Zappa's Hip X Rays

[jaggirl47]

So, I get to the vet to look at Zappa's x rays and I was suprised. It was far from severe. The x rays look very similar to his 18 month ones with some added in abnormal bone growth in the left socket. All together, nowhere near what I was expecting to see after getting told it was severe. I was pretty happy. My hubby and I discussed it and Zappa will have surgery in January when my DH comes home for his midtour from Iraq.
The right hip looks pretty well seated (but slightly shallow socket) with a little bit of bony growth. He also has a bone spur on his spine that you can see on the side views.













Zappa's normal vet was off today so we had a different vet. She was trying to sell me on Science Diet prescription j/d. She was also lecturing me on joint suppliments. I informed her nicely that she obviously hasn't read Zappa's record very well because he is on a special diet for SIBO/IBD and he has been on Adequan injections for a while as well as glucosamine/condroitin and fish oil/vit e/vit c.

[Alto]

to you & Zappa!

Quote: I informed her nicely that she obviously hasn't read Zappa's record very well because he is on a special diet for SIBO/IBD and he has been on Adequan injections for a while as well as glucosamine/condroitin and fish oil/vit e/vit c.

too bad you had to pay her a complete exam fee when she was so poorly prepared - I'd send a letter in this regard to my regular vet & let the clinic know that I need to be informed <u>in advance</u> if my appointment will be with a different vet.

[jaggirl47]

The good thing is that I didn't have to pay an exam fee. My vet office is normally pretty good about that. It just irritates me that she would lecture me without even knowing his treatment regiment.

[Alto]

Yes, she would've done better to have asked what you & Zappa were doing first!
Even tho there was no fee, I'd still mention her lack of preparation to your regular vet; regardless, the clinic should've given you the option to switch your appt to a day where you & Zappa would get to see your usual vet.

[jaggirl47]

I will be mentioning it. The vet office should know better too. I am a stickler for my vet. He is awesome. I will call him this week though and have him take a look at them. The more I think about it, the more I get upset about getting a call about how severe it is. I think they look pretty darn good all things considered. Definate arthritis, but still way better than severe.

[Kayos and Havoc]

You know those don't look that bad. But every dog is different. There are dogs with really bad hips on flm and they don't have any problems for a long time, Then there are those that are having problems and the hips are just moderate or mild.

So if he needs the surgery, he needs the surgery.

Could the bone spur be causing some of his discomfort and not the hips? My Max has good hips and has problems from a bone spur. It causes him to have some HD like problems sometimes.

[Chris Wild]

I wouldn't consider the hips severe from a laxity standpoint. They're actually pretty tight. But I would consider the amount of arthritic change on the femoral heads to be severe. And a case where more laxity might be a good thing because with that much arthritis in such a tight joint bone on bone rubbing is a major concern.

I find these x-rays very interesting as I don't think I've ever seen that much arthritis without a lot of laxity.

[jaggirl47]

I have done everything I can to take care of him since he was diagnosed at a young age. The actual placement of the hips hasn't really changed, just the arthritis.

Chris, what exactly causes the laxity? The vet said he has pretty good muscle tone in the hind end. He just recently started actually limping on the left side, but his toes have been kind of turned in for years when he walks and runs. Should I possibly get his knees x rayed as well? Those have never been done. Should I do some sort of stretching exercises with his hips? Or just wait until we go to Texas A&M?

I wish I had copies of his x rays from when he was younger but unfortunately, they are in Georgia at his old vet office.