9 month old with hip dysplasia - raw feeders and general advice?

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kizzyjerry

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Hi

our 9 month old GSD has just been diagonsed with hip dysplasia - vet says mild to moderate, one hip slightly worse.

we've asked about the operations and her x-rays are being sent to a specialist for their opinion but have been advised that they will want to wait until she is a little older - and may not be necessary.


in the meantime we are to work on strengthing her backend (and vet has said that we maybe able to maintain her through medication and exercise alone?)

we will be starting her on hydrotherapy (they also do physio) as soon as we get the all clear from the vets in a week.

she is fed raw - mainly ground meat/bone/offal (same supplier as raw2go) with carcasses a few times a week. the vet has mentioned a feed with supplements in it - JD something (hills i believe) i'm reluctant to change back as she seems to do so well on raw - can anyone advice what supplements/meats would prehaps help - vet admits she has little knowledge of raw but has seen dogs do well. her concern is the correct amounts of fatty acids etc.

anything else? - read about 'trotting poles' and some work on sandy non impactive surfaces

anything on the medication side of things i can look into (shes on painkillers/anti inflam along with a joint supplement from vets. pain killers for the short term, supplements long term)

sorry its long, any pointers/shoves in the right direction gratefully received :)
 
She's very young, I would not send the x-rays away to the BVA until 12 months and please make sure you are dealing with a specialist in hips and GSDs and sending plates to the BVA, I have heard of a few GSD owners told stuff about their pups hips, which have turned out to be just fine. Vets diagnosing on sight and gait alone (a lot of GSDs are very loose behind in youth).

Mild to moderate might not present too much of an issue, two females I know with scores through the ceiling, were the best moving bitches I have ever seen, flying machines - just not to be bred from, obviously.

She should be fine with structured exercise, swimming etc.

Raw will be better for her, I would not change. Others can advise on supplements.

Please, please notify her breeders if they do turn out to be bad, although it can occur both naturally and as a result of accident/over-exertion in youth before the joints have formed properly.

Try not to panic until the results come back.
 
Sandy floor eg school at yard or beach. Uphill stretches.

Supplements: Pooch and Mutt Mobile Bones, fab results for my creature, who was diagnosed at 9 months. We lead walked for four months, now he's allowed off lead but carefully monitored for his mild/moderate HD.

A good addition is tinned fish (avoid tomato sauce versions cos tomato exacerbates arthritis) or salmon oil.

Chondroitin is in chicken carcasses. You need glucosamine and chondroitin together to make them effective.

Bioavailability is better in liquid forms of glucosamine and the strength varies lots between brands, so do check the labels if you're using human (they're generally purer) versions.

Hydro is highly recommended.
 
I too would wait until she is 12 months old and have her hips done again and sent for scoring unless your vet is a real specialist. I know of animals that have been diagnosed with HD who have actually had good hips and the lameness is called by something else. A bitch I sold on breeding terms was diagnosed as having awful hips and the owners phoned me in tears to tell me the vet wanted to spay her whilst she was still under the GA. I told them not to and to have her x rayed by an expert and the plates sent off. She had perfectly good hips and came back with a Breeders Letter (equivalent to a score in low teens/single figures).
If her hips are poor don't give up hope, I had a bitch with awful hips (scoe in the 90s) who lived a full and active life until she was 13. For now just give her steady exercise, and agree hydrotherapy is good.
I would contact the breeders now, they may be able to point you in the direction of a vet used to doing hip x rays if your vet isn't. What were the hip scores of her parents?
 
KJ is there any update on this?

Just read a chilling post on another forum about an 8 month old female being put to sleep on the table on the strength of a few blurry x-rays of an area which hadn't even developed properly yet :( the people had only had her 20 days and the breeder was not even notified until the bitch was dead :(
 
Hi

thanks for the all the tips - bankrupted myself with supplements :) - CC no chance of that, poor pup :(


She seems sound now (the x-rays made her even more sore and needed painkillers) she starts hydrotherapy tomorrow so fingers crossed - the guy who does this has said that some have come right. The x-rays are being assessed by specialists but we've decided to let her finish growing with all the supplements we can throw at her along with hydro and see what we all think then - we'll have her assessed by the specialists if we're still concerned and go from there.

we've got her on the following incase anyone can suggest tweaks or alternatives

I've notified her breeder - her parents weren't hipscored (i know i know, hindsight and all ) she has her sister and hasn't seen anything of concern at all but will now be keeping a close eye.

seraquin
mobile bones (doubles up on the glucosamine but lots of extras that seem good)
salmon oil
also fish4dog treats for the extra omega oils.
 
I've been informed photos are a requirement in the past so if this works ...

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Lovely girls :)

That's the thing with HD, only in really bad cases is it visible with the naked eye from a young age and as mentioned, I know of bitches with awful hips on paper but show no outward signs. There is a male champion with a score of 0:50, still winning but obviously not bred from.

As you say, hindsight, but for a GSD breeder to say 'oh, I can't see any signs of hip dysplasia' (with my non-X-ray eyes!!!), well, you know what I am going to say about that!!!!

You do the right thing letting her grow a bit, that's why we don't score until 12 months, they haven't finished growing or developing, I hope she surprises you :)
 
Seraquin contains glucosamine, chondroitin and turmeric (curcurmeric) so with Mobile Bones, yes, you're doubling up. Turmeric is cheap in the world foods aisle in eg Asda and having bought seraquin previously, it ain't cheap. Much cheaper to do your own mix in a tub then add a spoon to her food.

She's very pretty. My lad is off lead and due another x ray in about two months when he should be fully grown. I agree there's little point in looking at anything til she's more developed.
 
mine has mild HD - a spaniel though not a shepherd.

Its a shame when they are diagnosed with something like this :/

One thing im not sure on - it does get worse over time?... im asking moreso for my dog not to depress you OP....

Your girls are STUNNING op :)
 
I would`nt believe in doom until those HD xrays are sent up and scored.Too many vets see a GSD and immediately scare the owner witless about HD,why they do it Heaven knows..maybe they think it makes them look like a GSD "specialist".
 
That is so true EK, heaven knows why but I have known of so many dogs that vets have said HD yet x rays done by vets used to hip x raying have shown low scoring hips.
I saw that story too CC, what a nightmare for the breeder.
noodle, the hips can deteriorate with age but doesn't necessarily mean they will cause a problem. I won't go into full details as I have told the story before but I had a bitch who at 12 months was diagnosed as terrible hips (later was scored in the 90s:eek:), she lived a full and active life until she was 13, winning veteran classes and never had a days lameness in her life.
 
KJ, just been back to that thread on the other forum (the x-rays are not actually the worst in the world) and am now wondering if you or your vet had queried Panosteitis? Can happen in young sheps. My dog's half brother had it and was dog lame at about a year but you would not know to look at him now.
 
Might be going against the general flow here but I did put my young stafford boy onto Hills mobility on the advice of my vet. He had had the catrophone injections, metacalm and the other one beginning with R (ripsadl? - which didn't work at all). Vets had his x rays looked at by a specialist and advised operating. I tried him as a last resort on the Hills and have stuck with it as it worked. He has been on it for a year and is still completely sound (so no chance that the cartrophone is stil impacting him). I do feed wet food mixed in as well and had tried all the supplements - which were very expensive and didn't seem to help.

If you do try it, it takes some 3 weeks to work. Best place is to buy on-line via Medic Animal. Was considerably cheaper than my vets. Maybe mix it with your raw food?
 
wow, thanks for all the support :)

I will sort a standing picture, re Panosteitis i've looked it up - she's not really matching any of the symptoms (no lameness issues prior and is sound again now - she is still on pain killer/anti inflam but very low dose as vet didn't want to abruptly stop, one every three days now and about to stop, very happy in herself) i could see the issues on the x-ray - the joint is sitting very sightly out. she reacts to malipulation only on the leg being pulled straight back to the extreme and even them not a big reaction just not comfortable. no reaction on the lower joints - but cerainly something to bear in mind and chat about with vet if we have a set back.

she had her first hydro session (she's not sure about it!) the therapist said that she actually has quite good strength in her back legs , her muscles aren't developing correctly though on the upper thighs and when he gently pushes her quarters from side to side she doesn't brace against him and is weak here (there is little covering around her hips)

shes booked for 8 weeks of hydro - by which time we should be seeing signs of improvement, if not we will re-access (the hydro will be part of her ongoing excerise though regardless)

re the food - i'm very keen to keep her raw, she's getting all the vitamins etc in supplements but will re-access this at the 8 week point (probably later to allow sufficent time for things to get into her system) if we're not happy with progress. My understanding was that its not a good idea to mix the two due to the different way each food is digested? but i am new to raw and it is still abit of a learning curve
 
If she were mine I would definately be sticking with raw, if you do try hills JD (and no dog i have used it on got one jot better) feed it in a seperate meal, ideally on a seperate day to the raw.
 
Pendlehog said:
If she were mine I would definately be sticking with raw, if you do try hills JD (and no dog i have used it on got one jot better) feed it in a seperate meal, ideally on a seperate day to the raw.
Click to expand...

Well I obviously go against the grain as that has worked when all the normal routes failed. I have gone from a heavily limping dog who didn't want to go out to a completely sound and OTT stafford again.

What is the reasoning behind not mixing dry with raw? I could see why you would choose not to mix it if you have gone to the trouble of sourcing and storing raw but is there any actual reason why you couldn't mix? just interested from a learning point.!
 
i'm new with raw and am sure someone will come along wth much more knowledge...

i believe its to do with the digestion times - feeding kibble with raw at the same time slows the digestion down meaning the raw food is left sitting in the gut too long risking issues with any nasties.
 
KJ, while HD is not something that can be diagnosed by eye, there is nothing out of the ordinary in those pics. She is toeing in, in the second pic but that is not unusual.
She looks as if she has a bit more growing to do.
 
Luci07 - as CC says it is to do with the relative speed of digestion of dry vs raw. Im glad the JD worked for your dog, I wish it worked half as well for some of my kennel dogs :( I wont give up on trying it in the future, you never know!
 
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