Hip Dysplasia in Dogs.

Hello, I will share my/Mochi's story/experience and advice here for dogs with hip dysplasia (HD).

Firstly, Hip dysplasia in Dogs is a disease of the hip in which the ball and socket joint is malformed. This malformation means that the ball portion and its socket don’t properly meet one another, resulting in a joint that rubs and grinds instead of sliding smoothly. can eventually cause crippling lameness and painful arthritis of the joints. It is genetic but one can also get depending on environmental factors.

(Image from www.petmd.com)

(more sample images from google image)

Before I purchased Mochi, I actually checked the parent dogs if they had HD. They didn’t.

I brought mochi home at 9 weeks, and I brought him to the vet for check up, the vet says he has weak legs but it could just be that he was still young and has weak legs. At 2 months (September 2011). He suddenly became lame. On the right leg. I bought him to the vet immediately to check. I brought him to 3 different vets, and they all said the same thing, at 3 months, it was still too early to confirm that he has HD, but all 3 vet said very likely he has. An xray can only be done at 6 months to confirm.

Some signs includes:- limping. bunny hopping, spotting discomfort/pain when doctors test the bending of his back legs. Other mild signs, dogs sleeping with their back legs like frog style. Difficulty in getting up, loss of muscles in thigh muscles.

We took him home and did all the things advised to maintain & care for a dog with HD.

This includes :-

- No quick running games like ball fetch.

- No long walks. If possible walk on grass to lessen the impact of the legs.

- No standing on back legs (so train and make sure they don’t make a habit to jump on you or your guest).

- No usage of stairs, because they will hurt their back legs. (with this I also trained Mochi not to jump on sofa or bed because it will only hurt his legs in the long run)

- No slippery floors as they hurt their knee when they get up, normally sliding and hitting their knee on the floor everytime. Padded carpet, textured tiles at home is best for them

- To avoid hurting the back leg, train them to sit or lie down side ways. Not Frog style. See video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYr1rm3QbxQ)

- Keep them underweight. (to reduce weight , lessen the burden carried on the hips.)

- Give them supplements. Glucosamine is pretty good.

- Swimming helps strengthen the muscles in their back legs.

Other ways you can help are :-

- Acupuncture

- Toe grip to assist them from sliding.

- Hip hound brace (http://orthodog.com/index.cfm/products/hip-hound-brace/)

- Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation (VOM) (http://www.bahgg.com/chiropractic-services.pml)

(http://www.animalhealingcenter.net/veterinary-vom.html)

- Companion Laser therapy – (https://www.facebook.com/wholisticdenforpets?ref=hl) I have limited research on this because our country doesn’t have much option

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Ns-A-RD6A)

(Hip Dysplasia do not get better over time despite of what you do. You can only assist to maintain and slow down the process. Think of it as a car break pad. In time, it only gets worst, never better.

It is very important to do all that you can and maintain and keep a minimal pain for your dog with HD. A dog will only please you and tolerate their pain. Dogs have high tolerance level for pain so you may not see it, until one day their hips can no longer take it, they may suddenly become lame. As they will only think of pleasing you, please do your part as their owner/parent and think what is best for them. I actually see many pet owners of dogs with HD who did not discouraging their dogs standing on their back legs. This action will only speed the HD process to a worst level.)

We brought him swimming frequently. He is afraid and it’s normal for dogs with HD to be afraid. They know that their back hips are week and have no confident in floating. They tend to get stress as well. But not to worry, put on a dog float for them. Hug them while they swim for the first few times. Mochi took more than 5 visits to get use to the water.

(A string is tied so that he can continuously swim. when you first start, they get tired easily, so assist them and dont let them swim too long. Also when they get out of the pool, their wet heavy fur might be hard on the hips, help them out and carry their hip a little)

At 6 months, we brought him to the vet for xray. The Xray confirms that he has HD.

This is a good website on how to read your xray results (http://leerburg.com/hipart.htm).

We maintained and xray again at 10th month as we were contemplating to have the triple pelvic osteotomy surgery (TPO) or not. The criteria for TPO surgery is that it has to be done before the puppy reaches 1 year old. TPO is a surgery done when the bone is still soft, the pelvis bone is cut and rotate to fit the femoral head.

(Image taken from the belowwebsite link, the pelvis is cut and then rotate so the hip bones can fit in properly.) More info on TPO here (http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/ortho_tpo.htm)

(image taken from the above website link, xray with the screws)

Mochi’s brother had the surgery done but it failed (if not mistaken, the same type of surgery). 3 times ! (we were also very afraid and we decided not to do it). Generally, the vets we saw would not advice your dog for surgery unless he is in MUCH pain). One reason the surgery failed for mochi’s brother was because the screw kept coming out. Re screwing 3 times until there was no more space left to screw. Puppies also tend to be more active and move their hips a lot.

In my opinion, the doctors, equipments and experience in Malaysia cannot be compared to more advance countries. The advice they gave, I found it very different from the advices I read in forums given by their doctors. For example, I read from the forums and what pet owner share, that you must must must confine your dog in a playpen (or really confine otherwise) after surgery to lessen their movement else the screw will come out or their wounds will not heal properly. Here, the doctor says it’s ok. Just let him be. I cannot believe what I heard.

On the 11th month 3rd week, Mochi SUDDENLY became lame. We got so worried ! Called the doctor, the doctor said there was a slot available for surgery on the following week. We bought a small crate for Mochi to limit his movement after surgery. We prepared everything, and 2 nights before the surgery, he suddenly walked. We called the doctor and we were in dilemma whether to go for the surgery or not. Even the doctor didn’t dare advice. At last, we didn’t proceed with the surgery.

After deciding not to go with the surgery, we continued maintenance of HD. We bought him swimming frequently. Just when he was starting to love swimming (after soooo many weeks), he caught ringworm. Unfortunately, he must have caught it from swimming at the public dog pool =( . It took us 5-6 freaking months to get rid of the ringworm. It was horrible horrible horrible !

We don’t bring him to swim very often now because there isn’t many good swimming places in our area. Most of the pools are too small or that they are always too packed. He does his daily short walks though. And we sometimes massage his legs. Ask your doctor to teach you where to massage. Their back bone and shoulder aches too because they try to shift their weight to the front to lessen the burden at the hind hips. Mochi isn’t able to wear toe grips (http://www.orthopets.co.uk/mobility-solutions/ToeGrips) cause his nails are somehow short till the quick. (And hollow too, weird he has toe nails like that ever since he was a pup.

He will be 6 years old in 5 month time.

Recently (about 10 months ago), he would start to call us to help him get up from lying down position.

I am worried too because I follow some forums on Yahoo group (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CanineHD/info) , so far most dogs diagnosed with HD before age 6 months will start to get lame after age 5.

FYI – Mochi also has IBD (irritable bowel disease) & Cataract.

IBD - https://itscheryl3.wixsite.com/mochi/single-post/2017/03/02/Inflammatory-Bowel-Disease-IBD Cataract - https://itscheryl3.wixsite.com/mochi/single-post/2017/02/25/Cataract