Hips gone bad or sudden weight gain?

[Line-of-Fire]

Cruz, our old man, is about 10 years old I think. Going on 11. Lately his hips haven't been... Staying under him as well as they used to. If that makes sense. He doesn't fall over or anything, and he can walk on them, but they seem to be wobblier.

What I should have told you is that Cruz used to be the PICKIEST eater. We had to free feed him all day long to ensure that he'd even eat. No amount of wet foods or meats or juices you could put on his food would make it appetizing. He even turned his nose up to steak one time (but he loves buttered bread? Haha). NOT EVEN NUTRI-CAL! Well, since he wasn't eating as much as the other dogs and he was running around quite a bit, keeping things around the property in check, he was always more on the "working weight" end of the spectrum. That is, lighter than some. Which was fine for him, he didn't look underfed. And he wasn't, he just simply did not eat.

Well lately, in the last few months, he's really taken a liking to food. Odd... He's actually gained quite a bit of weight (I can't estimate, I'm a complete idiot when it comes to that) and you can TELL that he's no longer a working weight. He filled out real nicely, though!

My question is... Do you think that his hips are simply bad or that the weight maybe spurred them on? I don't remember Knik or Taggert getting wobbly hips this early, but maybe I'm wrong.

Your opinions?

[Elaine]

It sounds like it's time for this dog to get a thorough check up at the vet. Seniors start having some maintenance issues and the sooner you find out what is going on with your dog the sooner you can deal with them.

I would for sure want some blood work done to check for over-all health and to check for hypothyroid, which could be the cause of the weight gain. He also needs a good orthopedic exam to find out what's going on with his rear. I would be thinking more along the lines of lumbar stenosis more than HD, but that is a possibility too.