[debbiej]

your post sounds like my dog. I adopted her around 8-9 mo. old. the man she belonged to "couldn't keep her". in retrospect, I think he knew something was wrong, and didn't want her anymore. x-rays showed joint damage, too late for TPO, even if we had chosen that route. She now gets adaquain injections, she was on suppliments. both seem to help her ease of movement.

I know there is a lot that can be done to ease the pain of the condition. the one thing I am really hoping to do for my dog is build muscle. she used to swim, it did her so much good! she went to a hydrotherapy place for a while, then went swimming in our old above ground pool every day all summer after that. our pool is down, and she didn't swim all this summer. I am in the process of engineering a hydrotherapy tank for my house, because there is no better way to build and keep muscle, and no better way to help the joints than to have the muscle to help. for my dog, it is a vicious cycle. she can't exercise enough so her muscles are very underdeveloped and then her hip has poor strength because she can't exercise.....