Sona (13 months) was looking a bit stiff in her hind legs when trotting. So we have been to the vets today who agreed her gait was off. On exam she reacted to one manipulation in particular. They have put her on a joint supplement and want her back in for X-ray which is booked for Wednesday. She is now allowed 20 min easy walks up to 3 times a day.
From before I even went on a puppy wait list I was learning as much as possible about hip dysplasia. Sonas parents had very good scores and clear elbows and they seemed ok back through her pedigree as well. I was careful with her food & weight (she is 24kg/53lbs & 20 inches). I avoided over exercising and she was not allowed to jump on anything or climb the stairs. I've gone back to crating her when I'm not home and when I let her out this afternoon i noticed her feet scrabbling for purchase on the laminate floor as I tried to keep her excitement in check. So I looked into it and realise laminate is not a great choice for dogs and I feel like I've let her down. My head knows hip dysplasia is not down to a single factor - otherwise we would have less of it - but I still feel it must be down to something I did. I also realise I don't have a definite answer yet but the vets reaction (she will be on supplement for life - get her xrayed sooner rather than later to determine treatment) well it didn't leave me hopeful. .
I'm sorry for the long post but I guess I'm just worried & sad my baby might be in pain and the busy active adult life I envisaged for her is at risk. I'm trying to remember even if the hips are the problem that many dogs with less than great hips lead happy active lives - right?
Hey, stop beating yourself up about laminate. That is not what did this. I know it's tough, but try not to borrow trouble until you get some answers after the xrays. If you are like me and have to be proactive, do a little reading and come to your apt with a list of questions for if the xrays show a problem and also for if they don't. After you have answers, be sure to contact her breeder so that they know what's going on. Sona is precious and you will get her the care she needs no matter the outcome, just try to stay calm until you know for sure what's going on. I'm sorry for your worry, I know it's hard to worry the dog you love so much is in pain and they can't tell you exactly what is wrong.
Please do not blame yourself for this! Whatever may be wrong with your beautiful girl you did not cause it. From your post it sounds as if you were extremely careful and tried to do everything possible to make sure she would be healthy with healthy joints. From where I am sitting it sounds like you are a careful and loving dog mom to your fur baby. Since you won't know anything definite until x-rays are done I think Nolefan is right that you should research possible outcomes and come up with questions for potential scenarios. Be proactive but, please, please, please, do NOT blame yourself! You did not cause this by having laminate floors! Sending good thoughts your way
Please keep us posted.
You ask if hip dysplasia stops dogs from having a long, happy and active life. It certainly didn't stop Pilgrim, though we did have to be a bit careful not to let him overdo it. From time to time, he had to have Cartrophen (Rimadyl) injections, and was on painkillers and supplements for the last six years of his life. He still came swimming, accompanied my son and his friends on hikes and dug rabbits out of holes. If you watched him chasing kangaroos off our place, you would never know about his hips. Sure, he developed arthritis, but I don't believe he missed out on much. He lived until he was nearly 13, when his arthritis and doggie dementia became too much.
Thank you all soo much your responses. After a nights sleep I'm feeling a bit calmer. You are all right I need to wait and see and I'll be prepared for whatever the outcome is. Sona will get the best - I'll make sure of it! Thank you for listening to a crazy panicked dog mom!!! It's good to hear common sense from other!
Pilgrim - thanks for sharing about your boy it's good to hear the good outcomes when you have become obsessed with the negative view.
Sorry to read this. What the others say is correct. You did everything more than right, taking so much care that many people do not do. One thing, is your vet specialised in hip x rays? If the positioning of the hips is not done well (even slightly off) the reading can be incorrect. Many vets are not used to doing hips often and one can see some really bad positioning. Just a thought. Maybe your breeder can help with suggesting a good vet for this.
Thanks rooroch I would not have thought to check that. Regardless of outcome I think it is good to have her hips scored as the more data available to researchers and breeders has to be a good thing - high and low scores.
Thanks Prism - every little bit plays a part. I'm glad I brought her to vet regularly to monitor her weight.
I am so sorry to hear this. Maybe it's just a bit of soft tissue injury and not actual hip dysplasia at this point? I'm crossing my fingers for you. Either way, a good joint supplement isn't going to hurt! I have my boys on Dasuquin beef chews, and they LOVE them. And fish oil will also help with inflammation / joint health. Both of these I started after seeing my 2.5 year old start to be a bit creaky.
Thanks Monkey&Marshall yes I'm looking forward to getting the X-ray done so I have more answers. I'm hoping the supplement will make things a bit easier for her - it looks good it has glucosamine green lipped mussel chondroitin epa and dha. She was already on fish oil although I stopped it a few weeks ago as her tummy was a bit upset so she is back on that again now.
Sounds so familiar. I was hesitant about getting a puppy from my dog's litter as his mom's hips were only rated as fair. I expressed my concern to the breeder, who said this was the third breeding of this pair with no hip problems.
Sure enough, around the age of 14 months, I notice his gait is off. Xrays showed mild to moderate dysplasia with one hip, and mild dysplasia with the other.
We started him on omega 3 and glucosamine/chondroiten. He gets cartrophen injections bi-monthly. He swims in our pool in the summer. He takes classes and has his CD. He is now 4 1/2 years old, between 74-76 pounds, and appears to be managing well with his hips.
Thanks 2tired it is good to hear your boy is doing well. Sona had a good stable anaesthetic and has come around. I have an appointment in a couple of hours to review the X-rays with vet so it will be good to have some answers then.
Praying for Sona and you. We adopted a female Samoyed, that had Hip Dysplasia and the Vet did an FHO surgery on her worst hip and after she recovered she walked pain free.
Thanks karen and to everyone for the kind words and advice.
The outcome is probably as good as could be expected in the circumstances. She had mild dysplasia - right worse than left. They said she will develop arthritis but she is not in pain now and has full range of motion and the joint is not popping in and out or anything like that. I don't need to limit her exercise but she is to be referred for physio to develop her thigh muscles. My goal now will be to keep her lean and athletic and maintaining the stability of the joint. Vet also agreed that there is no harm adding turmeric to her supplement so will be starting that next week.
Again thanks to you all it's nice to have been able to download here when in a panic and upset and have people offer good and calming advice
Wicky;6491482...... I don't need to limit her exercise but she is to be referred for physio to develop her thigh muscles. My goal now will be to keep her lean and athletic and maintaining the stability of the joint....[/QUOTE said:
Ok, I have been thinking and thinking about you all and am just thrilled to see that while this is not a perfect situation your little girl is about as lucky as she can possibly be to live with an owner who is doing such a great job caring for her. Just so happy for you that what you've done up to now is setting her up for the best possible scenario and you will get her the care and continue the diet that has kept her at such a healthy weight so far. Thank heaven this isn't life threatening and she has such great odds for a happy, healthy life with you. Thank you for updating, I really have been hoping so much that it would be a manageable prognosis and good quality of life for her.
That's really good news, all things considered. It's what we did with Pilgrim - keep him moving. Now you can look forward to a long and happy life with your girl.
That's good news. With supplements and correct exercise she should have a great life. I see she goes swimming, that is the best. Well done getting all the necessary information while she is young to enable her to live with this in the best possible way.
Thanks to you all for the support. I managed to get a physio appointment for next week so looking forward to getting her assessed and started on exercises
So many of us sharing the same hip issues around here :frown2:
My puppy Ella similar age was diagnosed when she was 5months, wonder if you could share image of her xray and the advises you get from your vets so that others like for example can be better informed different vets different backgrounds and studies who knows all is good info to make our puppies life as full as possible.
Good to know you have access to phisio vet, me and another member currently stationed in Korea I believe are not so lucky plus we both share a very big problem, language and culture barrier between us and our community (I'm lucky as I have a Portuguese vet instead of Chinese). The communities where we live don't see dogs like we do, they see tend to see them more of an object to have or a live teddy bear that you have at home, it's hard to explain. So we basically rely on other peoples experience and what we can research online.
I have my one thread where I vent out my concerns and also try and share our limited experience, really believe that if other GR owners that live in areas with more resources can share their experiences and given advises that would be of great help to the general GR community.
Pretty sure that your puppy will be fine and have a great happy life, for sure you will appreciate more the time spent with Sona and provide even better care, so not all are bad news.
Anyway a big hug for strength from China/Hong Kong/ Macau from me and Ella the Asian cousin :x
If you want to check what's been happening with us you can follow the below thread link, I try to update any development on Ella's condition, x-Ray, supplements
And I just realized that your Sona is the Sona from the March 2015 puppies, so both Ella and Sona are the same age!
Thanks Karen and Anamcouto for checking in!
Anamcouto it's funny I went went to look for your thread again when Sona was diagnosed as I remembered Ella had some issues from the March 2015 thread and I had seen your thread a number of months before. For some reason I couldn't find it so I need to check properly and catch up on your story.
I need to ask the vet for the X-rays as I would like to send them to her breeder as 'mild' doesn't really tell her much. I also want to look into getting them BVA scored as some of the research papers I've read class mild as '11 to 20 total score: mild changes that may worsen with age, sometimes developing into osteoarthritis'. With the median breed average being 12 there must be many goldens falling into this category. Although the vet said Sona 'would' rather than 'could' develop osteoarthritis. I guess I'm still trying cling onto a 'best' outcome.
We started physio last Friday and it was really interesting and probably grounding for me. He spoke about the future and maybe I should get her used to a car ramp etc. They did a gait analysis which showed her offloading more from her left hind than right hind leg. Funnily when I brought her to the vet initially I thought the left was worse - although X-ray showed showed opposite. Physio though it was odd the vet said not to restrict exercise but for some reason they had not sent him the X-ray. He also felt she was in some discomfort which is hard to hear. Hopefully this is mainly due to offloading onto her front legs causing her muscles to be really tense. He showed me how to massage her and gave a series of exercises. Mostly these are focused on moving her centre of gravity back towards her hind legs or stretching muscles (getting her to eat from a raised bowl with her feet on a step so she only lowers her head / standing on a step get her to reach off to the side for a treat). I also need to get her to walk over a series of poles which (I think) forces her to extend her reach and place her legs correctly when walking. Our next appointment is Friday so she will be having electrotherapy for pain relief and we will be continuing with strengthening exercises. I do realise how lucky I am to be located somewhere I can get good vet physio support.
Building good muscle in the hips can really stave off surgery in the future. One of the rescue's dogs has pretty bad HD, but her adopters have kept her fit and active and built a lot of muscle on her, she is a little mini body builder, and even the vets that have seen her xrays are impressed with how well she's doing.
We have been working hard on Sonas physio. It's been hard watching her struggle with some actions when all she wants to do is please - but we are getting there! I hope one day she will be able to do a full and stable 'beg' but baby steps!!!
I have some guttering set up as cavaletti outside but borrowed this hurdle set from our trainer which lets us work on improving her proprioception at any time!
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