hip dysplasia

[vjp]

Hello, new here.

 

So, I have my first BC from a breeder, and she has mild hip dysplasia. I was told "no running, jumping, or playing". Sure, for an otherwise healthy, happy 10 month old? The only other recommendation was Dasuquin.

 

My question is: does anyone know, in minutes or hours, how much activity to limit her to? And HOW? If I don't specifically exercise her--throwing a ball throughout the day--she just exercises herself, running around, digging holes, & playing with the other 2 dogs. I don't know what's more cruel, crating a border collie most of the day, or allowing her free exercise knowing it might aggravate hip dysplasia. From what I read yesterday, it's still a mysterious condition.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Btw, the breeder offered a full refund, which I think speaks highly of her.

[Sue R]

Welcome!

 

Sorry to hear that your first post concerns a problem. I have no personal familiarity with HD but there are many milder cases that are not even detectable without xrays. How did you (and your vet) become aware of this, and how was it diagnosed? A bit more information might help people give advice that could be worthwhile.

 

A note of optimism is that many milder cases of HD are actually helped by the dog being fit and trim, in that muscling and condition, along with not carrying too much weight (underweight slightly may be an advantage), may provide some strength and support to the hip area.

 

But, I am concerned about "ball throwing" - activities that involve impact (jumping and so on) and a lot of repetitive motion (excessive walking/jogging/running) with a young pup or dog (whose growth joints have not matured and closed) can also result in structural problems, especially in later life.

 

And, yes, a breeder is acting responsibly by offering to take back any pup that has a condition like this but, once you've made a bond with a young dog, whether or not you are able emotionally to take her up on her offer is up to you.

 

Best wishes, and I am sure that others who can give helpful advice based on personal experience and knowledge will contribute.

[KrisK]

Hi vjp...try doing a search for hip dysplasia on this forum. There have been a number of good posts. My Cricket has HD but severe enough to have had surgery. A great exercise for your pup is swimming.

Good luck and HD is not a death sentence for a border collie...mine lives quite a great life with it - (BTW, she does run, walk and play a great deal - she even jumps) but she had her hip repaired and is now approaching her 6th! birthday.

[vjp]

I did try to search hip dysplasia but it wouldn't work. The reply said it didn't like it that one of the words has less than 4 letters. It's taking me awhile to get up to speed for this board.

 

Vivian

Chapel Hill, NC

[Sue R]

Just try searching on "dysplasia". It is a problem that it won't accept a three-lettered word as part of the search.

[vjp]

Hi Sue,

Curry was limping-- sometimes one leg, sometimes the other-- after highly active days. I guess that was suspicious that it wasn't an injury. I was told to keep her inactive and observe. She improved, but there was still some limping, so I was referred to a veterinary specialist. >$400! for xrays but fortunately not bad enough for surgery.

 

I could never give her up, just because she's not "perfect".

 

Hopefully, someone will be able to offer specific advice on "training the dog with hip dysplasia". An hour/day? 10 minutes 10x/day? Swimming sounds great, but that's doesn't seem to be an easy option where I live. Don't horses have very limited specific training to preserve their health?

 

I'm trying to keep Curry busy doing the daily Jumble now, because she was getting frustrated with Sudoku.

[sandyleew]

Brew has hip dysplasia and he leads as active a life as he wants. I give him glucosamine chondrotin and ester-c every day. I keep him fit and trim. He plays fetch and pretty much does whatever he wants. He does swim a lot in the summer. If he wants a rest, he gets one. If he starts to limp, I give him aspirin. I was really upset when I found out he had it, but it really hasn't changed his life at all. I would never have him do agility or flyball, but otherwise he is just a normal border collie.

[Sue R]

Hi Sue,

Curry was limping-- sometimes one leg, sometimes the other-- after highly active days. I guess that was suspicious that it wasn't an injury. I was told to keep her inactive and observe. She improved, but there was still some limping, so I was referred to a veterinary specialist. >$400! for xrays but fortunately not bad enough for surgery.

 

I could never give her up, just because she's not "perfect".

 

Hopefully, someone will be able to offer specific advice on "training the dog with hip dysplasia". An hour/day? 10 minutes 10x/day? Swimming sounds great, but that's doesn't seem to be an easy option where I live. Don't horses have very limited specific training to preserve their health?

 

I'm trying to keep Curry busy doing the daily Jumble now, because she was getting frustrated with Sudoku.

Thanks for the information, and that might help people to give you better advice.

 

My suggestion, and I have no knowledge other than what I have read here, is to give her plenty of "gentle" exercise that would build up fitness, such as walks (on softer surfaces like sod, if possible), avoid jumping and high impact (which is not good for growing joints at her age anyway), and keep her weight on the light side (if you saw me, you'd know I am a hypocrite because, while my dogs are fit and trim, I am not - they have me for the "food nazi" and I don't take good dietary advice for myself well from others ).

 

I am hopeless at Jumble (but my one daughter is great at it), not good at Sudoku (I only do passably on the easy level puzzles), and am decent at the less-challenging crosswords. Therefore, Curry has it all over me mentally, or at least at puzzle-solving!

[Debbie Meier]

I have not restricted exercise on my dogs but have become aware of what they are doing and how they are doing it. one of the pups from my last litter was x-rayed with HD so everyone is being treated as if they have HD. That pup matured faster then the rest and also carried more weight, so part of my focus is to keep the ones I have here lean and not worry about them still looking like gangly teenagers. They can run and play but when things begin esculating to the "Days of Thunder" crashem dashem, everything is pulled to a halt. I watch for self control, I think this is a carry over from the horses, my one mare had hock problems she was put on stall rest with limited turn out, when turned out she was an idiot, in the stall she was an idiot left to her own devises she would have crippled herself up. The vet suggested tranqualizers I opted for light controlled work, demanding self discipline. I would still work her into a sweat but no hard turns, no uncontrolled speed changes. I guess a person could consider it strength training. Personally I think that the time I spent teaching her control and discipline paid off in the long run, she ended up being one of those types of horses that could read your mind, if you thought left she just went left.

 

Sorry to go on, personally I would not worry about the time exercised as much as the quality of exercise. Uncontrolled "zoomies" have little value except to tweek hips, an easy rolling romp around the yard playing "now you see me now you don't" will help develop strength endurance and also encourage proper play. I don't allow tugging, and jumping is ok as long as it is not repetitive or the result of jumping to get something, if they bomb through and gently jump each other I'm not to concerned.

 

Deb

[vjp]

Thanks very much for the help here!

 

FWIW, my regular vet said that the advice I'd gotten here was sound--he liked the idea of a pool--and he thinks that Curry should still be on puppy food. [i've been giving all 3 dogs Canidae]. Curry's quite petite at 30 lb., and he wants her muscle mass built up.

 

Back to the message board, in search of nutrition!

 

Vivian

 

Btw, one of the posters here fostered my 11 yr. old BC, so that was fun to see the changes in her life since then.

[mum24dog]

I would never have him do agility or flyball, but otherwise he is just a normal border collie.

 

Plenty of dogs do agility with HD.

A friend adopted a 9 month old BC a few months ago and noticed a suspicious rear gait. She had him Xrayed by her own vet and then took him to see one of the top orthpaedic specialists here in the north of England who confirmed moderate HD.

He said that moderate HD was actually better than mild or severe as the balls weren't grating in the socket and could be held in position by muscle.

He had very little muscle mass when she got him but she was told to walk him on lead 3x1 hour a day and take him to hydrotherapy for 6 weeks and if he gained sufficient muscle he would be fine to do agility. I would add that the specialist is the one many top agility handlers use.

The only warning he gave was that he may start to stiffen up after about 8 years old but lots of dogs do anyway.

 

Pam

[Sue R]

I'd have to disagree with your vet, and say that I don't believe that many vets get much in the way of nutritional training (with regards to feeding dogs on a daily basis). Especially at 10 months of age, your dog has mostly grown her structure (skeleton) but has not finished growing it (the growth plates in the long bones are still open). The main development of her "muscle mass" is still to come - frame grows first and then muscling follows (which, if you think about it, makes a lot of sense).

 

But, I'm not a vet, not a nutritionist, and certainly not an expert - but you will find that most people here with experience raising pups will agree with me about feeding a quality adult food (some never feed puppy food, but certainly adult food from three months on at least) rather than puppy food, which (at label recommendations) encourages too rapid growth and supplies too many calories for most pups.

 

JMO

[mum24dog]

I'd have to disagree with your vet, and say that I don't believe that many vets get much in the way of nutritional training (with regards to feeding dogs on a daily basis).

 

you will find that most people here with experience raising pups will agree with me about feeding a quality adult food (some never feed puppy food, but certainly adult food from three months on at least) rather than puppy food, which (at label recommendations) encourages too rapid growth and supplies too many calories for most pups.

 

JMO

 

The first part is certainly true in the UK. My vet is the last person I would go to for nutritional advice for my dogs. Vets are too influenced by what the sales reps tel them.

As for puppy food, I do know that at least one breeder of successful working dogs who set up her own feed company gives her pups adult food from 3 months.

The specialist who advised my friend didn't mention diet at all and he was right. Walking and swimming was all that was needed to bulk up her dog's back end. There's a lot more scope for improvement as he gets older but it's adequate now and not wasted as it was before.

 

Pam

[vjp]

There's a patent [from 2001] to reduce hip laxity in dogs and, as near as I can tell, it adds electrolytes to the dog food.

Does anyone know if these are typically supplied?

[juliepoudrier]

Viv,

Did the patent actually say how the electrolytes work to reduce hip laxity? Because I'm not exactly picturing it here. There is a school of thought that some laxity is necessary for the proper functioning of a working dog (think sharp turns to hold back a sheep, for example). I tend to agree with that.

 

I have a dog who will be 13 in August. Her hips are horrible, but she was worked and trialed in open up until a few years ago, and she wasn't retired because of her hip problems. A fit, *well-muscled* dog is your best preventive medicine against the arthritis that will eventually arise due to the HD. Good muscling can go a long, long way toward providing the stability the hip joint is structurally lacking. For a young dog I would make the exercise somewhat controlled, not a lot of high impact. That said, I wouldn't necessarily restrict her normal puppy activities either. I'd probably take lots of long walks, letting her do bursts of speed or whatever suited her, but nothing like biking or jogging.

 

Swimming is the ultimate exercise for a dysplastic dog because you can build hip muscling without any real impact on the joints. Check out the thread on swimming pools in this section (it's probably still on the same page as this thread). When my Jill was injured, I swam her as part of her rehab. In the past two years when we've no longer had easy access to a pond for swimming, her rear end stability has reduced dramatically. I will probably purchase and install a pool for her this spring/summer so she can go back to swimming and build those hip-stabilizing muscles back up.

 

A vet who specializes in rehab can also probably help you come up with ideas for muscle-buiding exercise. When Jill had a knee injury, my vet came up with a plan to use exercise bands that would add resistance to her hip muscles while we walked without putting any pressure on her knee. That way we wouldn't lose the muscle tone she already had while waiting for her knee to heal.

 

I don't think dysplastic dogs should be limited from sports because of their condition. If the dog is able to do the sport and not suffer pain from it, I'd let them do it. My dog was not discovered to be dysplastic until she was already an open trial dog and her owner wanted to breed her and had her hips checked. So HD is not necessarily a "death sentence" when it comes to doing hard work/sports with your dog. You just need to be more in tune to your dog's pain indicators and make sure you don't overdo it with her.

 

The dysplasia itself will eventually cause osteoarthritis in the joints, and that's why the recommendation for supplements that will help "lubricate" joints, like glucosamine.

 

I am one who does not advocate puppy food. Any pup I get goes straight onto adult food, and the one litter of pups I raised was weaned straight onto adult food. Most puppy foods have a lot more calories than any pup needs. Keeping your pup thin now and as an adult will put much less stress on her joints.

 

J.

[vjp]

Julie, I wonder if I saw one of your redheads at a trial last year that made me want to get one.

 

The patent explained the "how"it was supplemented, but not the "why". I may keep looking, as I want to feel like I'm "helping" somehow. It's hard enough watching my 11 yr. old limp, but the puppy!?

 

My regular vet suspects laxity in other joints besides hips. Her knees were luxated, which was what brought me to the specialist in the first place. Apparently that goes in & out of joint periodically, and lately she's also been limping on a front paw. At this point, I'm not exercising her at all--she exercises herself. I'm not even walking her until I see a couple days of no limping. She plays like crazy, but then rests a lot too.

 

I am looking into getting a pool for all of us with problems, including me [fibro].

Vivian

[Mark Billadeau]

Patents do not have to be scientifically correct or scientifically proven; they only need to be a new idea or an extension of an old idea that is not obvious. Pharmaceutical companies patent novel compounds that could be drugs based upon preliminary data to protect their idea; they then move forward with the drug development process and very few of these make it to clinical trials and FDA approval.

 

Mark

[diane allen]

A couple of exercises that will help build the rear-end muscles, which will help offset the dysplastic hips:

 

1) crawl backwards (it took awhile for my guy to "get" this - but now he loves it! He usually just does three or four steps at a time - but now I can repeat the command, and he'll go 20 feet!)

2) walk backwards - just a few steps. This is also great for "space control" - you step into the dog's space, he backs up* a few steps, then YOU step backwards and invite him into your space. * If he turns or otherwise doesn't walk straight back, you can start in a narrow hallway, or create a "chute" with x-pens, etc.

3) walk sideways. My guy really doesn't like this - but maybe if you start earlier in life.... I started with the dog parallel to a fence, just to keep him "confined" a bit. Gently push on his side, so he has to walk sideways. He shouldn't be moving forward or backwards more than a step or so.

4) general stretching. I use a couple of different moves: hold the agility teeter up (in my case, with my hip - but you could prop it up with anything), and tempt the dog to reach up with his front feet to the board. The board shouldn't move - you're just giving him something to put his weight on. Another is a "bow" - like a play bow, best taught as a treat between front legs, and you may have to hold up the rear end at first (or continue to do so - no issues there).

 

And as others have said, lots of walks, especially on hills, and swimming. I have a 15' diameter, 42" deep pool, for my dogs to exercise in - and me to cool off in! I also started my guy on glucosamine at age 2, and have recently started him on Hyaflex, to help lubricate the joints (both per my vets).

 

Best of luck - HD dogs can do just fine in life, as long as they're in shape and not overweight.

 

diane

[vjp]

Thanks, Diane; those were great specific instructions. I'm going to print it out.

I was wondering how I was going to get her on a bicycle.

 

I've found the pool, now I need to find someone to install [including getting sand inside the fenced yard].

Vivian

 

Btw, there are disagreements online re. the electrolytes because dogs don't sweat. Duh. It has to do with the proper acid/alkaline base, as well as hydrating a dog who may be prone to dehydration, or sick. As well as other cellular chemistry that I can't even pretend to understand. I think there is still much to discover re. animal as well as human nutrition, so I hope the chemists keep plugging away. I don't think it was that long ago that they began adding taurine to cat food.

[bc4ever]

Diane,

 

Thanks for all the information on exercises! I'm going to start tomorrow. Scooter walks backwards, and he'll crawl forwards. How do you teach them to crawl backwards?

 

Pam

[diane allen]

Oh heck, I dunno!! It's just one of those things that my boy just "did."

Seriously - I would think you could get down on your knees (ouch) and hold a treat down at the dog's chest level - perhaps giving your "walk back" cue. My guy only walks backwards when I'm walking into him. Otherwise, "back" means crawl. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it (one of those "he probably has me so trained, he knows exactly what to do" things!) - he only crawls backwards after he's in a "down." So - maybe start there?

 

Sorry I don't have any magic wands. Trying to get him to put one back foot up on a box right now...with little success!

 

diane

[bc4ever]

Oh heck, I dunno!! It's just one of those things that my boy just "did."

Seriously - I would think you could get down on your knees (ouch) and hold a treat down at the dog's chest level - perhaps giving your "walk back" cue. My guy only walks backwards when I'm walking into him. Otherwise, "back" means crawl. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it (one of those "he probably has me so trained, he knows exactly what to do" things!) - he only crawls backwards after he's in a "down." So - maybe start there?

 

Sorry I don't have any magic wands. Trying to get him to put one back foot up on a box right now...with little success!

 

diane

LOL! Okay--I'll see what I can come up with. I actually don't know how or when Scooter started to walk backwards on command, as in something he just "did." Never fails to surprise me, that's for sure. And I really do like your suggestions. Sounds "do-able."

 

Let me know if you find your magic wand!

Pam

[vjp]

Diane,

 

Thanks for all the information on exercises! I'm going to start tomorrow. Scooter walks backwards, and he'll crawl forwards. How do you teach them to crawl backwards?

 

Pam

 

I learned this inadvertently this morning: Curry had a squeaky toy, and I was down on the floor pretending to take it away by going for her front paws. She began crawling backwards. It didn't work with a ball--she would advance then. She takes the ball VERY seriously; squeaky is for fun.

 

I'd like to know how do you get a dog to walk sideways.

[bc4ever]

I learned this inadvertently this morning: Curry had a squeaky toy, and I was down on the floor pretending to take it away by going for her front paws. She began crawling backwards.

Of course! That would work! Thanks!!

[TrishD]

Thanks for all the good suggestions. When I adopted Tessie, I took her to the dog park the first week and notice afterward that she was limping as if she'd overdone it. My first thought was that she has hip dysplasia, but I didn't want that to be true. She also has sensitive feet--particularly the rear--so I thought maybe that's what was wrong with her. Maybe she was just irritating her feet. But after reading the boards, I've realized that what I'm seeing in Tessie are signs of hip dysplasia. It's good to know, though, that in spite of it, Tessie can have a happy and fun life.