scat35 Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 Hi,was hoping for some feedback on anyones experience with having a dog with hip dysplasia.I have a 8 month old flatcoat retriever who has just been diagnosed with this today while we were getting him desexed.We are going to put him onto medication to help prevent the oncoming arithitis and will get surgery done later so he doesnt suffer with arthitis too much, what i want to know is has anyone else got or had a dog with this condition and did the dog still have a good long life,as we love our puppy greatly.Any help would be greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusky Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 (edited) there have been lots of posts about this condition. I did a search for you and hope this works Hip dyslpaysia threads My old girl has had dysplasia all her life and it looked pretty bad. I reduced her protein intake, then gave chicken not beef. I took her swimming every day, I kept her lean and well excercised as she got older and I found some use for vitamin C. I have no idea if that did any good but I read about it and so tried it. She has done well and has not had surgery. If you have a bilateral hip dysplaysia you must understand that the operations on both hips will need to be repeated maybe 3 times in the dogs life. Get your dog as healthy and well as it can be and hold off on the surgery for a while. Also get more than one opinion, where is your vet? which suburb? sorry edited to add I give her glucosamine now, she has one, I have one... we pill pop together. :D Edited February 1, 2006 by Rusky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scat35 Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 Thanks for your help rusky,what breed is your dog and how old is she?Also i went to a vet who i have had many good dealings with over the years with both cats and dogs in Rockingham.As far as major surgery goes money wise right now i just cant do it as the figure for fixing the hip would cost between $2000-$3000 and have to be done by a specialist in murdoch,but the vet said that later they can cut off the top part of the bone to stop it rubbing on the hip joint and eliminate alot of potential arthritis pain later in his life and it would cost under $1000 for this,but will also look into getting him arthritis injections in the near future or as soon as he needs them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavsRcute Posted February 1, 2006 Share Posted February 1, 2006 I have a small breed dog who was diagnosed last July when she was 2. Every day she has liquid glucosamine and chondroitin, as this is supposed to be more readily absorbed, fish oil capsule, kept lean as possible and swimming. She also has a series of Cartrophen every 6 months and also acpuncture every 2-3 weeks. On top of this we do exercises every day, as her trigger points were very tight. i don't know which treatment is working but something is as she no longer bum wobbles or buuny hops as much. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scat35 Posted February 1, 2006 Author Share Posted February 1, 2006 Do You guys know if these dogs with hp still can lead long lifes or will they be old before their time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Why did they xray the hips when the dog was being desexed? Did you suspect that something was wrong and ask them to do it? Does the vet specialise in HD and its treatment? Have you had the xrays scored? If you have what were the scores? A lot of dogs get through life very well without an operation, don't rush into anything. I had a dog with HD who lived until he was 13, he had to be on medication in his later years but otherwise he had a long and happy life. He was not pts because of his HD, he died of a totally unrelated condition. Don't worry too much, there are lots of alternatives to surgery these days, it's early days yet :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 (edited) Oh No Scat 35 - i know exactly what you are going through. OUr 10 mth old puppy is currently caged at home after several surgeries to get over hip dysplasia. Its such a hard decision to work out what to do. Mallee was diagonised with Elbow Dysplasia at 4 mths which was operated on with great sucess and at 6 mths diagonised with hip dysplasia ( there are several post about her on here) We opted to have surgery, although it did not quite go to plan - she had a TPO done in November, which we believed would be the best option for her, and still believe today if all went well with her believe that she would have benefited greatly from this surgery. Unfortunately for Mallee there was too much damage done to her pelvis and a week after that surgery her pelvis collasped and she had to have an emergency femoral neck and head excision done. My advice would be to speak to your vets and surgeons about all options available, any type of surgery you have done will require a lot of after care The op you seem to be talking about is the one Mallee had done last, the femoral neck and head excision (she had a bilateral - both sides done). Mallee has been in a cage for the last three months, can only be walked with a sling, all toliet breaks are done with me and my husband together, one on the lead one on the sling. I will attach a xray of her after the FNHE so you can see what they do. Get as much info as you can on your options, and think hard about what you want to do. Don't get me wrong as much as our pup has been through she is still so happy, and is always amazing us with her character and personality and there seems to be no stopping her. She can now walk without the sling, but not for long as she has no muscle tone what so ever in her back legs. I would suggest to you to get your guy onto glucosomine (spl) as soon as you can, and swimming should also help. Please feel free to PM me if you want to talk about it more. Let me know what you decide to do. As for your question about them getting old before their time, that was how we first picked up on Mallee's condition - she would sit and get up like my parents old 16yo dog, and would not tolerate exercise of any sort. Good luck with your pup. Take care Edited February 2, 2006 by malleerr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavsRcute Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 (edited) My girl is going really well and I hope that she has a long and happy life :D If I find that she pulls up a bit stiff after being a loony, I will take her for acupuncture and she's fine.Surgery may be an option in the future but I'm not rushing into anything while she's OK. I would definitley go and get a second opinion, with a specialist. If you are in Sydney, I can recommend someone. Cheers Ooops...just seen that you're in Perth Edited February 2, 2006 by CavsRcute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scat35 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 Ok,Thanks again guys as you may have guessed by now all this stuff about hd is new to me and am trying to take a crash course in it :D For your question Miranda,yes we did suspect something was wrong with his leg and so we got the vet to check it out while he was getting desexed,as for the hip scoring test i dont believe we got a score or anything like that but the vet showed us the x-ray of his hips yesterday when we went to pick him up and made it quite clear to us that this was a severe case.We noticed earlier that when we walked he had a wobble and a flick to one of his legs and we thought at the time maybe something was wrong with his knee.Ok malleerr am glad to hear that im not alone as my wife cried when she found out yesterday,the vet explained to us that we can have specialist surgery done but it needs to be done within 4-6 weeks before he gets too old and unfortunatly even as much as we love him i cannot raise that kind of money in that time frame but will be able to manage it with medication and stuff and look at my options further down the track,the main thing that is scaring us is that we will lose our boy before his time and he will suffer greatly but with all you guys helping things dont seem quite as devastating as it was yesterday Thank You :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hey Scat - i believe there are plenty of options available for you so don't give up - give your wife a :D and let her know that things can be worked out. Is it the Femoral Neck and Head excision that your surgeon suggested to you. When we had it done we are so afraid that Mallee would never walk again, esp when we collected her after her 3 weeks in hospital, she looked so bad and we wondered what have we done to her. But now three months on, although not fully recovered as i said there seems to be no stopping her, i think the biggest thing now that will assist her is building up those hind leg muscles. She may never walk the same again, may not (probably) wont be able to do the things a normal dog can do, but as long as she is free of pain, comfortable and happy thats all we could hope for, cos the thought of her being in pain all the time and on medication for life was a really hard thing to get our heads around. I believe what ever decision you make will be the right one by you guys, you know what you can and can't do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 For your question Miranda,yes we did suspect something was wrong with his leg and so we got the vet to check it out while he was getting desexed,as for the hip scoring test i dont believe we got a score or anything like that but the vet showed us the x-ray of his hips yesterday when we went to pick him up and made it quite clear to us that this was a severe case. Hi Scat, Please don't think that I'm questioning the competence of your vet or anything like that, but if he isn't an experienced HD vet ie. does a lot of xrays for scoring purposes, is fully conversant with all the latest treatment options etc. then I highly recommend that you take the dog to a vet who is a specialist in this field. Also regarding the surgery, my friend has a dog with extremely severe HD (the actual 'balls' of the hip are tiny and 80% out of their sockets) and she was told by the local vet that surgery or euthanasia were the only options open to her. That was two years ago and she hasn't had the surgery done and is now entering the dog in obedience trials. The dog is being treated with acupuncture, cartrophen injections and Sasha's Blend and she keeps her fit, well muscled (helps to keep the joints in place) and lean. I saw the dog last month and she can run and play just like a dog with normal hips, the only strange thing about her is that her hocks wobble when she moves. I suggest that you do as much research as you can about the disease so that you can make an informed decision, at the very least I would seek a second opinion, everything may not be quite as bad as you think :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Scat murdoch certainly isnt the only option i dare say your vet works in with them but you have other choices there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scat35 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 You guys have given me plenty to think on,as for your question Miranda er im not sure,i do know they said they put plates into his hips?Like i said before this is all new to me and we only found out 24hrs ago. Would like to know more about treatments people are using like sashas stuff and any other kind of medication i can buy over the counter,also with acupuncture how do you go about that and where would you go also the cost of this stuff. Once again thanks for your help as the infomation you are providing is proving invaluable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Scat I am in Melbourne so I can't really help you with vets, acupuncturists etc. Are there any Perth DOLers who can help Scat with this sort of information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Hi Scat, Another thing you can try besides Sascha's Blend is Cosequin, you can get it at most good petshops like Petstock etc, or at your vets, its got glucosamine, i think calcium etc in it ( i can't remember all the ingredients) but is made for joints. It can cost a bit i think maybe around $70-$100 mark for a bottle of caps (i brought some awhile ago so can't remember exact amt) - get the capsule form not the powder like we did as its too hard to measure! The op you were talking with the plates would be a TPO i think - thats what Mallee had done first - they cut the pelvis in three places to change the angle of the pelvis and then plate and screw it back together. It can only be done on pups under the age of 12 mths with no arthritic changes. You are probably feeling a bit overloaded with info at the moment. But let us know how it all goes. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 George Huber in Midvale does acupunture & high up with the greyhound world,i now its far away but well worth a visit. There are over vets that can do the surgery themselves not just murdoch,dont rush in . Have you contacted the breeder??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scat35 Posted February 2, 2006 Author Share Posted February 2, 2006 Have contacted the breeder via email but they dont seem to be in a rush to respond as they assured my wife when she went to buy the pup that they had bred out hd and have done all kinds of med checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracey* Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Our miniature poodle was diagnosed at 6 months with HD and brain ataxia, which causes her to wobble all over the place sometimes. She's too small for surgery, so we're keeping an eye on her diet (to keep her lean and healthy) and she has liquid glucousamine (flexicose) every night with her dinner. She's happy and as jumpy as ever though still bunny hopping and kris-krossing around link We did see a few specialists for different opinions - at first we were told that she would need surgery, and then told she was too small for surgery, and also that glucosamine and diet would be OK for her. Anyway, there's so many people here with great advice, good luck to you xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimjm Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Hi I would get your dog on to some glucosamine and start a swimming programe or physio programe if you are able to get to a animal physio. With the swimming the water will provide low impact strengthening exercise helping to strengthen the muscles around the hip to provide support, you do not want these muscles to waste and if he is lame this will occur. http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dogsinmotion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 So you where never given a copy of the hip/elbow results with your puppy pack or showen that both parents where tested?? A breeder that tells you they have bred out HD is very misleading. Are they registered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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