hi just asking for a friend who has a large breed with hip displasia ,it is on cage rest and i just wondered wot the best bedding wud b for comfort and are they any specialist companys that do  bed for this problem thanks

Our last golden had hip displasia and we tried various beds but his favourite was always a 'vet bed' on a hard surface where he could stretch out,  or on the sofa.  Bean bags, soft beds etc he would put his head on but that was all!
Maria :)

thank you for replying can a dog with hipd displasia have a good quality of life ?

That would depend on the severity of the HD. 
Then again, some dogs can have severe HD and never show any symptoms.

It's a difficult question to answer.

As saftash says, it's a difficult question to answer. 

Your friends will need to know how much or little exercise can be done without causing pain. And they will soon be able to work this out with the way the dog is after exercise!  Hydrotherapy is excellent as it helps build up muscles without harming their joints!

It's important that dogs with HD do not put on too much weight, again this is difficult as they don't do as much exercise as a healthy dog would.

Try not to let them run up and down stairs and jump on and off furniture ( a difficult one I know)!

Cod liver oil and Glucosamine tablets can also help.

If you need more info just pm me :)

 

The answer is definitely YES. It does depend on the severity and dogs with very low hip scores can exhibit clinical symptoms whereas some dogs with high scores don't. From a purely personal (and I stress personal) point of view, I don't believe in massive exercise restriction unless clinical symptoms are very evident. I have a four year old shepherd with moderate HD, who does light agility (only 17" jumps). To date, and touch wood, she has never ever gone lame after exercise, agility or otherwise, and it does maintain her range of motion. She's not my first HD dog either. Ultimately, if the problem becomes too bad hip replacement is a great option, and my previous GSD had both hips replaced. Unless you are very rich though, it does mean you really need insurance cover, that was in place before the clinical symptoms became apparent, or before the diagnosis of HD.

The overriding thing for me is for my dog to enjoy it's life, it only has the one after all. I know of quite a few dogs who have not had HD, who have got some other problem develop and have had to be PTS at an early age. I try and apply this to me, if I had a physical problem, would I rather enjoy myself while the illness wasn't too bad, and have to slow down a bit earlier in later life, or have a bland life right the way through.

As I say, this is not advice, just my very personal feeling having and having had in the past, dogs with HD

Kat

Agree with Kat, :-)

I use orthapedic beds which I got years ago, they are about 3 1/2 ft by 2 ft each.   Great for the dogs to stretch out.  I have 2, they sit on top of 2 inches of foam covered in vinyl and I put vet beds on top of that.    And yes I have curled up on them; no kidding, they are comfier than my bed. 

One of mine has severe HD, score 96, she 11 now.  No problems over the years with the HD and she did light agility as a young dog.   However, we are starting to see stiffness and a distortion in movement in the hip joints.  The right one appears to be worse.  I have her in hydrotherapy and she's on synoquin with the occassional Rimadyl during flare ups.