Hello everyone,

I am a visitor to the site and have a question to ask re our two Labradors, Bosun (dog) is five and Millie (bitch) 14 months both KC registered . Millie has had her second season we planned to breed from them next summer after a hip score xray, they both got together at the weekend and Millie may now be pregnant.

We took them both today for hip scoring Millie's xrays looked fine, Bosun obviously has a problem, even I could see one joint did not look ok with my untrained eye. Bosuns Sire and Dam had scores of 11 and 5. He seems as fit as a fiddle, very lean 34kg and big with it. The films have yet to be sent for BVA scoring so we do not have the numbers yet.
Here come the questions:

1. If Bosuns scores come out high would it be wrong to let Millie continue with the possible pregnancy?

2. What are the risks in terminating the pregnancy? I have heard the drugs used can cause infections and result in the need for spaying.

3. What sort of life quality will Bosun have if he has a hip replacement or the operation to remove the top of the hip bone.

A bit of advice or life experiences would be welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.

Bob Gibb

The hip score seems pretty high to me - I have a smaller breed and would not even consider breeding with such scores (it may be acceptable for your breed) - hip dysplacia is extremely painful and it is very disressing to see a dog in so much pain. I would have suggested the tests were performed before mating took place to prevent unnecessary suffering.

I think the best thing for you to do Bob, is to contact your breeder for advice - if you are unable to do so, discuss all options with your vet. The only experience I have in this case is seeing and speaking to people who own dogs with hip dysplacia and is it very upsetting.

Donna

Umm, yeah, why on earth didnt you get these tests done BEFORE the mating took place?

If the dog is kept fit, with enough muscle to support the malformed joint, then it is possible to give a dog with hip dysplacia a good quality of life. This can be done with hydrotherapy pools.

Emma
also, dont you think your bitch is a little young to be having pups?

The scores are not of the best but there are many other problems that should be sorted before the mating, as that is now academic I think I would let the bitch go to term and make sure anyone who buys a pup knows that it was an unplaned mating and advice that no health checks were peformed or thought about. That a contract is drawn up to that effect and advice is given the the pups should have health insurance for the rest of their life. This way you may avoid having to have pups back or being asked to pay for expensive vet bills should the need occur. Having said this the chances are your bitch will have a healthy litter and there will be no problems. Your dog will probably manage fine on his bad hips but may well need help for pain in later years, mind you mating will not do his hips any good.
Ja:)kie

I may be going strange but Im sure I answered this exact question on another thread yesterday

Well there you are then Mattie.
I didn't see it, but I'm definatly strange.
Ja:)kie

Mattie - we have entered the twilight zone. I saw this thread last night and was drafting a response when the phone rang or something. When I came back later - I saw your response and thought it was the saem thread. Here we are now and it's not here so can only assume it's a duplicate thread or the spooks have been out again - but I saw your response and decided I didn't need to reply.

My response was along the lines of - too late to take the doggy morning after pill - but that the emphasis should be on does the poster want this litter or not and that the bitch seemed a little young for a planned mating. Don't try to read the x-rays, let the experts do that.

Your post was along similar lines too but did not mention not reading the x-rays. So you are not going bonkers. We are all very strange though ;)

odd or what

Pam n the boys

PS - I have also looked at the other topics and can't find the possible duplicate - I wonder if for some reason your post has got lost. It was deffo there though. Most peculiar

It's still there, it's the one called HELP
;)

Did the vet know that the bitch could possibly be pregnant?I wouldn`t have thought an xray advisable in pregnancy correct me if I`m wrong.
Also I don`t consider scores of 11 and 5 to be high I am sure they will be within the mean average for the breed although I haven`t seen them recently.
Don`t panic its too late now anyway what you have to do now is concentrate on the bitch ,you`ll have a while to wait and you never know she may not be pregnant.Meantime if you want to do the best for your bitch you`ll have to read up on the care of a pregnant bitch and also whelping and weaning.
The reason I say don`t panic is it dosen`t follow that because the sire hasn`t got good hips that the pups will be dysplastic.In my breed a 0:0 hip score was produced by a sire with a total score of 86, I have also known the reverse when a low score has produced a very high score.
I make no comment on the use of this sire,but mention only to state fact.Hip Dysplasia it is said is not 100% hereditery so you have to make sure now that you raise the puppies,if and when you get them to the best of your ability and I`m sure someone on the board with your breed will be only to willing to advise you.
Regards Carole

My beloved GSD who was put to sleep in December had very bad hip dysplasia. She had both hips fully replaced and never looked back. It is however a very intricate procedure and should be done by a specialist orthopaedic surgeon. The surgeon in our case was Gary Clayton-Jones, in Tenterden in Kent.

So, this is always an option for the future, and not the end of the world, I know, I've been there (twice!)

Katrina

if the dogs only got together at the weekend like you say , why didn't you take the bitch to the vet and get the injection that cancels the pregnancy ( can't remember the name of it ) as you say you were not planning it till next year why not cancel it and get the hip scores done first!

Deary

katrina i hope you can tell me your story about your gsd dogs hip problem as my 9 month old gsd also has hip and elboe dysplasia it is a constant worry to me as you have been through the replacement surgury i would like to know how when what happened and so on was her life ok after the op. these are the things i need answed as i have to make the decision soon weather or not to have my gsd op thanks.

Hi Alex

I am happy to share our story with you, I know how worrying it is to go for such a big operation.

My lovely GSD girl was diagnosed at about 18 months old with Hip Dysplasia, and it was severe. She was on Rimadyl, and we did shorter bursts of exercise, rather than one great long walk a day. She did quite well on this regime for some time. Then when she was just over 4, we noticed her getting very stiff after exercise, and when she walked after having laid down for a while, would cry when she got up, and then take little pigeon steps (quite painful to watch) until she loosened up a bit. She then started sitting down in the middle of her walks, as her legs must have been hurting her.

After talking to our vet, he referred us to Gary Clayton-Jones of the Highland Surgery in Tenterden in Kent, a well known veterinary orthopaedic surgeon (specialising in hip replacement surgery). We met with him, and he reviewed her X Rays (to make sure it was the hips that were the problem). He explained that there was a slight risk of about 5% of dogs experiencing a low grade infection in the hip joint after surgery, which was very difficult to cure, and which resulted sometimes in some lameness. However, we didn’t really have a choice by then. She was clearly in more and more discomfort.

One of my concerns was also the amount of time that she would have to spend in the Vets to recover. He astounded me by saying that she would be in in the morning and home by tea time! He believes that dogs recover far better at home with their owners.

Sure enough on the day, she had a pre med injection about 10 am and we went off to spend the day in a nearby town. We rang at 2pm and the surgery was completed and had gone well - huge sighs of relief from me and my husband and a celebratory cup of tea! We collected her at 4pm. Even anaesthetised she wanted to try and walk on it! The back legs are “hobbled” together with a soft rope bandage, so that she couldn’t take big steps, or do the splits, and this didn’t seem to bother her. She was walking around reasonably well in 3 – 4 days. After 10 days the hobble came off and the stitches came out. Then we had to limit her exercise to lead walks of 10 minutes building this up each time. She had to have lead walking only for 8 – 10 weeks, and at the end of 8 weeks was bursting to have a run. I didn’t take any chances and kept her to the 10 week lead walking. After that she was off lead, and no-one could tell of the surgery she’d had (except for half her coat missing).

People honestly looked at me in disbelief if it came up in conversation that she ‘d had a hip replacement, having seen her chase squirrels (and their dog, probably), chase her ball and swim – better than she had since before she was two. Most dogs only have one hip replaced, but her other hip needed doing and we had that one done a year later. It held no fears for us now. Neither she nor we ever looked back. With hindsight, the problem she experienced with her other leg was probably more to do with the spondylosis she also had.

Sadly we had to have her put to sleep on 3 December (aged nearly 10). The spondylosis finally progressed to where it compressed her spinal cord, and she lost the use of her legs overnight. Words cannot explain how much it hurt to let her go or how much I miss her.

She was courageous, gentle, funny and kind. Buying her the rest of her life was the best thing I’ve ever done. I hope her story helps other dogs and owners facing the same problem.

If you have any other questions I will happily answer them.

I wish you a long a happy life with your dog, let me know how it goes, I really would like to know.

Katrina (and Blue, gone but with me still)

I'm all new to this, only last Friday I bought my mum a Mini Schnauzer just what she had wanted for ages, we brought him home and he seemed fine apart from the fact that he didn't really move around alot, for a puppy of 14 weeks of age it seemed strange, but my mum didn't want a leap a lot puppy so we thought we had got lucky, I started to be concerned when I was stroking him he would lower his back end every time it was touched like it was uncomfortable and he always lead with his legs stretched out.

Mum took him to the vet 2 days later for his first injection and mentioned her concern to the vet, he checked him over and said he had deformed hip joints and it probably would get worse and by the time he was 3 he would have really bad athristis and promptly refused to insure him.

I need to know if schnauzers like to be handled or whether thay all go rigid when picked up, and can you diagnose hip problems so early, the dog is now back where we bought him from, (due at their own vets tomorrow to be x ray-d, and I know they are going to put him to sleep depending on what they find)my mum and I are so distressed, you can only read up so much on the breed, does anyone elses schnauzer do this are they all sensitive on the back end,, please help....

Our last GSD rescue dog, Tushka, was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at 10 months old. On the advice of a specialist she underwent hip replacement when she was just over 12 months old. Once recovered from the operation, she was fantastic and the replacement never hindered her in any way at all though I was always very careful on how long/far I would walk her. Tushka lived until 10 years of age when, unfortunately we had to have her PTS exactly two years ago today, due to cancer. One of our dogs we have now also has hip dysplasia but we have been advised not to replace either of his hips as the remaining hip would be very uncomfortable trying to bear his weight whilst he was recovering. He takes a daily glucosamine supplement and I also give him fish oil supplement. We have been told it may halve his life, but as a rescue dog we are trying to give him quality rather than quantity.