[Natasha]

I have a few questions, all which lead me to worring about my gal and make me nervous.

The other day we were out playing and her hips started popping. For a few mintues straight they made the popping noise

Is that a sign of HD?

Then I noticed that her "gait" isn't really all that flowing. It's a bit short/choppy. And I swear she looked lame in the hind end yesturday. Can that be a sign of HD?

And I do catch her bunny hopping when she does run. I hear that that's a sign of HD right?

And then I've noticed that she is a bit wobbly in the hind. I've noticed it more and more and more. It's really noticable. I've watched my aunts dogs hind's when they walked to see if they did the same thing...nope...is the wollyness a sign of HD?

Here's her first x-ray
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/OlsisGoose/Tashweight.jpg

and some video clips of her moving
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=659373&page=1#Post659373

I'm taking her in again around July to get her hips and elbows x-rayed and then having the vet send those x-rays in. I'll get a copy of them to post here and to look at.

 

[BowWowMeow]

Do you have Tash on joint supplements? I know you have been concerned about her hips for a long time and that is certainly something that can't hurt. Rafi's hips pop and he had a funny gait when I adopted him. His hips also were painful. Now that I've had him on supplements (Springtime Inc.'s Joint Health and now Longevity) he has an excellent gait (no bunny hopping!), no turned under sits or downs and his hips don't hurt anymore.

 

[Natasha]

saddly no, not yet. Between getting her food, Salza her fly sheet and paying for my school trip and trying to save for the vet bill for the x-rays I dont' have any money to buy supps at this point. I am going to as soon as I can though.

 

[LisaT]

With Indy, she gets wobbly as a sign of a back problem, and it will show up as hip pain, and even pain in her knees.

From your first post, sounds like you should have her on joint supps as soon as you can manage it.

 

[Kay13411]

To me her first set of x-rays looks really good. Try this, take her foot and turn it under, as if trying to make her walk on the top of the foot. Can she correct the position? Did it take time for her to correct it? It may not be hips at all, but her back.

 

[Fodder]

how old was tasha during that set of xrays and how old is she now? her hips look pretty good and i cant see them progressing that fast to where she'd be showing actual signs of HD yet (assuming she has or will even have it). when my girl was diagnosed, she had it in both hips and it was classified as 'severe' at that point. i think she was 4, anyway - she didnt begin showing signs until a few years after that and it was mainly because the arthritis had set in pretty bad. first sign was getting up slower from a lay position. then the bunny hop. then she began to lose muscle tone in her back legs and her whole confirmation changed. from the videos i watched, nothing seemed 'off' to me, but i dont have anything to compare it to either ya know...

fingers crossed.

oh, and as far as supplements. i have my girl on nupro silver and in just months i'd have to say she made a 70% improvement. its good stuff!

 

[Natasha]

Kay - I tried that. When she first got up it took her a few seconds. So I decided to get her up move her around so she could stretch after sleeping and re-try it. On the second time I tried it it took about 1 second to bring it back.

Camerafodder - I can tell a difference from when she was a pup. I'll take her out for a small walk on the Flexi lead -which I hate doing as I hae that leash when going for walks but- and see if I can get a video clip of her walking.

She was 18months in the video. She's now 29 months. When I can get the new set of x-rays taken she'll be around 32months

I do remember that before I had her first x-ray taken the vet did this test in which checked her hips. Something about bringing her backleg out and checking something?? I know Tash didn't let the vet pull her leg bakwards. Does that mean anyting?

 

[MaggieRoseLee]

I'm not an expert and the x-rays seem ok (the left maybe not as good as the right?). As far as the video, that's also hard to really see, though she seems to rock side to side more in the rear than my dogs.

That said, our dogs can have different structure and gaits. So she may just walk differently.

I haven't been keep up with your past postings. Is she otherwise in really great shape with miles of running, swimming, hiking, etc? Lean and fit (with supplements) are the best way to 'fight' HD the first few years to prevent surgeries.

Vitamin C???

http://www.yourdoghealth.com/dog_ester-c_study.htm

http://www.tropicokennels.com/vitamin_c.htm

http://www.showdogsupersite.com/hips.html

 

[Natasha]

MaggieRoseLee with the past winter we have had it was hard to get her out and for walks as when if it wasn't negitive double digits it was solid ice all over and all she did during walks was slip and I didn't want her slipping and hurting herself. So we played as much as we could inside. That though left her out of shape. She's been sneaking down when we aren't home and getting at the cat food we noticed. So we're going to put up a baby gate to the room where the cat food is as we free feed our cat. So she's a bit heavey too. I'm working on getting her back into shape. I'd like her to be around 70lbs if not 68 or 69 pounds when I get her to where I want to be. She's probably at the high 70lbs no more then 80 for sure and could stand to loss some weight for the purpose of her hips and just in gerneral.

Also now that it's drying up out side we can safely go for walks without sinking 1' into the ground lol

Here are some vids along with stills from the clips as I just found out that I can take stills from the videos I take.

and one of her sitting - should I correct this sit into a "proper" one? or let her sit who it feels "comfortable"? Would be get points off in the OB ring for a sit like this?

 

[BowWowMeow]

Regular long walks and swimming (is possible) will go a long way for keeping her hips working well. After 3.5 months of daily exercise (1-2 hours/day) Rafi has huge muscles in back. The other day he rolled all of the way over for the first time!

I would make those supplements a priority and get her out every day for walks. 2-3 miles would be a minimum in my opinion.

 

[Lauri & The Gang]

Yes, you could get points off in the OB ring. When my dogs decide to sit down of their own accord I don't care how it looks. But if they are in the heel position and I tell them sit they know exactly what I'm looking for.

As far as hips the ONLY thing that can say if they are good or bad is an xray. I've see OFA Excellent that bunny hopped and severely displastic dogs that didn't.

 

[JakodaCD OA]

when you can afford those xrays, I would also include spine xrays as well as front elbows/shoulders..If she's going to be "under" anyhow, a couple xtra pics are not going to cost much more and will give the BIG picture.

My male has been having some weird gate issue, at first I thought it could be a disc prob, (since I know his hips are fine), or spinal, had him xrayed, a small portion of spondylosis, no arthritis in the joints, took him to a doggie physical therapist and he is now getting laser treatments, I saw improvement in one day. Keep in mind my male is also 11 years old no spring chicken ) however, structurally he's always been in prime shape. one thing that's affected him is a equine erhlichia which I can't seem to get under control, and I'm sure my female aussie slamming him alot..

I digress,, as others have posted, some dogs just gait differently with no real problems, until you have a thorough body xray there's no way of really diagnosing anything. Supplements are always a plus, and can be purchased quite cheaply at walmart/drug stores in human form.

Diane