[Rturner]

Just got this girl a few weeks ago, her breeder sold her due to her hips not being able to be rated due to having mild HD, Subluxation, remodeling of the femoral neck,OA/DJD, and Right Unilateral pathology.


Are these hips really worthy of saying they aren't able to be rated?


Not worried about breeding her at all since we got a spay before bringing her home, more concerned with being able to do IPO work with her. I know tracking and obedience aren't hard on the hips, but the jumping of bite work and the rest of an IPO routine is what I am concerned about.


Her elbows came back with a normal rating.

 

[Jax08]

Unless she is showing symptoms, don't worry about it. Keep her muscles strong. No reason she can't run, do agility, whatever, unless she's showing symptoms. Keep her lean, give her foods that are natural anti-inflammatories and good joint supplement.

 

[CometDog]

I agree, watch the dog and symptoms. I had a friend with similar results totally cleared by the vet for full activity, though not forced activity. Just watch the dog. Good supplements, and muscle strengthening like uphill hikes at their pace, swimming if you can make it happen. That sort of thing.

 

[Magwart]

The most important advice anyone ever gave me about HD is this: treat the dog, not the xray. Some dogs with horrible xrays actually lead active lives without any trouble until old age, when arthritis sets in. Other dogs with merely "marginal" xrays experience a lot of pain and need more intervention and management. It's so hard to predict which ones will be lame -- it's kind of like humans with degerative disc disease in their spines.


One thing you can do that will improve her odds is talk to the vet about getting her on Adequan therapy while she's young, and keep her on it. One of my friends' dogs has the worst hips her vet has ever seen, but they put this dog on Adequan when they adopted her at 3, and the dog is now 11 and doing pretty well, with some arthritis. She led an active, happy life and missed out on nothing. She's raw fed and has always been fit, and I think that probably also made a difference. Now that she's old, she's also getting acupuncture and aquatic physical therapy.

The reason to start Adequan early is that it will slow the degenerative process that leads to arthritis -- preserving cartilage and keeping joints lubricated. It's a 4 week loading dose of 2 shots per week, and then you should be able to maintain with one a month for a long time. It's a little expensive to do at the vet (maybe $50/shot depending on weight), but if you are able to do the injections yourself, you can save a lot of money (have the vet show you) -- I buy it for some of the rescue's dogs from Valleyvet.com with the vet's approval.

 

[Sunsilver]

The main problem with those hips is the sockets are shallow and don't completely cover the hip ball. I do not see a lot of subluxation, meaning there is a lot of space between the ball joint and the hip joint (i.e. a partial dislocation). The balls are firmly seated in the socket.

Unless she is showing symptoms, I would feel comfortable doing different activities with her. Tracking, obedience, walking, swimming, etc. I'd avoid anything that's going to put too much stress on the joints, for example, fast turns.

As has been said above, keep her lean and fit!

Edited to add: were the x-rays submitted to OFA?

 

[Rturner]

The main problem with those hips is the sockets are shallow and don't completely cover the hip ball. I do not see a lot of subluxation, meaning there is a lot of space between the ball joint and the hip joint (i.e. a partial dislocation). The balls are firmly seated in the socket.

Unless she is showing symptoms, I would feel comfortable doing different activities with her. Tracking, obedience, walking, swimming, etc. I'd avoid anything that's going to put too much stress on the joints, for example, fast turns.

As has been said above, keep her lean and fit!

Edited to add: were the x-rays submitted to OFA?

Yes the x-rays where submitted to OFA.

 

[Sunsilver]

Okay, thank you. The right side of the dog is the left side of the photo, and you can see some exostoses (bone spurs) on the x-ray where the ball joint meets the neck of the femur.

 

[FreitagKennels]

Second Opinion?

What if you want a second opinion on the X-rays? Where can you go?