is in so much pain

in her back end and touching her there is aggravating it. Therefore she is trying to make you stop.

My 3yo Samoyed has mild HD but he has never lashed out when anyone touched his back end. Even the vet.

He is a very docile dog by nature but I can tell you if I am grooming him and I hurt him trying to get a knot

out of his coat, he will try to bite me and growls. I have never seen any aggression in him in any other situation.

I have told him off for his attempts to bite me and growling. But he has done it once or twice since while being brushed.

I suppose the point I'm making here is any dog that is in severe physical pain will bite.

I hope you can work something out. It is a bad situation. I wish you well and good luck with everything.

These guy's have offered some good suggestions that will help your girl feel a bit better, and improve her

quality of life.

Cheers,

XXtoughgirlXxxx

[Nekhbet]

I would be looking at holistic therapies, long term pain medications do nothing but allow the dog to damage the joints further and then you just keep upping the dose until they cannot walk any more. She sounds like she's been in pain for a very long time, but her unpredictability should subside with management and pain relief. Also make sure she has an escape route, sick dogs dont always want to join in or be handled so be understanding to that.

start giving her the Ethical Nutrients high strength fish oil, a capful a day with food. Remove all coloured, flavoured and junky type foods as well and if she's a bit over weight then strip it down to the bare minimum. Also walks through water/sand and low impact muscle building exercise are much better then walks and runs. Acupuncture, massage and chiropractic are very beneficial, all my dogs have benefitted from it and it saved my rottweilers life. He looks terrible but he has majority function and no pain killers at all.

[sas]

So sorry to hear this. It's a tricky situation. You can understand a dog being aggression if in pain, however I guess you have to try and figure out if the dog is acting aggressively because it is in pain.

I've had a dog with severe Hip & Elbow Displ. but was not aggressive, he just didn't have that it in his DNA if you know what I mean.

Can you dose the dog on a good amount of painkillers under the Vets supervission and then see if the agro disapears?

[sparkycat]

Thanks for all the replies -it helps just to talk about it.

Yes she is still aggressive and unpredicable when on high levels of pain killers.

We have already had one incident when she lashed out at another dog for no reason and I felt dreadful and I of course paid the vet bill for the puncture wounds on the other dog.

My real concern is that she is a big dog and may one day really injure another or even a person and then I would never forgive myself.

The vet has also suggested a opiate based pain killer but that also causes other problems.

[Crazy Daisy]

I'm sorry your having problems with your girl. I had a Shepherd x Kelpie who broke his back when he was about six months old and the lower half of his spine fused. He ended up with bad arthritis from about 4 and was on lots of pain killers. In the end he would even growl if you walked near him as he was in so much pain and wouldn't play with our other dog or chase a ball. One day he didn't want to go for a walk and I had to make the tough decision that at only 6 he had had enough.

I know exactly what your going through. Big hugs from me as I know sometimes you wish they could just tell you when they've had enough.