update on Maximus

[poulou]

Maximus had his x-ray. His knees are fine, the vet really feels it is hip displaysia affecting him. As far as his limp, or not putting weight on his right hind leg, foot, hubby thinks Maximus fell from a few feet a couple of weeks ago. He as on a bank in tall grass and next thing you know he was below just sitting there.
The vet gave us options on hip replacement, some sort of shots or the prescription dog food.
Any thoughts
Rachel
I will try to find better pictures of Maximus to post

[patrick]

What do his hip xrays show?  Regardless I would only do hip surgery as a LAST resort.  The shots he is referring to are probably Adequan- a sort of super glucosamine.  For some dogs they work wonders.  Relatively inexpensive too.  The standard conservative treatment is to take weight off of the dog- he should be kept lean in body weight and to start on a glucosamine supplement.  A dog of his size should get 1500 to 2000 mg per day.  It is a dietary supplement and is widely available- usually takes a few weeks to start working.  The dog foods do not contain enough glucosamine in them to be effective

[poulou]

Hi Patrick,
do dogs have to have the dog kind of glucosamine or can they have the people kind you get at the store.
His food has 400 mg a serving. I will have to see how big a serving is and do the math
his x-rays showed that his hip displaysia isn't horrible, but we should be proactive and start some sort of treatment
Rachel

[poulou]

Maximus seems to be doing much better. Husband has been taking him for a walk everyday and he is on his glucosamine.
It is nice to see him perk up a little. He seemed like an old man for awhile.
Now we need to work on listening skills. He is very stubborn and we are very lazy with his training which is not a good idea with such a big dog.
Rachel