Just found out that youngest dog has hip displasia.

[Covelo Dogs]

She has bilateral hip displasia with remodeling of femoral head/neck and moderate osteoarthritis of right and mild degenerative osteoarthritis of left.

She is almost 2 and a half years old and has a wonderful feel for livestock.

Am looking for suggestions on how to help her stay sound. Other then keeping her fit any suggestions for supplements?

Thanks,

Suki

[gcv-border]

Fish oil and Dasuquin

 

Jovi

[simba]

Skeptvet, science based medicine, and quackwatch are my go-to's for supplement information. Respectful Insolence may have info on them as well, or Edzard Ernst (yes, blogs, but blogs that provide good research and common sense, by people with expertise). Some of those are more centred around human medicine, but they can overlap. Some of the more common pet supplements are covered here.

[G. Festerling]

Maybe look into Phycox?

[arf2184]

Fish oil and glucosamine chondroitin helped the most for Bear (12 1/2 yrs old now). Also MSM. I try to keep him off pain meds as much as possible but in his old age, sometimes they're necessary.

 

You'll have to try and see what works best for your individual. Regular exercise (no jumping) has helped more than anything for Bear. Keep the weight down and the muscles fit.

 

Be mindful of how she's carrying her weight. With Bear, I know when he's hurting when he starts shifting his weight forward to his front legs. He always shifts his weight to the right rear leg when standing (left femoral head is misshapen), but he usually walks and runs fairly normal. When in pain (usually in the winter time when its cold, icy, and he's less active) he'll use his back legs primarily for balance and shift all his weight to the front legs. The past couple years he has had a couple shoulder (muscle) injuries because of this. Just something to watch for as your pup gets older. Bear is pretty deep chested and front heavy as it is. It may not be as much of an issue for a border collie.

[mum24dog]

Fish oil and glucosamine chondroitin helped the most for Bear (12 1/2 yrs old now). Also MSM.

 

How do you know which appears to work if you are giving more than one?

[rushdoggie]

If he is only 2 years old and has that much joint change, is he a candidate for a surgical fix?

[DeltaBluez Tess]

Which one is this one? So sorry to hear about this

 

 

I had a dog that had hips like this....lots of salmon oil, chondrotine, msm, gluco as well as acupuncture and swimming....he retired from Open at 6. I also did massage but the swimming helped a lot.

[Covelo Dogs]

Thank you for replies, they are appreciated.

Diane, she is the Rack X Kira pup. She has not been overly lame at this point and had her hips done because I was considering breeding her. She is extremely talented, but as a ranch dog I am worried that she will not hold up to the work.

Rushdoggie, she is a ranch dog not a pet dog, so for me surgery is not an option. Even though she is part of the family she needs to be a working dog.

I am trying to figure out if supplements, not meds can help stave off the lameness. She has been on fish oil all of her life I have upped the dose.

Will also put her on glucosamine in the form of dasiquin.

Again my thanks,

Suki

[Lana]

My Blue dog was x rayed at 3 and we were told he had the "worst hips" the vet had ever seen.

 

I took their advice and kept him fit and lean and used metacam for pain.

 

He went on to be a grand ranch dog able to work pairs on the range until 8-9 and trial to 11.

 

You can no messure the heart of a working dog. It can not be seen or predicted.

 

Blue just wanted to keep working and so he did.

 

He is 13 and thou stiff he is happy and active.

 

A HD rx is heartbreaking but all dogs are so different that it does not have to be the end.

 

 

[Covelo Dogs]

Lana,

Thanks, it is what I am hoping for. She is a great dog and I know fitness is a key. It is the degenerative arthritis that has me the most concerned. I had the x-rays re read and the report was worse than OFA's. She is young so anything I can do to keep her working and relatively pain free is my goal.

She has the heart and desire to work and fits in with the pack, plus the family likes her.

But also will hope the next time I try and get Harp bred it works! I do need another coming on pretty soon.

Suki

[ness_bc]

Hmm not sure if you can get access to something like it over there but there is a new supplement over here based on rose hips. I have a young dog with bilateral medial luxating patellas and I think this product in combination with fish oil is working better then anything I have used containing glucosamine. The rose hips are a natural anti-inflammatory.

 

I have also put my 12.5 year old on it who has slight arthritic changes and she is doing brilliantly as well.

 

http://rosehipvitalcanine.com.au/

[Covelo Dogs]

I have a holistic vet that I can ask may also be able to find a comparable at health food store. I do know rose hips are full of vitamin C.

Thanks

[Gloria Atwater]

Suki, I have no advice to offer, just wanted to say how sorry I am. What a disappointment. I do hope you find good solutions for your young girl, so she can keep working into an old age.

~ Gloria

[Blackdawgs]

I have a mutt with moderate hip dysplasia. She did not become symptomatic until 9-10 and we had no clue until we xrayed her hips at the time of working up her lower back because stenosis was suspected. She started having back problems at 7 (and was diagnosed with spondylosis)--at the time, several vets tried really hard to induce pain in her hips and the only response was her smacking them in the face with her tail. Now, at age 11.5, she reacts when vets manipulate her hips and she sometimes bunny hops. She never bunny hopped when she was younger.

 

Her hip sockets are really really shallow and if i had xrayed her at 2, I probably would have wrapped her in bubble wrap and never done agility with her. Instead she had a very active life. Her hindquarters were beautifully muscled and her rehab vet said that her physical condition and muscling went a long way towards protecting her hips. In fact, the radiographic changes were minimal and were more consistant with age than dysplasia.

 

My rehab vet tells her clients with dysplastic dogs to keep going with them as much as the dog can tolerate. These dogs also need very strong cores. if i were in your posirion, I would find a rehab vet who can give you strenthening exercises. My dysplastic dog has a naturally very strong core, which protected her, whereas my Border Collies have naturally weak cores, so they need a lot of core work.

 

Good luck. I am sure that this is heart breaking, but there really is hope.

[ness_bc]

Definitely worth looking into Covelo - I was very impressed with the level of scientific backing the product had and certainly saw huge changes in both dogs since having them on it.

[arf2184]

How do you know which appears to work if you are giving more than one?

 

Trial and error, just like with any supplement. You try it for a while and if you see a change for the better, you keep giving it. Sometimes change is gradual and you don't see it until you stop the supplement and things go back to worse. With multiple supplements you just add one at a time until you find the right mix, with 6-8 weeks minimum in between additions to give each one time to work (or not work).

 

If Bear goes without his glucosamin for a week, everyone in the house can tell. If I don't give him his fish oil, it takes a bit longer to see a change but its there. I usually only give him MSM in the winter when I know he's going to be a bit stiffer and sore, though with his old age, I'm considering adding it to his daily cocktail year round because the old guy is slowing down a bit more this year.