Hip Dysplasia in Dogs
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive August 2007:
Hip Dysplasia in Dogs
I have a mixed Golden, she is a large dog at almost 90 lbs. She is mixed with another large breed dog, that is why she is so big, she does also carry a few extra pounds but she is not extremely over weight as her weight might indicate. I think she has hip dysplasia although she has not been officially diagnosed. She had x-rays a few years ago because she was limping after play time but it showed nothing.
She is now only 4 years old and the symptoms are getting worse, she has difficulty getting up sometimes after lying down for a long time and difficulty getting up the stairs at night time. She also limps after exercise. I am giving her 500 mg of Glucosamine Hydrochloride that also contains a bunch of other supplements twice daily and have noticed a slight improvement. BTW this was on the advice of our vet.
I'm also trying to increase her daily exercise to a nice long walk with me. I want to take her swimming but she's a big chicken and afraid of the water. What Retriever is afraid of the water?
Just wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with this. I'm so worried as she is only 4 years old and I've been reading on line that treatment is a full hip replacement which I doubt I could convince DH to pay for.
I will talk to my vet again but in the meantime I would love to hear if anyone here has experienced this with their dogs and what they did.
Chai, our Rottie, Sascha, has really bad displaysia in both hips. I am going to ask Scott to read your post and to give some advice. He's a vet tech and has been getting good advice from Sascha's vet, who recently got a special certificate in PT for animals.
Hi. Scott here, posting on my mom's SN.
"she does also carry a few extra pounds but she is not extremely over weight as her weight might indicate."
Any weight over the ideal weight is extra strain on the bones and tendons. You'd do well to cut that excess baggage off your dog. Ask your vet about ration restriction and weight loss diets. My dog was on the pudgy side when her hips started bothering her and she's moving a lot better now that she's not hauling around that saddle bag across her hips.
"I think she has hip dysplasia although she has not been officially diagnosed. She had x-rays a few years ago because she was limping after play time but it showed nothing. "
Hip dysplasia is degeneration of the hip joint. It is progressive, and in many cases can be diagnosed by X-ray in younger animals. However, it does not always appear in younger animals, so a new series of rads may be in order.
Other disorders may cause the clinical signs you describe, such as tendon or ligament injury. These will not show up as clearly on X-ray, and certainly wouldn't be on the old set of rads.
Bottom line: talk to your vet about a diagnosis here.
"I am giving her 500 mg of Glucosamine Hcl..."
Glucosamine is useful for fortifying the cartilage layer between bones. MSM and chondroitin have also shown some clinical application in this area. However, cartilage repair is very slow, much slower than bone repair, since cartilaginous tissue is largely avascular. Improvement will be slow, but it will eventually be clinically observable. No harm in continuing this Tx.
If the vet agrees that this condition is chronic and/or degenerative, you may want to discuss pain meds. Rimadyl (carprofen) is a very popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and is a very effective analgesic, BUT it is contraindicated in dogs with kidney or liver problems or a known sensitivity to COX-2 inhibitors. Any dog starting Rimadyl should be observed closely for the first two weeks of Tx for any change in behavior, vomiting, diarrhea, adipsia, aphagia, any other sign of sudden onset of illness. The vet may recommend follow-up blood tests in older dogs. SOME DOGS do not tolerate Rimadyl and will go rapidly downhill upon starting the drug. If you suspect that a dog isn't doing well on Rimadyl, discontinue dosage and contact a vet TOP STAT.
My dog does not tolerate Rimadyl. She stopped drinking almost immediately after starting it. The drug was discontinued and she resumed drinking. Follow-up blood tests indicated no lasting damage (fortunately). Right now she's on another drug that seems to be working well for her.
"I'm also trying to increase her daily exercise to a nice long walk with me. I want to take her swimming but she's a big chicken and afraid of the water. What Retriever is afraid of the water?"
Increased exercise may exacerbate the condition. Water exercise is actually pretty good for building up the muscles around the hip and femur in a reduced-weight environment, BUT good luck getting your dog to go along with that if she doesn't like swimming.
There are some exercises that will help. An ortho or PT rehab specialist can help you with this.
"Just wondering if anyone has any advice or experience with this. I'm so worried as she is only 4 years old and I've been reading on line that treatment is a full hip replacement..."
A total hip prosthetic is the end-line treatment, but it may be possible to support the Dz without invasive and expensive surgery. The first thing you need here is a definitive diagnosis, preferably with an ortho specialist.
</scott>
I would agree with not doing long walks, as it would probably cause the dog more pain.
Scott, thank you so much for all the wonderful input. I will make an appointment with the vet next week and report back.
My reason for the increased exercise is of course to get rid of the excess weight, it kind of feels like a catch 22. Too much exercise more problems; not enough no weight loss with potential weight gain. We may take off to the cottage in a few weeks so I'll try to get her into the lake, hopefully I can get her to love swimming as we have a quarry near by and I could take her almost daily. I will also talk to the vet about a change in diet.
I took her for a half hour walk today, she's resting now, I'll keep an eye on the limping - there is none so far. I'm so hoping that this not hip dysplasia and just something else that is easier to treat.
Thanks again!
Chai, on the vet's advice, Scott is feeding Sascha Purina Canine OM (which is expensive and only available through vets - Scott tells me it is a prescription diet food). She gets approximately 2 cups twice a day, with a small amount - about 1/4 cup - of canned dog food in each meal. Over about 3 months, she went from nearly 115 pounds to 95 pounds. This quantity and type of food seems to meet her needs entirely. She gets very few snacks - one or two small dog biscuits daily, or a couple of pieces of cat kibble - which she loves. She seems to want the attention of being given a snack as much as the snack itself.
I agree strongly with Scott - your dog needs to be seen by a vet who is experienced in orthopedic problems. You can't know what to do (and not to do) until you have a good diagnosis.
As for the Rimadyl, it is a wonderful medication for dogs who can tolerate it. For the 4 days Sascha was on it, she was moving like a puppy. But about 20% of dogs do have bad and often fatal reactions, even dogs whose pre-prescription blood tests don't show any liver or kidney problems. And any respectable vet will do blood tests before prescribing any serious pain medication for your dog, and will require follow up blood tests, usually within 2 weeks to a month after you begin the medication, and then every 3 months to be sure no damage is being done.
Rimadyl is sort of the Vioxx of dog medication - when it works it works really well, and when it does harm it does serious harm very swiftly. I'm really glad we saw within two days that Sascha wasn't drinking. We were able to get fluid into her by practically drowning her kibble in water and did that for two more days, but when she continued to not drink from her water dish Scott called the vet and stopped the medication - and we are both very grateful.
When your dog gets the weight off, you can think again about exercise, but your vet should advise you on what kinds of exercise. Scott does PT with Sascha 2 or 3 times a day, involving stretching and bending her hind legs to keep the joints/ligaments supple. (She had to have surgery when the anterior cruciate ligaments in both of her hind legs tore, one of the risks for a dog with serious hip problems.) He also, on the advice of the PT vet, set up a small exercise area for her so that she walks over raised planks and has to lift up her hind legs to get over them, and she goes through that 2-3 times a day. But remember - this is post surgery, under vet supervision, after losing weight, and on pain meds. Please don't start anything for your dog without professional advice.
My parents' German Shepard had hip dysplasia, and had surgery as a puppy to cut a tendon, which relieved all of his hip troubles. I know it's common in certain breeds, and while I'm not sure if the surgery Bandit had done is common, he was like a different dog afterwards. Good luck!!
Our fourteen year old Brittany Spaniel developed degenerative hip dysplasia, that was diagnosed by xray last year. He was in a great deal of discomfort. He had trouble getting up, and stairs would really present a challenge for him. He couldn't play Frisbee anymore, which he loved. (DH says he is "retired". LOL!)
Our vet put him on Rimadyl, which helped a lot. She followed him closely with blood tests for liver and kidney function. However, I know that it isn't that great for them long term, so I did some research of my own. I buy all of my pet food and supplies from the Foster & Smith catalog. They are vets who formulate their own food, and also have a dispensing, mail order pharmacy. I was especially glad that I buy their specialized food when all the tragedy happened with the food additives from overseas in commercial dog food. Their web site is very informative.
They make a product called "Joint Care 3". It is glucosomine, chondroitin, MSM, and other things. It is a chewable tablet that he loves. It costs about the same as Rimadyl, but what a difference it has made! He hasn't had Riamdyl since last winter. He can go for short walks again, and will play Frisbee on a limited basis, with no jumping involved. He is like a pup again. I can't say enough about this product. I have told the comapny how impressed I am.
I saw my orthopedist yesterday for the ongoing problem with my own poor arthritic knees. Knee replacements are definitely in my future. I told him that I wish that I could respond to something as well as old "Howdy" has done. 
Well we just got home from the vet. She does not think it's Hip Dysplasia which is a relief. She thinks that it's a knee problem, could be liagment. She is going to contact our old vet to talk about the previous x-rays and we will also make an appointment at an ortho specialist after reviewing the x-rays.
We are also going to try Deramaxx for 2 weeks to see if there is any improvement, she's not sure if there is any arthritis in the joint or not.
Silly dog has been limping all week, today we go to the vet - no limping. We get home and she jumps out of the car - limping!
We are also going to work really hard on getting her weight down so a little more exercise and a lighter food. If the weight doesn't come off the vet recommended testing for Hypothroidism. She is thinking hypothyroidism as my dog only eats 3 cups of food per day, which the vet said was not a lot.
Anyway just wanted to post an update.
And that is why you go to the vet for a real diagnosis. Do watch how she reacts to the Deramaxx and report any changes to your vet. I don't know anything about it but I do know that some dogs have reactions to some meds that most dogs tolerate well, so I've gotten very cautious about the first couple of weeks of a new med.
Your vet may have a point about the hypothroidism. It's a simple blood test (for people, at least) and shouldn't be expensive.
Sounds like your vet is being very thorough and considering all possibilities and options. Sure hope it is not a ligament issue because that is almost always surgery.
My vet is awesome, I love her.
She estimated surgery at $2200 and the initial appointment somewhere around $68 plus x-rays if necessary. My dog is only 4 so we will consider surgery. Ligament surgery sounds less invasive than hip replacement although I'm not sure of this as we did not talk about details, one step at a time. She also said if it is what she thinks it is the surgery is very successful in most cases so this is encouraging.
Thanks Ginny for all your support. Funny how our animals become so much apart of our families.
If it is a torn anterior cruciate ligament, surgery is almost definitely in the cards. We paid $2800 for one leg for Sascha, and $3,000 for the other. It must be done by an orthopedic specialist. They repair the torn ligament and run a nylon line down the leg to support it. It takes a while to recover - that is, stop hurting enough so that your dog is willing to walk further than the food and water dish. We were very lucky, both that Scott is a vet tech and knows a lot about this stuff, and that one of the vets at our regular practice was working on her practicum to become certified in animal PT, and used Sascha for part of her practicum, so we got the PT at no cost. Scott does the bending and stretching exercises for her 2-3 times a day (about 18 months after the last surgery), and has a special walk set up for her in our back driveway - boards that started one block from the ground and are now 4 blocks from the ground, to encourage her to pick up her hind feet as she walks. She does, of course, have really bad hips, and that doesn't help. If it's not hips for your dog, you can probably look forward to a full recovery and have your play buddy back. But do work on the weight loss - it will make her recovery much easier if she has less weight to carry around.
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