My beautiful puppy has been diagnosed with hip dyspalsia.

[gemmummy]

That's it really. Feel so gutted tonight, would anyone care to share experiences, tips etc? I have a great vet who is talking hydrotherapy and things like that but it will depend on what is covered by my insurance and what i can afford. She's an 18m0 black lab and her parents and grandparents were hip scored which makes it more gutting. My poor pooch.

if anyone notices bella or the other very clever dog lovers on the boards tonight could they please point them this way thanks.

Really sorry to hear this - try not to panic too much though (easier said than done I know), as with the right treatment she'll probably lead a very long, very happy and normal life. And they've caught it early, which is a good thing.

With our lab puppy (10 months - also black) it was elbow dysplasia rather than hips. She
started showing symptoms in October when she was about 4 months old. First of all it was just intermittant lameness, but it progressed until she could hardly put weight on her left leg and was in constant pain. The muscle in her left shoulder had also completely wasted away. She'd been back and forward to the vets several times for x-rays and examinations and medication, trying to manage the pain without putting her through surgery at such a young age, especially as it could reoccur. But it got to the stage where we had to take action, she couldn't even walk ten steps without limping badly, so in January our vet referred us to an orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in dysplasia conditions. We had an appointment with him on he 26th January and it was just supposed to be a quick consultation, but she was so bad he kept her in, and she was on the operating table by the time we got home. It was a real shock because it was so unexpected, but he said he didn't want to wait because she was one of the worst cases he'd ever seen at her for such a young dog. During the operation he found that the bone in her elbow had actually started to die away, so she had rotten dead bone that was progressing down her elbow and must have been absolute agony for her (thank God we caught it in time or it could have spread right down her leg). Thankfully he managed to remove all the decaying bone, along with a fragment of loose bone that he found, just leaving healthy stuff behind. And because he'd done it keyhole, he said she had very little in the way of incisions/wounds. So you can imagine our shock when we went to pick her up expecting a tiny bandage, and were greeted with this sight

A few days after the operation, we took her to our own vet to have the bandage off and we were amazed - not only had her incisions completely healed, but she was also walking nomally! She's been limping in her bandage because it was so restrictive, but we'd been so used to her limping before the operation that we thought nothing of it. You could have knocked me down with a feather when the vet walked her up and down the carpark and she was bending her elbow and putting weight on her leg, just three days after her operation!

Since her operation, she had to be confined to a crate all day and has only been allowed small walks on the lead. For the first two weeks she was only allowed to go outside for the toilet, and had to be helped down the back steps - I even had to sleep on the sofa with her because she couldn't get up the stairs! Gradually as she started to get a bit stronger we've built her up to longer walks, but she's been really frustrated because she feels better and wants to run and play. It's really difficult to keep her contained when she must feel like she's got a new leg! Especially considering the pain she's been in for the whole of her short life.

She had her follow up with the surgeon this afternoon, five weeks after the operation, and he was amazed at her recovery. He twisted her elbow every way he could and got no response - before when you lifted her leg, she'd cry out in pain and try to roll over and show you her tummy as if to say 'don't hurt me'. And he was really happy with the muscle tone she's built up too - so much so, he's given us permission to build her back up to her hour-long walks on the lead, and to have three off the lead walks every week I never thought I'd be so happy about three little walks, but it's such a massive step forward for us. To celebrate, we took her to the beach with our older dog after the vets, and she really did have the time of her life. She had 40 minutes off the lead, running about like a nutter wearing the biggest dopey grin you've ever seen (or was that me?!), and even had her first swim in the sea. There was no hint of a limp, and she just looked like any normal dog running around enjoying herself (albeit much more hyper!). It is literally the first time in her life she'll have been able to run around without pain - I could have cried for her, I'm just so pleased.

Oh dear, I've rambled on! I guess I just wanted to say don't lose hope - vets really can do amazing things, my black bombshell is proof of that. If all the other avenues fail, they can do great things nowadays with hip replacements, and they're making even the worst affected dogs jump around like puppies again! This site is full of stories about labs with HD and ED - I'll warn you, not all of them have a happy ending, but an awful lot of them do, and it really helped me reading through them.

How much does your insurance cover you for? Even if it doesn't cover the entire cost of her treatment, it should go a very large way towards it. Our bill (including the months of care before her op and all our dealings with the surgeon) has only come to around 2k, and it's all been covered by the insurance.

Sorry for rambling

Sorry, me again, forgot to say - hydrotherapy can work wonders, it really can. Building up the muscles around the hips can help hold everything in place, and swimming puts no pressure on her hips whilst doing so. Our local centre charges £35 for an hour's session including physio, but if your vet recommends it, most insurers will cover it.

hi mrs l123 thank you so much for your heartwarming story, I really appreciate you taking the time to write it. The vet's approach is to wait and see at the minute, we discussed diet and as a result we're changing her food to Royal Canin mobility diet and restricting her exercise, which will be a feat in itself, she is normally walked off lead for at least 40 mins a day and the vet is saying 5 minutes off lead at a time. Basically the vet is advising a management rather than surgery approach at the minute, with a review in 3 months, as at the minute her limping is sporadic and seems to only last a second or two. To top it off, she was speyed today and that's when they did the hip xray so my poor hound is feeling very very sorry for herself. And so am I!

oily fish is good for hip dysplasia you could see the difference in my lab

we didn't have insurance and the vet bills were massive so we couldn't afford to keep him sadly but we rehomed him with a lovely lady who looks after him extremely well (we see him every month or so) he has not had to have an op and he is doing great he even ran out in front of a car and got knocked down and is still doing well he is on some tablets, i forget the name sorry but just wanted you to know that its not always bad when they are so young, it does get worse as they get older though

good luck

Oh the poor thing! Just while you mention the x-rays, it may be worth getting them retaken specifically in regards to the HD, because they will take x-rays at all different positions to see where the ball sits in each position. I'm sure when I looked into it, I read that the position of the legs in an x-ray can make it look as though there is a HD problem when there isn't, or can make it look worse than it is? Not 100% on that though. Where's bella when you need her?!

Ours has Seraquin joint supplements which you can get from the vet or online - they're one of the strongest you can get and really seem to help. Oily fish also helps, as mentioned above. And green lipped mussle extract has been known to have great effects.

From an exercise point of view, it's all about building muscle without putting stress on the hips, so no jumping or running around basically (try telling that to a lab puppy, I know!). Do you live near the sea or a river? Once the weather warms up some swimming might do her the world of good, and if you can't afford hydrotherapy it's the next best thing. How does she walk on the lead? We had to get one of those halti harnesses for ours, as she normally walks to heel really well but turned into a nightmare after her operation because she was so desperate to play. Pulling puts a lot of stress on their joints so it may be worth considering something similar if you find it difficult to keep her calm. Did the vet mention if it's ok to jog with her? We've been doing some very gentle, very slow jogging in short bursts during her walks, and it's really helping to build up her muscles.

the vet has said no jogging at the minute, and on the lead she's ok but that's normally after a long old run when she's tired. Thanks for the idea on a halti, I will definitely invest in one of those to stop pulling. The vet said I could either give her supplements with her normal food or change her food entirely to the one we're getting, which is on prescription only. I was a bit worried about the cost as it's £70 a bag but the vet explained that she will only be having 130-150 grams per meal twice a day so I think it is only going to work out fractionally more expensive than her normal food in the long run. The food we're giving her has all the supplements in so ne need for the seperate stuff. Anyway, it's been a tough old day for me, and even more so for Izzy so I'm logging off now but will check back in the morning, and thanks again for your time. If you remember anything else, I'd be grateful to hear about all your experiences, forewarned is forearmed and all that.

hi again mrs l123 I've checked my insurance today and I'm covered for 2500 from first date of treatmient for 12 months, hoping this will be adequate!

Gemmummy it's tricky if you've got a time limit - I don't have one on mine, but I know on my insurance form it asks the vet 'date you first saw the animal in relation to this condition' rather than 'date of first treatment', so you'll need to check your policy wording carefully to make sure it is 12 months from the first treatment, not 12 onths from the date it was first diagnosed. You don't want to get a shock a couple of years down the line if you try to claim and find out she was only covered 12 months from yesterday.

If it is from diagnosis, I would push to get everything done now, such as having the x-rays sent to a specialist for consultation, and getting the hydrotherapy booked - with most centres you have to pay in advance, but this would work in your favour, as you could do a block booking (i.e enough for a few months) and then claim it back.

With 13 years in a practice with a large number of labs, retrievers and spaniels HD is something I see everyday.
In this time I have only needed to refer 3 dogs for replacement surgery. All three of these dogs had such severe HD that their hips would pop out at home on a regular basis.
The vast majority of young dogs that are diagnosed with HD at such a young age as your dog are successfully managed for many years with weight control, glucosamines (seraquin\mobility support) and managed exercise. They almost always require drugs later in life, even the dogs who have been for surgery do eventually in later life usually end up on anti-inflammatory drugs (metacam\rimadyl).

mrs l123 it definitely says 12 months from first treatment rather than diagnosis. lizcat, thank you for your reassuring words, hopefully we can manage this well.

That's good then gemmummy, and hopefully you'll never have to use it! As lizcat says, there are so many other options apart from surgery, and chances are she'll be absolutely fine for years and lead a completely normal life. Especially now you know there's a problem, so can manage it effectively with diet and exercise and supplements. Our vet has said we're pretty much guaranteed to have problems down the line with Holly's elbow (arthritis etc) but it could be when she's 4 or 14 and there's no way to know, so for now we're just making the most of her new leg and will deal with it when it comes!

I had a look at the Royal Canin Mobility food today and I see it has some green-lipped mussel extract in it, so that's good. The only thing I would say is that the levels of glucosamine and chondroitin don't seem very high to me, considering it's specifically for joint problems. It says 1000mg per KG of food, and lists them together as 'Glucosamine + Chondroitin', so this would lead me to believe it's 1000mg combined, rather than 1000mg of each. If she's eating 300g of food per day, she'll only be getting 300mg of the glucosamine and chondroitin (so possibly only 150mg of each), whereas each Seraquin tablet has 500mg of glucosamine HCI and 380mg of chondroitin (and 50mg of tumeric which also good for joints). For the fist six weeks she'd have a 'loading dose' of 3 tablets a day, giving her 1500mg of glucosamine and 1140mg of chondroitin. After that, you'd reduce it gradually to 1.5 tablets a day, which would be a daily dose of 750mg glucosamine and 570mg of chondroitin - much higher than in the RC food. So I would consider using her normal food and giving her Seraquin instead. Bear in mind too, that although the RC doesn't seem much more expensive because she's eating less, the feeding guidelines on most foods are about 20-30% higher than you actually need. RC will give a more accurate feeding guide because it's a veterinary diet, so although it seems like she needs less, you could probably give her 300g of her normal food and she'd be absolutely fine on it - and with the money you save, you could give her Seraquin (if you buy it online it works out at about 40p a day - your vet could probably match the price if you bought a few packs at a time). Worth considering, anyway.

Sorry meant to add, if you've got the large breed mobility RC, the glucosamine and chondroitin are doubled, so she'll be getting 600mg per day from her food (still looks like this is a combined amount though, rather than 600mg each).

So sorry to hear your news, Gemmummy. What were the parents' hip scores, out of interest?

There are lots of management techniques, as others have explained - and veterinary options for when / if the condition worsens, too - so try not to lose heart.

MrsL123, thanks for that, I'm back at vets on Friday for a check up on how's she's healing after being speyed so I will check with the vet about the levels of glucosamine, and chondroitin. Incidentally, although I've already picked up her first bag of food from vets today, I've subsequently found it online for £18 cheaper with free delivery. It's the RC Mobility Support MS25 so not the large breed specific one, however our pooch is a dinky at only 22 kg so maybe she doesn't need the large breed one yet? Hobnobfanatic, I will dig out her registration certificate tonight and post the scores tomorrow if you're interested still, I have a vague idea of where they are in my unorganised house (disclaimer I have toddler plus lab!)

Anyway, thanks again everyone for taking the time to write and reassure me.

Gemmummy according to the factsheet the large breed is for dogs 20kg plus, so although she's pretty borderline the levels of glucosamine and chondroitin are doubled compared to the standard one, so it'd be worth asking the vet about if it means she can get twice the amount of goodies from the same serving size (especially as they seem to be pretty much the same price, from what I've found online, so you're getting double for your money).

We've also replaced our usual treats with the Joint Care Marrowbone Biscuits from PAH. They only get a few a day, but every little helps!

With regards to her surgery, has your vet mentioned Arnica? It has amazing anti-inflammatory effects and I swear by it after any operation or injury (human or canine!), it really does speed up the healing process. You can get the pills from any health food place or chemist (even boots etc) and they're just teeny tiny little round pellets that you can put in her food, they're sugar coated so they taste sweet, but she probably won't even notice them because they're so small. We get the 30c strength ones, and our vet recommends 3 pills twice a day.

I tell you want mrs L, you're a mine of info! Never even considered Arnica! I was a bit worried yesterday because she had no interest in food or water but she's defo back to normal today, scoffed her breakfast and is still wanting more. This may sound daft but someone has said to me bio oil make help make the healing less itchy?

Comes from having accident prone dogs lol!

I'd be wary of putting anything oily onto her wound, but when our older dog hurt her paw we used aloe vera gel and that seems to help, especially if you keep it in the fridge so it's nice and cool. It's also not harmful if she licks it