hip dysplasia and steroid injections

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Slightlyconfused

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Over the last three weeks I've noticed my young collie has become.more sore after his longer walks so have made them smaller. Not letting him run as much but he is still showing signs of being sore.

He has been on metacam for the last year and a half for hip dysplasia. Vet said next port of call would be injections.
Was wondering if anyone had any experience with this?
 
At such a young age I think I would try reducing the ground pounding exercise and discuss the option of hydrotherapy in order to build some muscle up via a non weight bearing/bouncing style of exercise like hydro. I would try and steer clear of relying on hard core drugs until he is older. Have a chat with your vet.
 
How in God's name have we arrived at this dreadful state of affairs? A lack of testing? Testing wasn't needed when there wasn't a problem. How did the problem arise?

Collies? Everyone's been a back-yard-breeder (and most have farmed sheep and bred dogs since time began). Springers? There wasn't a problem 30 years ago.

What has brought on such a raft of breed problems? Why does the problem now seem to engulf so many more breeds? Has anyone looked at the problem from a non-breed standpoint, but from a wider canine breeding perspective? What has happened in the last 40 years for the situation to degenerate as it has? Are there reports or papers available from those who've studied the problem from a generic aspect?

Nothing but questions!

Alec.

Ets. Could the problem of genetic predisposition to weakness be the result of our apparent gullibility when we consider the levels of protein which we now pour in to animals which are basically scavengers? Is that how we've 'encouraged' the inherent deformities? I'm asking, that's all.
 
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Is that cartrophen? I had a couple of those for my dog when I first got him from the rescue where he was diagnosed with having hip dysplasia, but since being out of a kennel he seems to have been ok so I've not had any more injections. If he gets bad (stayed at a home dog boarder and went up and downstairs multiple times a day and got sore, doesn't go upstairs at home) he has one but only then. I think since being fitter and stronger his hips are better.

He does some hydrotherapy if I throw the stick in the lake far enough and he's not lazy, but I'd go for proper sessions over going for injections long term.
 
Alec Swan said:
How in God's name have we arrived at this dreadful state of affairs? A lack of testing? Testing wasn't needed when there wasn't a problem. How did the problem arise?

Collies? Everyone's been a back-yard-breeder (and most have farmed sheep and bred dogs since time began). Springers? There wasn't a problem 30 years ago.

What has brought on such a raft of breed problems? Why does the problem now seem to engulf so many more breeds? Has anyone looked at the problem from a non-breed standpoint, but from a wider canine breeding perspective? What has happened in the last 40 years for the situation to degenerate as it has? Are there reports or papers available from those who've studied the problem from a generic aspect?

Nothing but questions!

Alec.

Ets. Could the problem of genetic predisposition to weakness be the result of our apparent gullibility when we consider the levels of protein which we now pour in to animals which are basically scavengers? Is that how we've 'encouraged' the inherent deformities? I'm asking, that's all.
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Alec he is very well bred, both parents tested and owned by very good breeders.

but I only got him at 5/6 months from a family who would take him on two hour runs. I don't run my dogs for more than 30 minutes a day by the time they are one let alone the age I got him I lead and handle train with little off the lead burst of ten minutes ish to get re call. My vet basically said it was the over exercise that did it which is a crying shame as I think he is a dog you would have liked as he is very smart and got that collie 'eye' but not nasty and just wants to work and please.

He is on an exercise program that was working well, three days a week of 30 minutes round the farm fields, me walking him letting off energy, then one day of off lead but stay on main yard as he is quiet and just stays close by and then a lead walk of about 20ish minutes and two days off but we do trick training. Not all of that is in one go, the off lead farm walks are every other day so he isn't doing it all at once.

He has built up a lot of muscle and support over the past year, the vet is please but on hip always shows more muscle wastage than the other. There are no hydro for dogs places around unless I want to traval an hour away which I might end up doing and my friend who is a canine physio is pleased with what he is doing and so is vet.

Yes it is cartrophen.

We have a lake at the farm that he likes to go in, I have built him up from one fetch of the stick upwards to get his stamina up with it.

Thank you
 
I would travel the distance, I have alot of clients who's dogs are in a hydro programme with severe hip dysplasia and the difference in their movement is phenomenal. All physically fit well exercised dogs but it was not a patch on the results post hydro.
 
CAYLA said:
I would travel the distance, I have alot of clients who's dogs are in a hydro programme with severe hip dysplasia and the difference in their movement is phenomenal. All physically fit well exercised dogs but it was not a patch on the results post hydro.
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Will get onto the vets tomorrow for their referral.

Or is there one in bedfordshire that you know of?
 
I have heard great things about hydro. It is amazing how much swimming has improved my dogs general fitness, muscle tone and stamina.
All summer I have taken him to the lake or river and has built up to a good 45mins of solid swimming twice a week. I do this because it was suspected my dog has mild elbow dysplasia and he has a very active lifestyle, he joins me on 15 mile bike rides and on long distance walks. We are doing the pennine way next year as well as hiking through the dolomites.
The swimming has been so good I have signed him up for proper hydro sessions over the winter to keep his muscle tone and fitness up.
I feel for you getting a dog that has been over exercised as a pup but at least you have him now and are doing the right thing by him, all the best finding somewhere to take him.
 
just seen the replies.

Thank you.have found a hydro place about 15bminutes from my yard so will be speaking to the guy that runs it in the week.

have scaled back his exercise the past week and he has been better.

I am looking at the Back on Track dog rugs for him, seen the thread in the tack room so will be looking into that a bit more.
 
Zak has HD and had Cartrophen injections. I saw zero difference. He swims a lot and that has been superb for him. He's kept warm afterwards and has an orthapaedic bed off the floor plus other beds are hugely padded so he never has to lie on a hard floor. Don't make the mistake of not exercising him enough to build up the supporting muscles (sounds like you know what you're doing, tbh) and take him into a sand school or onto a beach if you can, walking through sand or uphill is excellent.

We limit Zak's exercise so he's not running for ages and he is given jobs, searches to do instead to keep him thinking, which tires him out just as well. Is your collie interested in scent work and retrieval? We did make a decision that we would give him a fab life and let him run a bit, if that limits his life, I'd rather that than frustrate him and try to keep him quiet.

To partially answer Alec's queries, HD is sometimes brought about by environment as much as genetics: puppíes being asked to go up and down stairs or over walked because owners just don't know, or left on hard floors sliding round as babies. It may well be the overly high content of protein in the high end food or maybe the lack of protein in the lower end of the poorer dog food which doesn't support bone growth. Perhaps the levels of HD have always been high, but now we simply talk about it lots more because we use social media.
 
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I'm at the end of the road with my collie and hip dysplasia - until recently hydrotherapy was so good for her, kept her well muscled for much longer than I could have using walks etc and definately helped her. We only recently stopped cause it took too long for her to recover from her session.

Personally I'd keep yours on the metacam as my experience of cartrophen was not brill - it's supposed to help improve the cartilage, we used it before going to metacam and it helped for a little while but not long. Depending on the age and severity of your dogs pain then pain meds wise you will be able to add in codiene eventually and Meg's just been started on paracetamol as she's no longer tolerating the metacam however she's 11 and been on metacam type meds for a good 6 years now
 
cinnamontoast said:
Zak has HD and had Cartrophen injections. I saw zero difference. He swims a lot and that has been superb for him. He's kept warm afterwards and has an orthapaedic bed off the floor plus other beds are hugely padded so he never has to lie on a hard floor. Don't make the mistake of not exercising him enough to build up the supporting muscles (sounds like you know what you're doing, tbh) and take him into a sand school or onto a beach if you can, walking through sand or uphill is excellent.

We limit Zak's exercise so he's not running for ages and he is given jobs, searches to do instead to keep him thinking, which tires him out just as well. Is your collie interested in scent work and retrieval? We did make a decision that we would give him a fab life and let him run a bit, if that limits his life, I'd rather that than frustrate him and try to keep him quiet.

To partially answer Alec's queries, HD is sometimes brought about by environment as much as genetics: puppíes being asked to go up and down stairs or over walked because owners just don't know, or left on hard floors sliding round as babies. It may well be the overly high content of protein in the high end food or maybe the lack of protein in the lower end of the poorer dog food which doesn't support bone growth. Perhaps the levels of HD have always been high, but now we simply talk about it lots more because we use social media.
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Thank you. I have made the same choice as you, vet wants him on a lead for ten minute walks a day for the rest of his life....i told him no, he is a collie they are made to run. I want his to have a fun and fulfilled life even if it is short than a long and boring one.

I am actually interested in doing this with him and have been to a few training sessions to get some basics down, he is well behaved but we needed refining before we can do the more intense stuff. I had to stop with the sessons for a while as my asthma had a massive flare up and i could barely walk and i was wheezing. We have been doing bits round the house though so we haven't been totally slacking lol.

was going to go back this weekend but he has come down with conjunctivitis so that's put that back a little bit.

Mynutmeg I'm sorry about your girl, she has reached a good age gives me some hope. My boy will be three in April.
 
She's done well - maybe 2 years ago I didn't think we'd get her through that winter then she was started on opiods and it's only the last 6 months or so she's started to struggle again. She's with me for as long as she's bouncy and happy and wants to play/walk and she's not horrendously stiff and sore and when she's not then she'll go over the bridge as I won't keep her going beyond what she can deal with and be happy.
I've known she's got hd since she was about 1 as I had her x-rayed when she was spayed but she didn't show pain symptoms until she was 5 or so - although the whole time she's been on green lipped muscle which definately makes a difference even now so would highly recommend that (a collie can happily have the 500mg capsules, get it on amazon) and it can be used safely alongside anti-inflammatories as is just ground up shellfish but ti's where glucosamine etc comes from alongside having all the fish oils etc
 
thanks for that will have a look tomorrow and order some on payday :)

glad she has had a fun and full life and i hope this is a mild winter for her, collies do get under your skin in a special way don't they?
 
I have just started my dog on a trial of acupuncture 1-2 weekly. I'm not sure if it will work yet however it was recommended by a number of vets as a complimentary therapy alongside hydro, NSAIDs and a good excersise regime and I have seen good results on other animals.

He has only had one session so far but he enjoyed it, I will report back if it makes a difference!
 
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