Anyone living with a severely displastic dog?

[Tommy Coyote]

My friend just found out that her border collie puppy (10 months) is severely dysplastic. One hip is perfect and the other one is flat. This is just terrible news.

 

Honestly, I am really worried about this puppy. First he had a bad case of demodectic manger that just has not gone away. That always makes me wonder about how strong his immune system is. I had a puppy get a bad case of that and it finally healed but she didn't live very long. She got a fast moving lung infection that killed her when she was only about a year and a half old.

 

She was putting on a type of flea treatment (it is a little stronger than Frontline) to treat the mange. It was month three and the mange was getting better but she got up to find her puppy couldn't stand up. She works for a vet and she called him and he told her to wash him really good to get the treatment off. He examined him and was just sure he had had a bad siezure. It was a good 24 hours before he was acting like himself again. And it was after that episode that he started limping on and off - and then mostly all the time.

 

Both of this dog's parents were certified for hips and eyes. Goes to show what that means.

 

They are going to try adiphon (sp?).

 

Any helpful ideas? She is just sick. She certainly doesn't have $5,000 for an operation.

[juliepoudrier]

Without funds for the hip replacement, really all they can do is manage the issue (Adequan is a good choice) and perhaps work in physical therapy to build the musculature in the bad hip. Increasing muscle will help hold the hip in place better. The best exercise, if they can manage it, is swimming. No impact on the bad joint, but great for building muscle.

 

J.

[jdarling]

So sorry to hear this. I had a pup diagnosed at six months old. We managed her pain until she was about 2 or 3 years old with liquid Glucosamine & Chondrotin, a bit of Rimadyl as needed, swimming and low-impact activities like Julie mentioned. She then dislocated one hip, and had a Femoral Head Ostecotomy done with great success. My ex and I then split up and she went with him, but I heard he had her other hip done and she's doing great. Any idea if the pup is eligible for that type of surgery? It was relatively inexpensive compared to a total hip replacement. A few hundred bucks.

 

Do you know what lines the pup is out of or who the breeder is? There might be people on here familiar with the lines and could potential give you some background on epilepsy, HD, etc. in the lines.

[MaryP]

We have a foster dog right now who just had his second Femoral Head Ostecotomy (FHO) surgery about a month ago. His first hip was operated on in January. He is only about 2-3 years old, but was severly dysplastic with quite a lot of arthritis. He is definitely still favoring the leg that was most recently operated on, but he gets around well and goes to the park every day with all the other dogs. He still needs to build up muscle in his hind quarters, but he should be able to live a fairly normal life.

[Tommy Coyote]

The breeder is pretty well respected around here. She offered to take the dog back which my friend would never do. She is totally in love with this dog. So the breeder told her she would give her another puppy at any future time. That line comes from Glen Jones' dogs so he is well bred. They are mostly Welsh dogs.

 

I wonder where we could take him to swim. Does it need to be some place with warm water? This summer we could take him up to Smithville lake. The water gets pretty warm during the summer.

 

Our vet said that he could probably "limp" along until he was 8 or 9 years old but that he would need the surgery by then.

 

I think the Femoral Head Ostecotomy is what my resucue dog had. I got her because she had been hit by a truck and had a broken hip and pelvis. Her owners wanted to put her down. So my vet did the operation and I took her. She gets around pretty well - she can't run real fast or corner very well but she has had good quality of life. She is 11 now and still doing fine. I didn't realize they could do that for dysplasia.

 

Please excuse my awful spelling today. I'm really upset about this. This is the sweetest little dog.

[Lenajo]

If the femoral head is just a stick then there shouldn't be any contact to cause pain. I've seen a dog with 2 hips like that and she just couldn't drive from the rear - but no pain. Essentially she had a genetic FHO.

 

If there is contact in the joint then adequen, keeping her lean and fit with low impact exercise (swimming, flat ground herding on calm sheep, walking) to build muscle helps a lot.

 

You're spitting in the wind if you think OFA xrays of the parents help you get a sound pup. Even the guide dog associations, who xray every entire litter of every generation, can't get 100% pass rate. It's polygentic for sure, with lots of environmental influences. You could also be dealing with a congenital defect or early injury that wasn't noticed.

 

Many dysplastic dogs lead normal, uneventful lives IF you keep them thin and fit. There are some high placing sheep and cattle trialers, agility dogs, and obedience dogs that go to their respective posts on daily and day-of medicine. You'd never know the difference. The dogs seem to prefer that to inactivity and bubble wrap.

[Liz P]

Veterinary Surgery and Emergency Center in Overland Park, KS has a full service PT department. Mission Med Vet in Mission, KS also has PT. An underwater treadmill is great for dogs with HD.

[Carlasl]

Veterinary Surgery and Emergency Center in Overland Park, KS has a full service PT department. Mission Med Vet in Mission, KS also has PT. An underwater treadmill is great for dogs with HD.

 

 

You beat me to it, but I HIGHLY recommend Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center in Overland Park, it is a fantastic facility...a friend of mine is a Vet Tech there, and we have used them several times. The local Zoo (I am a former zookeeper) even uses their surgeons for some more complicated surgeries that the general Zoo vet feels are out of his expertise.

 

I hope it is okay to post a link to it, but as far as I know they are the only facility in KC with an underwater treadmill http://www.vseckc.com/

[Liz P]

You beat me to it, but I HIGHLY recommend Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center in Overland Park, it is a fantastic facility...a friend of mine is a Vet Tech there, and we have used them several times. The local Zoo (I am a former zookeeper) even uses their surgeons for some more complicated surgeries that the general Zoo vet feels are out of his expertise.

 

I hope it is okay to post a link to it, but as far as I know they are the only facility in KC with an underwater treadmill http://www.vseckc.com/

 

Mission Med Vet also has one.

 

The doctors at VSEC are great. I just spent 2 weeks there and got to scrub in on some very interesting surgical cases.

[Tommy Coyote]

Thanks so much. My friend works for a vet. I think they refer to Mission Med Vet. I wonder how much they would charge to use the pool? My only real gripe with the specialty clinics is that they are just so expensive.

 

I guess he has no hip socket - its just kind of flat like a saucer. I think the top of the leg bone is OK.

 

We are starting a savings account to get money for his operation. She pet sits with me so we will just try to get as much business as we possibly can and put the extra into Rhyn's account.