*Please Help* Gait Observation

[G. Festerling]

Heartbreaking!

 

That is why you always take pics. I have a German Shepherd that stunned my vet. She had watched her grow up and just simply was blown away by the pics. She is severe and never, never showed a single sign till now at age 9. As a matter of fact, her rads are some of the worst I have ever seen and I have seen quite a few.

 

As a matter of fact, she was a super beautiful mover in everyones book.

 

And by the way, vets also do not have xray vision. A dog that has issues on both sides and is fit can make a fool out of you. So no need to go to doubting the ortho.

[Covelo Dogs]

I have a 3year old bitch who never has been lame. I had someone who wanted to breed her so I did X-rays of her elbows and hips. They came back moderate HD both hips with arthritic changes in left. I was not only surprised but extremely upset. I had a second set done and read by a differnt radiologist and his comments were even more depressing. I have had her spayed this was 9months ago. She has never been lame is a working dog on a ranch. I do have her on Dasaquin, rose hips and fish oil. Never have I had to give her rimadyl nor Metacam. I do keep her in condition but again the point I am trying to make is your dog if kept fit may not show any severe lameness until he is old.

I wish you luck.

[Gideon's girl]

Sorry to hear this. I've had a ridiculous number of HD dogs and the ones that didn't show much as a pup were always the ones that didn't have much issue with it until they were old. You might want to inquire about adding HA to his supplements and Ester C as an antioxidant is helpful in preventing future damage. Good luck and give Camden a smooch on the head for me.

[juliepoudrier]

Just want to add to the chorus and note that I had a dysplastic dog, pretty severe. Like Covelo dogs' story, her HD was discovered when her owner wanted to breed her and had her hips checked. She lived to be nearly 16, recovered from a severe hip dislocation (hips so bad that the vet said I had a better chance of winning the lottery than of that hip staying in once it was put back--I didn't win the lottery, but the hip stayed put).

 

This dog was a successful open trial dog and only really had trouble the last year of so of her life. The key to keeping her sound was a well muscled back end. She was fit and she never was lame during her working career. Swimming is a great form of PT for dogs with bad hips, but honestly mild dysplasia may not ever trouble Camden.

 

J.

[Sue R]

I'm sorry that your diagnosis was not what you'd hoped for but I also see you are actively pursuing dealing with this and have been given some great advice. Keep him lean, keep him fit, and be consistent with any rehab/therapy exercises you may be given for him, and he may still live a long, apparently sound, and pretty pain-free life.

 

Very best wishes!

[mum24dog]

As others have indicated, the degree of HD doesn't predict how the dog may be physically affected. In practice HD is as severe as the symptoms it presents. Moderate HD can affect a dog less than mild because there may be less friction.

 

A diagnosis of HD isn't too much of a worry to me in itself as I have known plenty of dogs that have lived a very active life showing no symptoms until their later years when investigation revealed the condition. I know more less than active dogs that have suffered more.

 

Business as usual and treat the symptoms if they occur. Put it to the back of your mind.

[alligande]

Sorry to hear about the result, but there is a very good chance that he is going to have a full ans active life. My Brody had mild hip dysplaysia and lived a very active life, I had wondered as he jumped like a bunny but nothing in his gait was out of order, he had X-rays done for something else so I had his hips done and that when I found out. He was already fit, and until he passed at 9 his hips never bothered him.

[Shetlander]

So sorry to hear of the HD, but as others have commented, many dogs can still be active, fit and happy despite this condition. Now you know what you are dealing with at least. Hang in there and give Camden a pat from me.

[Camden's Mom]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words of encouragement. I know I am relatively new to this community, but everyone has been so caring and helpful in offering their support and suggestions. It means more then I can express.

 

I won't lie, I want to start asking all sorts of questions about maintaining his health after this diagnosis (what food, what supplements, what activity, how much is too much, etc, etc, etc.) but I've decided to save that for after our consult with the rehab specialist. Yesterday I just took the day to ponder; today I'll set up the appointment and we'll move forward. I'm sure she will be able to put us on a good path and then I can pester all of you later with any questions I feel are still unanswered.

 

Camden got LOTS of hugs, chin scritches, head pats and belly rubs yesterday. He wanted me to thank all of you in return with a big ole' smooch right on the face. He's especially skilled at delivering kisses at precisely the time your mouth is open, so consider yourselves "Camden frenched".

 

When hubby got home from work it was snowing, so we decided to bundle up and take the boy to his favorite field for a quick romp. Camden was so excited about the snow that when we got to the field and took the leash off he just ran. He did a huge sweeping circle around us, looking happy as could be with the snow coming down around him. I stood and watched and I didn't have to worry, because I knew. It felt so good... I was able to just watch and admire.

[Gideon's girl]

My 2 BCs hardly ever kiss me, but my JRT is definitely French, so I'm used to it, yuck.

[Laurelin]

I don't have a dog with HD but I do have a dog with highly graded luxating patellas. Was not diagnosed till she was 3 years old and had never been lame a day in her life. She moves similarly to your dog at a walk- just a hair stiff in the back end. But at a trot and run she is just golden and you can't tell a thing. I've never had a dog play ball as hard as she does and she'll stop and turn on a dime. She's now 5 and still hasn't had trouble. She runs and jumps off everything (can't keep her from it) and is just fine. I suspect she may have trouble when she's older but on the other hand, I had a sheltie that was crippled by age 8 by arthritis in her wrists and she had no HD or LP. So I think that can happen to all dogs even if they're structurally ok.

 

I fret about it a lot and worry that our approach is too little. It is very conservative- just supplements, keeping her trim- hard for her!, keeping her very active, and doing muscle building/balance exercise. My vet is very adamant that he will not do surgery on her because he's seen so many dogs worse for wear afterwards and so many dogs live till they're old before having trouble and then it can be helped by rimadyl or some other medication. For us it's a quality of life thing... if she starts showing pain (and she is low pain tolerance) then we'll start thinking of surgery. But it's hard. It's very very hard. I am always over analyzing her when she's moving.

[Camden's Mom]

Update (and a few questions):

 

We had our consultation with the rehab therapist today and it went very well. Our focus was primarily on things I could do with Camden at home (stretches, massage, strengthening exercises, etc.). While the therapist saw some things that concerned her (mostly tightness and soreness due to weight displacement), she seems to think we caught this early and should be able to manage it well.

 

She said, as a PT specialist she was not allowed to give advice on dietary supplements, so I'm turning to you guys for some advice. Camden is already on Glucosamine tablets and will remain on those, per order of the ortho specialist. I have heard really good things about fish oil and ester-C and would like to add those supplements to his diet as well. I was planning to purchase the following from Costco (I've found pet specific supplements to be outrageously overpriced) and just wanted to get feedback from forum members about these as well as other possible supplements for Camden's HD diagnosis.

 

Fish Oil - http://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature™-Omega-3-Fish-Oil-Concentrate-1000-mg%2c-400-Softgels.product.11072245.html The confusing part, for me, about this product is the dosing. Each pill only has 250mg of Omega 3, so do I dose on the Omega 3 EPA amount or the entire pill?

 

Ester C - http://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature™-Vitamin-C-1000-mg,-500-Tablets.product.10015954.html I think this is the generic version of Ester-C, features include rose hips.

 

Am I on the right path?

 

Last question (for now). The stretching and message therapy require Camden lay on his side. For all of the handling I did with him as a puppy I must've missed this one. He plops down on his side next to us all the time, but when we had to PUT him on his side he resisted a great deal. I think it freaked him out. Nothing nasty happened, he just wiggled and fought against it. Any tips on how to train him to lay on his side and not resist it? I know this should've been part of puppy handling... I honestly didn't know it was an issue until today.

[GentleLake]

Each pill only has 250mg of Omega 3, so do I dose on the Omega 3 EPA amount or the entire pill?

 

You dose based on the amount of EPA and DHA in the capsule.

 

Some fish oil capsules are manipulated so that there's more EPA/DHA in relation to the total mg. of the capsule, which is something like 1,000, 1,200, etc. I'm not sure how they do it, but they remove some of the other oils in order to concentrate the good stuff in relatively smaller capsules. They're often sold as "double strength" or "triple strength", but the capsules are roughly the same size.

 

The other thing to be aware of is that some fish oils contain different amounts of the EPAs and DHA. Salmon oil, for example, has a different ratio, with DHA being higher than EPA, in contrast with the other types, which are usually a combination of mackerel, sardine and anchovy oils. My vet prefers the higher EPA version, though I'm not sure why.

[Sue R]

What she said is just about what our PT has done with my dogs (one who had a TPLO on one hind leg; one with a luxating patella; and one with some shoulder and front leg issues) and I am a believer. Sounds great!

 

I have one dog who, while he is ready to lie right down at home for his stretches, will not relax enough at the PT for them - so she does all his laser treatments and stretches while he stands. He gets so tense and tight (it's all in his mind) if we were to make him lie down, that this is what works for him.

 

At home, we just worked on getting him to lie on his chest and giving him first-class chest and belly rubs if he leaned to one side or the other at all. Now he offers the flat-out lie-down without even being asked. I know people will give you good advice on this issue.

 

Best wishes!

Update (and a few questions):

 

We had our consultation with the rehab therapist today and it went very well. Our focus was primarily on things I could do with Camden at home (stretches, massage, strengthening exercises, etc.). While the therapist saw some things that concerned her (mostly tightness and soreness due to weight displacement), she seems to think we caught this early and should be able to manage it well.

 

...

 

Last question (for now). The stretching and message therapy require Camden lay on his side. For all of the handling I did with him as a puppy I must've missed this one. He plops down on his side next to us all the time, but when we had to PUT him on his side he resisted a great deal. I think it freaked him out. Nothing nasty happened, he just wiggled and fought against it. Any tips on how to train him to lay on his side and not resist it? I know this should've been part of puppy handling... I honestly didn't know it was an issue until today.

[juliepoudrier]

You may want to talk to a holistic vet, if you have access to one, regarding cumin and/or cinnamon. I used both on one of my old dogs and it seemed to help.

 

J.

[Camden's Mom]

You may want to talk to a holistic vet, if you have access to one, regarding cumin and/or cinnamon. I used both on one of my old dogs and it seemed to help.

 

J.

 

Julie, I read this and immediately imagined you sprinkling cumin and cinnamon on your old dogs!!

 

Seriously though...

 

I will contact a holistic vet who has been recommended to me and ask her about this. I do make a veggie mush mix for stuffing and freezing in Camden's kong. Adding something to this mixture, like cumin or cinnamon, would be extremely easy. In fact, adding just about anything to the veggie mush would be easy, so I'll inquire and see if she has other ideas as well. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

On the topic of Camden not wanting to lay on his side, I think you had it right, Sue! We did our first solo round of stretches/massage this morning. He was nervous about laying on his side, but not nearly as much as he was yesterday at the PT office. He did it with just a little coaxing (I used your chest/belly rub suggestion... that worked wonders!) and once we started the stretches and massage he seemed to quite enjoy it. I'm not sure if he fell asleep, but his eyes were closed and he seemed incredibly relaxed!

[Gideon's girl]

The dosage for fish oil is 100mg of EPA + DHA combined per 10 lbs of body weight. That's for regular maintenance, you can give up to double that for problems.