I am so upset.  My poor labrador has really been having a tough time of things lately and she is not even 2 until May.  I have been so careful with her since getting her as a puppy, following the 5 minute to the minute. 

Today I met a friend for a walk with her dog and they both walked nicely together but then my lab met another lab and they began to play quite exuberantly as dogs do.  I timed the walk to no more than an hour and I truly thought a little bit of play would not hurt her but tonight her hip is bad again.  So much so that she is limping and not putting her leg down on the ground.  My husband and I are so upset.  We had her hip scored when she was a year old and the results came back totalling 21, her right hip totalled 5 but the left totalled 16 so I know how careful we must be with her.

Before the walk happend today I was actually at the vet as she was spayed a few weeks ago and she was having her check up.  I happened to ask whether she should have her hip looked at by an orthopaedic specialist with the possibility of getting it fixed as we may be moving overseas and I know that where we are going they don't have such great vet care and neither will I be insured like I am here.

The vet said that she should be ok till she is 6 or 7 and to look at her hips again then (although we may not be here then) but to keep her on the glucosamine 1 a day (she has been on this for ages).  Alternatively she would have to go under anaesthetic and have another set of x-rays taken which would then be sent off to a specialist for commenting on. 

I can't understand why if she had x-rays taken already at the age of 1 and a hip score was given, she would need to have yet more taken before consulting with an orthopaedic vet.

Has anybody had experience in this with a young labrador or dog with hip dysplasia and what did you do?  Is 2 years old to young for an operation and if she has it will she be like a "new dog" again?

Also would osteopathy or acupuncture help at all?

Does anybody know a good orthopaedic vet in the London area or even out of London as I am really desperate for good advice.  I am so upset that she can't play like a regular young dog and really don't know what to do for the best.

Thank you

At such a score she would only be borderline or at worst mildly dysplastic.  Building up good muscle with short but frequent walks is your best bet.

Here are our scores compared to teh American grading system:

OFA CLASSES            BVA/KC SCORES
                                            Total Both Hips

Excellent                           0-4  no > than 3 / hip Good                              5-10  no > than 6 / hip
Fair                                  11-18  no extremes
Borderline                             19-25
Mild Dysplasia                      26-35
Moderate Dysplasia               36-50
Severe Dysplasia                    51-106

Here is a web addy with abridged details of our scheme http://www.thecanaandog.co.uk/lib-health/hdscoreuk.htm

one of my dog got a hip score of 54 the avage for that the breed is 9,
she never was over exciserd and wasnt lame but what i did do was street walk the dog to build up diffeent muscle tone first but know free runs with the other dogs at two years old.but her ball and scocklet is a funny shape the ball that sit nicley in the hip joint is square shape on both side  and the score was even both sides.

you will know what her limtes are but i would go to a speclist orthopaedic theres a good one in guildford surrey,just tell your vet you want to see a speclist vet,you are paying pravate health care for your dogs,and vet are like your gp to referr you to a speclist vet,

if you need the phone nimber for the one in guildford i will send it to you pm

It is nice to see such a concientious owner. There are people in our breed breeding from dogs with worse scores than that (when our BMS is 13 and the median, 11 :( ).

I agree that building up her muscle tone will certainly help. I know of a few dogs with bad hip scores that can still work because they have good muscle tone (which compensates for the bad hip).

Possibly another set of x-rays would be needed to see if the condition of her hips has changed in the last year.

A word of caution re her borderline score: I was advised by the vet that the worst hips radiographically speaking are not necessarily the most painful and vice versa.  I think you are already doing this but I would base your judgements regarding exercise and management on how the dog is, not on the scores.

If you are still considering intervention, then perhaps referral to an orthopaedic specialist would be helpful. 

Interestingly, one of my dogs coped with what turned out to be appalling HD (radiographically speaking) until a crisis at the age of 7, from which she (amazingly)recovered and went on to lead a pretty normal life though with the sort of steady exercise referred to above.

Your Lab doesn't need to charge around with other dogs in order to enjoy life though, I think humans worry more about this than dogs do.  Gentle exercise with lots of opportunities to sniff and explore can provide great pleasure to a dog, as can new experiences (training classes, going to new places for walks, etc), games and training.

it might not be her hip that is giving her the pain.....over ?exuberant dogs can tear their cruicate ligament in their knee which leads to a very lame dog.
Might be a good idea to have her checked by a vet just incase it is not her hip...hope things are ok..

ojoj1869 has made a very good point.  I have a friend whose dogs hipscore in total is a lot lower than yours and she is over exuberant and has torn her cruciate ligament and you should see her for a few days after a good run round.  She definitely doesn't have HD but if people saw who move sometimes they would think she has!!

Hiya,

Just wanted to add - I had a dog with a hip score total of 7 (4:3) BMS - 19....who limped terribly, quite often heard people saying 'that dog must have really bad hips' etc, but no - it was a torn cruciate ligament.

I don't know what the BMS is for your breed, but I don't think a score like your dog's would be affecting her that much - although HD can affect dogs differently.

If I were you, I'd stick to lead/road work for a while, build up muscle which will support the hip anyway, and can only be a good thing, and get your vet, or another, to check your girl over again.

Hope she'll be ok.

I think it would certainly be worth getting the vet to rule out any other possible causes. I have a lab bitch with a 5/17 score that has won field trials, working tests and at seven years old has recently finished another hard shooting season. She is still more than capable of jumping a five-bar gate. If I could have another one as good as her, even with the same score I'd jump at the chance.

I've never treated her any differently to my other labs with better scores. They are kept lean and fit, and expected to work, train and exercise hard.

To an extent the level of problem with the hip could be determined by the distribution of the scores as much as the overall score. Within the 17 score of my lab none of the individual measurements is higher than 3 out of 6.

my dog is 21-21=42

& nobody would guess. hes on no medication,just swims once a week.

id sell my grannie for a hipscore on him of 21 in total! :)

Hi Everyone
Thank you all so much for your support and posts.
Well yesterday we went to see the vet in the afternoon and he has ruled out a tear of the cruciate ligament, it is definitely her hip and he has now given us a referral to an orthopaedic surgeon in Kent called Gary Clayton Jones, who I understand is excellent.  I am just awaiting the day, date and time of her appointment.  I am praying she will not need an operation.
It is very intersting that some of you have dogs with higher scores and yet they are fine.  I am curious to know the amount of lead walking they have a day.  At the moment I am paranoid to an extent that I just don't know whether I can walk her for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.  She also loves to swim - would this be a good form of exercise for her hip?  I am worried that too much exercise could exacerbate the problem.  The vet put her on Metacam and gave her an injection of it yesterday and she does seem to be a little better today, she is putting her paw on the floor again but still very gingerly, I think I will stick to short trots around the garden until the weekend and then start her walks again - would this make sense or should I just continue walking her?
Anyway thanks everyone again.
Best wishes

My dog is 48/48=96, he didn't show any symptoms until he was 6 but then it got bad. The vet (who is a bone specialist) said swimming would be a great idea, and that he should have exercise as otherwise he'd "seize up" -but obviously it needs to be in moderation, and I let him walk on his own terms. As he's aged he's got worse (he's now 10) but he still has a good life. He was on Rimadyl for a couple of years but they eventually stopped working so he's now off them. What has REALLY made a huge difference has been giving him Glucosamine with Chondroitin capsules every day. It literally made the difference of him not being able to get up after having laid down (his hindlegs would just drag useless behind him), to being able to get up and walk.

Hi
Is your dog a labrador?  What is Rimadyl?  Ours is on Glucosamine with Chondroitin also she has been on them for about a year and I find that they have helped to a large extent. I am so glad they are helping your dog, it is so horrible to see them suffer with these problems. Anyways she will see the orthopaedic specialist next Thursday and we can take it from there. Fingers crossed.

No he's a Golden. :) Rimadyl is a  a non steroidal anti inflammatory tablet often given to animals with arthritis and similar -it's similar to Metacam.

Hi Goat
My GSD (now passed) had both of her hips replaced by Gary Clayton-Jones. He was fantastic, and yes, she was like a new dog afterwards. In fact she could play bow, which she never could in her life up until then. I cannot recommend him highly enough (he is also chief scrutineer for the BVA hips scoring scheme). Your labs score does seem very low to be causing the degree of problem so young, but as another poster said, clinical symptoms often don't mirror the mathematics!

Good luck, I know you're in the very best of hands. Let us know what he says.

Kat