My 18 month old golden, Whiskey, has bi-lateral hip displasia. He was diagnosed when he was about 5 months old, we noticed he snapped his hips to the right like a call girl every time he walked and had him checked. It came as a bit of a suprise because both of his parents were OFA'd good and excellent, but Whiskey was born with a rare birth defect (non-congenital or however that is spelled) on the base of his spine that took the form of a spur, and it created nothing but a protruding hook where his tail normally is. Because of this, he moves his hips a lot differently then most puppies, and within 6 months had deterorated them so bad he could not play for 5 minutes without collapsing.
It's possible he has to have his hips titanium reinforced within the next few months, but we are doing everything possible to avoid that at this time. Currently we are doing underwater therapy (we just got turned onto underwater treadmill therapy as well as his normal swimming routine) and massage therapy, and natural remedies, like MSM, Glucosamine, Shark Cartlidge etc to help him. He is also on a strict diet to get his weight down.. I'm such a bad dog mommy and before the diet I had let him get about 10 LBS overweight because I felt just so awfull for him not being able to move, and I let him have whatever he wanted... but thats 10 extra pounds right on those bad hips!
What about you guys? anyone else dealing with a BP with HD? What kinds of treatments are you doing? how do you get about on the bad days when they cant walk? (How are we supposed to help an 80 LBS dog, or a 150 LBS dog move around?!)
