Vet has just rung and told me unfortunatly Tico has Hip Dysplasia and it is quite bad.    He can only be exercised on the lead now and cannot run and play with his friend Bobby anymore, I mustn't even throw a ball for him.
He is only 7 months old and he will also have no show carreer now and will never be able to do obedience competitions.
I can take him to obedience classes but must modify it a little to ease stress on his hips.
I can't stop crying my little man has been so brave and never complained about his discomfort, but the thrill of running with his friends has now been taken from him.
He will end up with arthiritis and may need an operation on them in the future.
Its going to be so hard keeping him quiet but I'm just going to give that boy so much love   

Can anyone tell me thier experiences on this please   

Bev

I was devastated when my Obi was diagnosed with severe Elbow Dysplasia - he was 6 months old and is a very active breed - but luckily we were referred to an excellent specialist who was able to operate on him the next week.  It was a horrible op, with a pretty long recovery period, but he has just turned a year and is as active as any other dog, even to the point of starting puppy agility, he will almost certainly never jump full height, but we will able to have some fun, even if he just jumps 6 inches!
I know HD isn't quite the same as ED, but there is a lot Vets can do now, ask to be recommended to a specialist, I know of two very good ones in the Surrey and Herts areas so PM me is you would like their details.  All Obi's treatment ws covered under his pet insurance, even his ongoing glucosamine medication.

I wish you loads of luck - and patience, that is the hardest bit!

Hayley

Hi,
Thanks  i am going to pick him up in a moment, I still can't get my head round this I am so upset and can't stop crying for him.  he is just so active and happy.
Vet said unfortunatly it is in both his hind legs equally as bad

bev

did you see the xrays? how bad were they?
my dog has fairley bad hips & after resting & controlled exercise from 8-12months old,he now lives a totally normal life,apart from he goes swimming once a week.
he does obedience,(very succesfully)

Yes have just seen the xrays  what is meant to be a ball and sockett is just flat on both sides so his hips just keep sliding out.

Bev

s**t
did he speak to you about a opp? swimming?
there are some really good opps now days
what breed is he?

Going by what I've heard, if his exercise is carefully controlled and increased gradually, the muscles will develop in such as way as to hold his bones in place. I've heard of dogs and cats who've had the whole balljoint removed, and nothing put in to replace it, who can still walk around and enjoy life.

my friend had a really powerful collie,who was working c only,after a accident at 8 years it was found he had no hips at all,all held together by muscle!

Don't give up all hope!

I know it's not quite the same but my mums last obedience dog had practically no hip joint on one side.  We only found out when she started breaking her sit stays for no apparant reason after 6 or 7 years.  She would always prefer to lie rather than sit in later life but other than that was very active.

It must be very upsetting for you but your dog may be able to do more than you think if you can buildup that muscle.  As other people have said swimming, road walking etc will all help to build muscle.

Good luck and best wishes :)

I've just lost my 12 1/2 old collie who had severe HD he never had any problems & had I not had him scored he had no outward signs.

He always had free running at home as exercise & he was never roadwalked. He was fed on a good quality food & developed really excellent muscles on his backlegs. I did take him swimming alot after he was scored to maintain the muscle tone

Do not have him operated on before he a year old unless unavoidable as his long bones do not stop growing until after dogs are 1 year old

Hi Bevb,
My golden Retriever was diagnosed as a puupy with the same and a hip score of 69 as well.
I was told to be prepared to lose her as she would be off her legs by the age of 4 years.
I too sobbed for days ,but she seemed to settle and know her own limits with exercise after a while,and with keeping her weight down and gentle exercise and minimum pain relief until last 12 months,i had her till she was just short of 11.
Keep chin up and lots of cuddles for you both.

Sorry to hear that Bev. :(
My ESS was diagnosed with HD at the same age (he's 2 next week). He was put on Cosequin/Synoquin supplements, and I was given Metacam to give him on days when he was uncomfortable. To begin with it was very difficult as Oscar was lame and could only be exercised in minute amounts, but once he was strong again we really didn't have much problem from when he was diagnosed until a couple of months ago when it all flared up again (couldn't be walked at all for a couple of weeks :( ). Since then he has had injections (weekly for 4 weeks) and has started hydrotherapy which has transformed him. He hated it to start with, but today, only 10 sessions later, he threw himself into the pool before he even had his harness on and he swam and splashed around for half an hour :D We can now walk him off lead twice a day (10 mins one walk and 20 mins the other) with no ill effects. He sometimes has a longer walk at the weekends but we're careful not to over do it. It's a juggling act between preserving his hips and making sure he enjoys his life. It's taken time to build his muscles up but now you really wouldn't know there was anything wrong too look at him - he looks better than he's ever done!

Oscar is still active and loves life so it's really not all doom and gloom.
Good luck Bev :)

this might cheer you up bev!
when the vets told me about flynns hips i passed out,then started crying! had to be taken to the staff room (in vets) to calm down!!!!! bet you werent as silly as me!

Buster was diagonosed with HD at 9 months old he would continually limp but it would change sides! He was given weekly injections of a drug called carthrophen vet for i think about 6 weeks and metacam for pain relief and all we could do was lead exercise for all that time it was hard but worth all the hassel from buster saying lets play ball!!!!!! Now hes 3 and only had 1 minor flare up. Looking at him you wouldnt think he has HD he flies around chasing his ball and he wont rest till hes happy hes had enough which can be a long time. The vets said he was given carthrophen vet because he was still growing this drug will help build the bones making whats left stronger, that with carefull exercise has given him painfree life.

Oh Bev that's such bad news, I'm really sorry.

I work as a vet nurse and we recently had a GSD with severe HD who we referred to a specialist.  He had a hip replacement (the dog not the specialist!), about 6 months ago and it took a long time and a lot of patience with strict rest etc, but now he's like a different dog, so don't give up hope.

For arthritic dogs I know an excellent acupuncture specialist.  I was very cynical about this treatment but I have now seen a lot of cases and the results are astounding.  If you would like contact details please PM me.

Fingers crossed for you

Mary-Caroline

Hi,

Don't know if this any help to you but at CAMVET (cAMBRIDGE University Vetinary School) was the 1st in this country to perform The Triple Pelvic Osteotomy as it was attempted on my Newfounland some years ago ,he has no hipsockets as such,this kind operation is only done if hips are so bad.The operation was done both sides and was a sucess and videos of the proceedure went around the world to show other vets.I believe now this operation can be performed now at most vet schools.
Ben was able to run and jump again,however nursing care was hard work afterwards because of his sheer size and weight.
It maybe an option for you to discuss with your vet however you do have meet certain criteria berfore they do this kind of op.

1) the hips must be very very bad
2)age of dog at time of op (but this may have changed now)

It is definately worth considering,it sounds gruesome but not to vets they break the pelvis in 3 places and create a better ball and socket so the ball stays in ite socket better .The pelvis put back together to give better stability (put very simply)

Just a thought and definately worth a try for a dog that is very severe.

Briony :-)

Bev
I know how you feel my Golden Retriever (Bailey) was diagnosed in march this year he was 6 months old. He had an operation at the end of March on his Right hip and already just 6 months on you can't even tell he has ever had any problems over the past few weeks he has even started jumping up (even though i try to stop him).  Throughout all this he has been so brave always trying to do too much (typical pup) we had a few set backs but i am so glad he had the op.  He has no socket at all on his right side, his left wasn't as bad the vet said they may want to operate on that at a later date depending on how he develops.  I can feel the muscle building up now in his hip i am so proud of him.  He now runs around with his friend Digger from next door who is only 2wks older than him and you cant tell the difference between them. 

If you have any questions let me know, i am no expert but can tell you about what happened to Bailey.

Thinking of you and Tico x x

My pup (6 months ) has recently had her TPO done, boht of her hips were underdeveloped, and our specialist did not think there was much chance they would develope properly, as she will be a large dog.  she is doing fine, it is difficult to keep her calm but her hips are now stable she does however have a bit of nerve damage (just bruising we hope) we did think at the time should we just leave her amd see, but i did a huge amount of research into the TPO and the specialist was great so we went ahead. 

It is a difficult time after the op but hopefully will be worth it, good luck with your pup, i hope things work out ok.

:D

My last GSD had both hips replaced, and was a different dog for the rest of her life, so this is an option, though they may want to wait until the dog is older if possible. Often they only do one, as this compensates for the other. It's the best decision we ever made, and no-one could believe she had two artificial hips, when they saw her chasing squirrels!
It's such a shame, but not the end of the world.
You can e-mail me if you want to ask any questions about our experiences!

Kat

Hi Bev
I did reply to your pm, but didn't get a response to say it had been sent. If you didn't get it can you let me know

Kat

Hi Bev
I'm so sorry to hear about Tico. I may however be able to give you some hope. My Border Collie, Rosie was diagnosed as having HD at 11 months. She was always very stiff on her legs and couldnt really run around like her sister.

The vet told us it was the worse case of HD she had ever seen, and it would be kinder to have her put to sleep!!, after speaking to people on the Forum and lots of vets who were experts in this field, we decided to try her on Metacam, as advised from our vet.

After about 2 weeks she was like a different Collie, she has gone from strength to strength since being on it, and looks so happy. We also give both our Collies, Glucosamine with Chondroitin (2 per day) and Fish oil.

Please speak to your vet about Metacam ,so many dogs with HD are on this and it has excellent results. Rosies hips used to click before she was on any medication now they dont!

Hope that helps, and try not to worry.

Jo
x