sproggie14 Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Barney Bear has been to the vets for a check up tonight and, as we had feared, he is thought to have hip dysplasia The vet says that the most important thing we can do for him is to shift that excess bear podge he is carrying and start him on gentle frequent exercise which we can do no probs. We also have glucosamin and all that type stuff left hanging around from when the Moomins got a bit stiff. Vet is hopeful that just these things might bring considerable improvement for him since he is considerably overweight and has never had regular formal exercise. So that is encouraging but I am worried about him and stairs. He still won't climb them and i think this is at least partly because his legs dont work so well. but when we carry him, his hips go clunk and I worry about hurting him. Any thoughts/experiences/suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safneo Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Does he need/want to go upstairs? Saffy has recently been diagnosed and is also on frequent exercise. She is fed labrador pero which has the glucosamine in it already and I have some synflex for if she overdoes things. Also, we have to get another 2-4 kilos off her. My vet recommended hyrdotherapy. I have to go and visit a local pool that I've found this week. Saffy does go up and downstairs but maybe only because she always has. I do make sure tha she is always supervised though and very rarely. One of the first things that alerted me to her possible hip problems was the way she came down the stairs, ie bunny hops. She also runs like this now a lot of the time If you need him to go upstairs, can you use a harness with a handle on the back? I think some of the trail harnesses do. Then you could help him up without having to carry him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 I'm pleased I've stumbled across this thread. My new greyhound, Ronnie, has hip dysplasia. He's two years old and is a little bit overweight so my immediate thoughts were to try to slim him down a bit. Also, he's had fairly irregular exercise so I was hopeful that a routine with exercise might help him. I've decided that he's better off sleeping downstairs as the trip upstairs for a bath last week was very clumsy. He'd probably not encountered stairs before but it seems unfair to make him do it for no reason, especially if he's happy enough downstairs. Going up wasn't easy but coming down was worse. I'm also using glucosamine as I use it routinely for the other two anyway. I have a Bioflow collar but was thinking about holding off using it until I really need to - wanted to keep something back for when it gets more uncomfortable for him because at the moment he seems to manage perfectly well. He just has an odd-looking walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiona711 Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Akira was diagnosed with HD at just over a year old , i have always given my dogs glucosamine and the vet tried her with a mix of that and chondritin (sp? ) That made her very sick so i cut that out and got her onto Green lipped mussel as well as glucosamine and she does really well on it and only needed metacalm once for a short time when she was first diagnosed . Luckily i have always kept her on the lean side so her weight is not a problem she gets fed on Gilpa kennel which has some green lipped mussel in it but i also give her capsules of that every day and it really does seem to help I have put a gate at the bottom of the stairs so she cant run up and down them which is not good for her , i do have steps outside front and back so i just make sure she walks slowly down them all the time , with her being a giant breed i was always careful with stairs and her jumping up was stopped before it really got to be a habit as i knew it was'nt good for her . Maybe if your boy wont climb stairs its a good thing as at least then it wont put extra strain on his hips and other joints , especially if he is a wee bit overweight ? As for exercise i know when she has had enough and dont push her we go for short walks , she also gets outside in the huge garden to play with Storm under my watchful beady eye so she does not do too much Fiona xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 The hydrotherapy pool that I take Lily too, says that the most frequent problem that they see is dogs with hip dysplacia. It's one of the things they can make the biggest improvement in too and swimming is very good for weight loss! It might be a bit far for you (between Guildford and Farnham) but there could well be another pool that's closer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sproggie14 Posted October 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Thanks guys. We tried having him sleep downstairs last night. I expected him to make a fuss but he settled perfectly. So, with a bit of reorganising, I think we will be able to just leave him downstairs. There is nothing he needs to go upstairs for (apart from a bath which the vet suggests we do weekly at the moment). I wondered about hydrotherapy too and there is a place not far from us that we looked into when Moo got a bit stiff. Does anyone know if it is generally covered by insurance? Not that it matters - he'll get whatever he needs - but it would be nice if someone else paid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 Petplan have started to pay for Lily's hydro this year, so it's worth asking your insurance company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rykat Posted November 30, 2007 Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Sorry to hear about Barney Bear, but the condition can be helped. Our Senior guy 'Dinky' Dino (10) has HD amongst other things. When he first came to us he was overweight and it took 6 months for him to lose it, once he got to the right weight he knackered his cruciate but thankfully it didn't snap. After 6 weeks rest he started at hydrotherapy and that has been the best thing for him. He was on a mixture of Gloucosamin/Chondroitan/Green Lipped Mussel and Metacam daily, but after a few months of hydrotherapy once a week he was on none of them and until 6 months ago has been fantastic. He's recently been diagnosed with heart problems (we think he's had it for a while but no symptoms showed) and until we're sure the meds are suiting him, he's not been swimming ... it's had a bad effect on his joints and he's suffering a bit with them at the moment, we're going to start again with the Green Lipped Mussel but leave off the Gloucosamin/Chondroitan. He's on a tiny bit of Metacam every few days but I'm looking into other supplements such as "Gro-well joint aid" and trying to see what experiences people have of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancy Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 When we picked up our Rotti Buddy 11 months ( foster ) we noticed his back legs were a bit funny in the way he walked so on the way home we decided he had better stay so we could take him to the vets and get him looked after. We booked the app. and he was in for x-ray the following week they said it was one of the worst cases of H/D they had seen however they put him on Rymidal for the pain and thought he would have to go up to 1and1/2 pills this winter but I was told to try Devils Claw Liquid and he has been on it for 2 months now and the difference is amazing, he still gets 1 pill a day but the way he is going I think I will be able to cut him down to 1/2 a pill soon, he has a good 10 min. romp in the morning with my other Rotti and he is fine. However the vet did say to keep him to a regular excercise routine and not to just take him on a long walk once a week as this would cause him pain, so he gets 3 times 1/2 hour walks a day 2 on lead. Other than that he leads a normal life. He is now 1 year 11 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Grose Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Hi I have a lurcher with very severe HD, he was diagnosed at 5 months (dumped - obviously) and I have had him ever since. He will be 5 in May. Important things with HD - always keep them on the thin side of normal, Barty weights 28 Kg and a normal lurcher his size would be around 29.5Kg. A good glucosamine, chrondroitin supplement is important - dogs must have more than 1000mg a day of glucosamine otherwise their stomach acid neutralises the effect. I use Synflex which seems to work just fine for my boy. Swimming is also very good for HD - it helps in loosing weight and keeping muscle tone good. My boy is terrified of water so he won't swim but for most dogs it is great. Regular exercise is also very important - two shorter walks a day are the ideal - three if you could manage it. If your dog needs pain relief - Devils Claw is an excellent natural anti-inflammatory. Until you have got your dog comfortable I would try and not allow him to do stairs or too much jumping. It took me a year to get Barty stabilized but now he is he does stairs, jumping and everything or he would if he hadn't screwed a disc in an accident, but that is another story. Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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