Big Paws Only Dog Forums
BPO Medical Forum => Medical Conditions & Diseases => : Apreston May 06, 2008, 06:57:03 AM
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So yesturday we went off to the vet for our x-rays for Titans hips.....well it didnt go so well he has hip dysplasia. We are devestated...w e are so careful with him up and down staris in and out of the car. We dont let him jump; over exert himself; we play moderatly but none of that matters if they already have it I guess.
The (new) vet was so good about it...he came right out and said it. "I see hip dysplasia...th ey are not the worst set of hips I have seen but they are not that good either" So we talked for a bit about some options and he practices homeopathic and holistic medicine. He reccommended going natrural to start of with. So we have Titan on Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM pills (2 day) along with the Zukes Hip Action (2 day) and cod liver oil.
So i know it will be a process and some time untill I see a difference. I am just soooo frustrated and sad for him I can't imagine how much pain he is in! His sprits are up and he wants play I just dont know what limitations he should have? How much exercise? I Know diet is important the vet said he would like to see hime a bit leaner BUT he is still a puppy so just concentrate on the Glucosamine for now and keep feeding a bit less treats everyday :)
We are trying to be hopefull its just hard.... thanks for listening!
ALSO... when we were at the pet store collecting his new aray of daily supplements this lady goes... "you dog is having hip problems" I responded "yes" I tell her how old Titan is and how sad we are but are going to give the bestest life possible! She says very very snotty "dont you have health garuentee?" I say politley "no, and what difference does that make its just a guarentee how would that help my situation" She says "you can bring him back to the breader and get a new dog!" I was not the lady I normally am and said "give back my family... so if my child gets cancer I should just put him up for adoption because I dont feel like taking care of him...what kind of life is that for my dog or any human being thats how dogs get killed and thats why there are so many in our shelters is becuase people with that state of mind just simply give up" She walked out of the store not saying anything else and I apologized to the store manager for rasing my voice and she told me not to worry this lady is on her 4th dog this year and she thinks she has animal rights in the bag.... but she has returned every other dogs back to the shelter because they did not behave!!
SORRY side story; now this is really long and people are probably falling asleep...but I want to share that with you guys but I was just dissturbed.
Anyways..thank s for listneing! :)
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I am really sorry about Titan also but with the attitude you guys have I am sure he will be able to have the best life! With all the love the big guy has, how could anything but good come out of this!Good Luck..and way to go with the stupid lady!! I hate the word stupid but sometimes it just works! Marley said to give Titan a big slobbery kiss from us!
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I'm sorry about Titan, but you're right it's not the end of the world. I'm sure he will feel better once the glucosamine kicks in. And I am so HAPPY you put that stupid lady in her place ;D Good for you!
Nina
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How much experience does this new vet have doing OFA x-rays?
If he does not have a ton do yourself a favor and find a vet who does. Positioning can make or break even a good set of hips.
Unless his hips were so sublucated any one could see it do not take your vets word on the hip reading, get an official OFA prelim done. I know many people who have been told by their vets (some with alot of experience taking the x-rays) that their dog had HD only to have OFA say nope they are fine.
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I am so sorry to hear about Titan. We went through the whole HD with one of our rotti pups.
I just found out about this supplement called Genacol. I am going to try Puck on it. If you look in the FAQ section the last one tells you about giving it to pets.
If it does what it claims, it seems like an excellent product.
http://genacol.ca/Default.aspx
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oh no :-[ that's too bad -about Titan's hips, but on the plus side you caught it early on and you're doing your best, AND he's getting all your love and attention regardless! It seems bad now, but he'll feel better soon, and so will you. Just hang in there and things will work out. Good luck and way to go on telling off the tard lady! ;D dumb people need to be made aware of their stupidity. Otherwise they won't know... Cuz they're dumb, obviously.
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OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO....that is horrible!!! Poor TITI..., but...at least your mind is somewhat at ease knowing the truth about it...although so early in his life!!! :( I talked to my breeder about it, and he said that if my Ti did come down with HD that he would not take him away from me, he would give us back half of what we paid for him, and pay for the vet costs. AND if there is another litter whelped then we would get choice pup. I love our breeder. Have you at least told the breeder? I am sure if that is the case that you may not be the only one with HD!!! See if any others have it.
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I'm so sorry about your "bad news" but you're right, it's just something you'll have to deal with 'cause he's family! So, everything I've heard and read says the better the muscle tone the better able they are to deal with the HD. Kinda 'catch 22' because you don't want him to do any thing that hurts but you want him to be physically fit. Therefor, SWIMMING!! Will he? It's been my experience with the giants, okay only Saints so far, but, either they like to swim or they don't but they all like water. So even if Titan only likes wading, it's great resistance training with little to no impact. The water supports the weight and provides the resistance so muscles get developed and the hip joints aren't unduly stressed. Slippages are the hardest on the hip joints so anything you can do to slip-proof the house are a good idea. IE, rug runners over any wood or tile floors, ramps instead of steps outside. Anyway you probably already know all this. Done pontificating. Hugs to the big boy and don't apologise for tearing a strip off the ignorant cow at the pet store, unless you work at the pet store :)!!
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AWWWWW thanks everyone for your kind words! We greatly appreciate it!
I was a bit emabrassed about that lady but I quickly got over it!! LOL But I thought after; I wonder how many people actaully tell people how they feel...she really didnt not have a problem telling me to return my dog sooo I just figured I would tell her what I thought of her idea!
Oopps LOL
I want to take him swimming we have the perfect place too! My family owns a cottage in North Bay and its right on the water we have a huge dock and a nice sand bar to wade in and out. Last year we have just got Titan after the long weekend in August and we took him in the water. I went with him it was the cutest! Once he figured out its just his head that needs to stay above the water i think he enjoyed himself. I would put him back on the dock and he would sit there and cry; let me back in! It was great, so next weekend we are heading up north again and would like to see if he will go in again. I have read a few articles about swimming and they say if you can get them to swim at least 10-20min a week you will see a huge difference in muscle tone with no resistance on the joints! Also it streanthens the abdominal muscles as well to help prevent the dreaded bloat!
Thanks again everyone we always know we have everyone here to turn to for help!
We will keep you posted on his progress!!
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i actually also heard that one minute of swimming is = to one mile of running for a dog. Just be careful...(which of course you are!)
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OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO....that is horrible!!! Poor TITI..., but...at least your mind is somewhat at ease knowing the truth about it...although so early in his life!!! :( I talked to my breeder about it, and he said that if my Ti did come down with HD that he would not take him away from me, he would give us back half of what we paid for him, and pay for the vet costs. AND if there is another litter whelped then we would get choice pup. I love our breeder. Have you at least told the breeder? I am sure if that is the case that you may not be the only one with HD!!! See if any others have it.
I dont know if I feel comfortable going back... I think we would rather take it one day at a time and get better on our own. I might let them know he has it but I have not told them yet.
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ahh....not close to the breeder then i take it...that works. I never thought that i would talk with the breeder again, but he is ending up helping us with finding a show bitch, and going to shows so i guess to each their own! Good luck with that cute little boy!!! we send out a bunch of sniffs and licks!
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We bring Ti to a chiropractor and she said that adjusting the hips and back and aligning them actually can help prevent it from getting worse. Our titan's right hip is shallow in the joint, although no hd as of yet. They said that as long as you keep aligning them it shouldn't happen. You could try one too and see what they say!
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First, I am so sorry to hear about your boy's HD. Second, what a horrible, horrible woman!! She obviously sees animals as replaceable objects and not living, breathing beings with true feelings!
I really hope this treatment works for him.
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Don't be too upset...he might outgrow this stage. Huge pups don't grow evenly. Also, ask your vet to take x-rays from different angles like PennHip does, that way you will have a better understanding of what is going on ;D
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I just wanted to add in my KUDOS for telling that woman exactly what she should hear. Dogs are NOT disposable!
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HI
Sorry to hear about your news, i'm not sure if your dog has been scored ?.
Anyway we have a leonberger , who was always sitting funny and had a slight turn in her back leg.We were worried about this so spoke to our vets & to cut a very long story short they straight away advised us to spay her whilst they were checking her hips ( they said they were sure it was hd ).
We said no , xray her and we will go from there..... the xrays were done we were called back to view them dreading the worse only to find nothing was visable , they were then sent off to a specialist for thier opinion.
This came back as mild hd , but the specialist continued to say that any dog who's hips do not come back 0-0 , has mild hd even champions :)
Our girl goes swimming every couple of weeks & they build the amount on lengths she does little by little , also every six months she goes to a chiropractor , just to keep a check on her :)
Hope all goes well for you .
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Oh...I totally get how devastating the news can be about HD. We took Winston to the vet after his hips started "clicking;" although no lamness/limping was present. Our vet guessed that it was likely mild HD. We started him on a regimine of supplements and exercise immediately.
Long story short, Winston isn't clicking anymore and hasn't shown any further evidence of HD. I haven't had his hips checked, but I'm guessing that both the supplements AND the fact that he's nearing the last stage of his growth might help.
Hang in there...there are many of our pups that lead happy, healthy, active lives despite this diagnosis!
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I'm sorry to hear about the HD diagnosis but like everyone else has said it's not a death sentence. I know you couldn't hear me but I gave you a standing ovation when I read the part about telling the lady off.
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I'm sorry to hear about the HD diagnosis but like everyone else has said it's not a death sentence. I know you couldn't hear me but I gave you a standing ovation when I read the part about telling the lady off.
Thanks! I felt pretty good about it ... I dont normally do these types of things or speek up...but we had just found out about Titan and I was trying so hard to be upbeat and positive and pick out his new suplements; I was in that frame of mind to "rip someones face off if they looked at me sideway" kinda attitude! We often get people looking at Titan saying "oh he has some problems with his hips"...I say "ya he does" they say "hope its not HD" and i say " YA it is" and we walk merraly along our way! Its kinda funny to see there faces!
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HI
Sorry to hear about your news, i'm not sure if your dog has been scored ?.
Anyway we have a leonberger , who was always sitting funny and had a slight turn in her back leg.We were worried about this so spoke to our vets & to cut a very long story short they straight away advised us to spay her whilst they were checking her hips ( they said they were sure it was hd ).
We said no , xray her and we will go from there..... the xrays were done we were called back to view them dreading the worse only to find nothing was visable , they were then sent off to a specialist for thier opinion.
This came back as mild hd , but the specialist continued to say that any dog who's hips do not come back 0-0 , has mild hd even champions :)
Our girl goes swimming every couple of weeks & they build the amount on lengths she does little by little , also every six months she goes to a chiropractor , just to keep a check on her :)
Hope all goes well for you .
I am not sure I know what scored means?
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Sorry to hear about Titan diagnosis. Kudos for telling that woman off. :)
I think what dog lover meant by scored is if the x-rays were sent to OFA or Pennhip?
Bubba went through a stage where his hips snapped crackled and popped. Scared the crap out of me. I waited until he was 2 years old and had my vet x-ray him. I didn't send them to OFA but my vet knew the proper positioning of the hips. If the positioning is wrong it can look like the dog has HD.
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Fist off...Kudos for telling that *Bleep* off...I wouldve said the same thing...
Just giving you my 2 cents-- I fostered a 5 yo pitbull that had minor HD as well, I took him to an acupuncturist, and I kid you not- after about 3 sessions, he was a puppy again! I work in Alternative Medicine research, and I'm a huge advocate for holistic treatment. Just give it a try, I think you'll be surprised, not only does it alleviate pain, it also helps with energy, posture..etc.
I get acu done on myself, as well as my boys (including the 2 legged one) and cannot be more satisfied. Anyway I wish your family the best! Titan is fortunate to have a family that cares for him sooo dearly!