Hi All, I came across this forum and it seemed like a great community to gather some insight. I have a 4 1/2 year old Chocolate Labrador. He is pretty tall and weighs 119 pounds. A couple of months ago, we began to notice a slight limp in his back leg whenever he would get up from laying down. This did not happen all the time but did happen here and there. We decided due to his size, it was best to take him to the vet. The vet then did an X-Ray to get an idea of what could be wrong. Well, we received the results today and it appears he has a mild form of hip dysplasia in his right hip. The vet stated that we can manage it with exercise (walking, swimming) and with appropriate joint supplements. He also throughout the idea of a Total Hip Replacement (THR) but would not recommend it due to where we are and my dogs size. Currently, he gets walked daily and plays with his sister (Another dog) in the backyard. I am looking into taking him swimming on the weekends to also help and drop down his food some to 2.5 cups/daily. Does anyone have any other recommendations? Is it possible for a dog at this age to live a normal life with hip dysplasia managed? Thank you all so much. This dog means the world to me as I am sure your dogs to as well.
Hi John, welcome to the forum! Hopefully someone will be along soon who has managed hip dysplsia non surgically. This is a topic that really interests me. Can I ask if your dog's parents were hip scored? 119lbs, even for a very tall labrador, sounds very heavy indeed. If you can get some weight off him, this will certainly help any joint issues.
Hi! So the breeder we purchased our Lab from provided us with documentation showing that both of the parents had their hips certified. The vet said that even if that is the case, there is still a chance a dog of our size getting HD. As for the weight, we are going to try and get him near 105. Currently, he's pretty lean and full of mass. But I know with HD, you want him to be more on the skinny side than anything.
Hi John, Not sure how relevant this may be to your situation but here goes. 30 years ago we had a Belgian Shepherd who was diagnosed with severe bilateral hip dysplasia at 6 months of age. The specialist gave us an ominous prognosis and there was really not much to do. Our vet peeled us off the ceiling and suggested we see what happened Samantha self-moderated - never a dog to run around like a nut, she loved to play tug and find and carry sticks. She enjoyed her walks and had a good quality of life until she developed bone cancer at age 13, when we euthanized her. If memory serves she had an aspirin every day and like you, we kept her trim. It's ideal that he plays with a dog of the same age. It sounds like you're doing all the right things and with luck you won't need to consider surgery. I *might* watch him when he gets up on the days and days after he plays with his sister to see if the limp is more common on those days and if it is, I might think about offering toys that could involve less vigorous play - our dogs love to hold onto the ends of a stick or tug toy and canter around like silly cart horses. Use your imagination. I might also see if I could get a physiotherapy consult so I could learn what muscles I needed to keep strong - and yes I'm a bit neurotic. I would definitely try to arrange for swimming. Finally because I'm in the US, where supplements are poorly regulated & sometimes found to be contaminated with undisclosed drugs, I would ask the vet to explain his thinking for recommending supplements. If he thinks the dog could benefit from an anti-inflammatory, I would prefer to try something where the efficacy and potential adverse effects are known. Please let us know how you get on
