Severe HD and quality of life! (long...!!)

[Mathilde's]

This has been the worst day ever! :( I don't even know where to start, but our girl Mathilde is now 19 months old and has been with us since June. She has now really settled in our household, and we absolutely adore her!!!!

Today I got her X-ray results, and it turns out she has severe hip dysplacia! Her elbows are fine (not that it helps that much right now).
I have spent the whole day researching on the Internet, talking to the breeder, hugging my wonderful girl and crying my eyes out... :( This is really shocking, because she has shown no signs of HD at all! (Except now I am getting really uncertain if I may have overlooked something?) From what I have read on the web today, severe HD is a very serious condition that will, in almost every case, be visible in the dog at an early age.

The breeder is also very disappointed, especially because Mathilde lived with her until we took her over in June. The reason she could not keep her was that she had a leg surgery that made her unable to provide proper excercise for a young dog.

This litter was her first, all of the puppies have now been x-rayed, and out of 9 Mathilde is the only one with severe HD. One of her sisters has moderate HD and the other 7 siblings (sp?) are Excellent/Good (is that the right terms?). The parents, grandparents and great grandparents all have Excellent hips and elbows. (I don't know anything about their siblings, though...)

The breeder has offered to take Mathilde back any time if this is what we want. I have to emphasize that it is NOT! I (we) thought the whole thing thoroughly through before we decided to take this dog, and will do anything in our power to give her a good life!!! She has also offered to help us get the diagnosis reevaluated (this can be done without any extra charge if the vet agrees with us). The reason we think this diagnosis might be wrong is that she is not showing any signs (???), and that all precautions were taken when she was a pup (excercise/feeding etc.).
She has also offered financial help if Mathilde needs treatment that exceeds our ensurancy amount.

Having said all that, this is what I really worry about:

Assuming the diagnosis is correct (which I actually believe - if they give her another it will probably not be any better than Moderate), how can I give her a good life? By that I don't mean waiting for symptoms to occur or keeping her on medications her entire life. I know that a lot of painkillers may cause her liver to malfunction. I know that Rottweilers in general have a pretty high pain threshold, and seeing any symptoms at all would mean that she has probably been in pain for a while already. I do not want her to be "functioning", I want to be certain that she does not live with pain at any level!

I do know about food supplies that helps dogs with HD, I know about homeopathy, acupuncture, and painkillers. But none of these would make me feel completely certain that she is pain free although everything seems to be in order.

Now to the "last resort": Surgery!

I know that quite a few people in here have had hip surgery (TPO = replacing the entire joint, right?) on their dogs. Forgive me for asking this: Is it not selfish at all to let a dog go through this? I know that it takes about 6-8 weeks to recover from such surgery. I am not at all in favor of "letting a dog die because of a flaw" as I have seen it said in another thread, but still: I would hate to let my beautiful, sweet, adorable girl go through something she does not understand, and which causes her pain (even if she gets well afterwards).

Please: do not misunderstand me! As things seem to be right now I am willing to do anything to give my girl all the best, I think surgery seems to be the best option! But I can't get my mind of the fact that I would be doing it for ME... She would not understand what is happening to her!

I have not been very active on theese forums when it comes to giving peolpe advice, but I have read just about everything in here (has taken me months!!!) and I have learned a lot!
I would greatly appreciate any input on my problem (maybe in a few years, with a little more experience I can give something back to you ; ))

I would like to add that she gets daily excercise (about 1 1/2 hrs daily off leash), no biking/carting etc., and that she it not at all heavy ( 70 lbs -)! (Which was not intended - result of more excercise and not that much more to eat - now it's suddenly a good thing :( )

So sorry for beeing so long winded, rambling, maybe beeing a bit(?) too worried (?) and for any bad English and thank you for letting me vent ;)

And: please don't accuse me for wanting to get rid of a "problem", the last thing I want is to loose her! I just feel so powerless...

[Rottlva]

I do believe that your dog is almost of not to old to have a TPO. They really like to do those in the younger dogs.

You said she isn't showing signs yet???? Some dogs with minor dysplasia will show signs early some won't, some with more severe dysplasia will show signs early, some won't. Keep in mind that hip dysplasia is not totally genetic but often environmental, so in these early stages if you are thinking surgery is the only answer, if your dog isn't in pain then maybe some lifestyle changes may be in order. This board has so much good information on HD and management and or surgery. Do a search. I'm sure it will be worth it's weight in gold. Good luck!

[frontierrots]

My ex husband's Labrador (24" and 85 lbs) was the same way. She was his duck/ goose/ grouse hunting dog and had been worked pretty heavy since 8 months old. We took her in at 2 years for xrays and we all were prety surprised to find almost no hipsockets. This dog was never lame so we were very surprised.

We started her on Vit C, Glucosomine and Chrondroitan and she was never lame until she was oh maybe 6 years old. And then it was not bad, she just could not hunt for a whole day anymore but could do 1/2 days. He retired er at 8 years old from ducs as the cold water started bothering her more but he still hunted grouse with her until she was 10. Maggie just died this May at 14 years and never had surgery ever.

My first Rott (25" 90 lbs) had moderate HD and she also was not lame until about 6 or 7 years old. Same supplements but she was not in as good of shape as the Lab. She was a couch potato. The muscles really helped the Lab remain lame free

I would say just keep her in good shape and supplement her as best you can there and see what time brings

[Grendl]

I had a dog with moderate HD; one hip joint was half out of the socket, the other was okay. My dog had showed no signs of this. When he was two I had him x-rayed in preparation for OFA certification, and we discovered this. He was fine until about age five, when he limped after exercise. I had him evaluated at the closest veterinary college. They told me at that time (1985) he was a prime candidate for total hip replacement. Financially, that was not an option. They also mentioned a surgical technique that involves removing the ball, and wrapping muscle around it. My vet said that worked well in smaller dogs, but he had not seen it performed on a larger dog. The final recommendation that the veterinary college made was to keep him underweight, no running or jumping, no playing off the leash, and make sure he got regular walks to keep the muscles well-toned. They emphasized that the stronger the muscles, the better the weak hip would be supported. It was pointed out to me that arthritis had formed on the joint, and that the arthritis would probably be more of a day-to-day problem than the hip itself. At any rate, with their guidelines, my boy lived to be 13, leading a happy, although not real active life. When his hip finally gave out, he was euthanized. I hope this is helpful and good luck with your dog.

[Birdie'sMom]

Maybe the reason that your dog isn't showing any pain is because you kept her weight down and you gave her a lot of excercise - 2 things that the vets tell you to do. So without knowing it, you had already been preventing the pain that is associated with HD.

[Mathilde's]

Thank you all for your replies!

I am a bit calmer today, but still very sad. :( I am glad to hear that there are cases where severely dysplastic dogs live good lives, though!

About the surgery: I think it's more common to do hip replacements in older dogs here in Norway than in the US, so I think that will be an option at least for a couple of more years in our case. But before really considering this I will get second x-rays to be completely sure of her condition.

I will continue to research the different options for my wonderful girl! Since she is still in good shape we have some time to decide what to do and how to help her...

In the meantime I'm very glad to have this forum!

Thank you!

[Chilimson]

If you could, swimming as an exercise to build strong muscles will be my choice. I have seen really great improvement for younger dogs than yours, and I am totally convinced and will ensure that all my future puppies goes "swimming". I also gave a lot of supplements of Ester-C, Gloucosomine and Chondroitin, Fish Oil capsules, etc.. I agonised for a long when I found out my puppy had HD, and I think the above could eliminate or minimize the nurture portion of the HD equation (of course with the precaution of no heavy exercises when the muscles are not developed yet and no overweight issue.

I have attached one of the website that gave me a lot of knowledge during my desperate moments. Of course, this forum had also given me great connections and insights.

http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0090.htm#ove

[Mathilde's]

Thank you so much Chilimson! :)

The site looks great! I will look through the links this evening, educating myself on the issue! Knowledge is power, right?

[gparcels]

Mathilde, Swimming is the best form of excercise to work the muscles and minimize impact on the joints, My 15 mo old female has mild hip displasia in her left hip, we started her on gloucosimine chondroitin and it has made a world of difference, once in a while if I excercise her to much I give her coated aspirin and this helps with stiffness. Also my surgeon talked about a procedure where they cut the head off the femure and pin the bone directly into the joint and this is only if it ever progresses far enough, hopefully it will not. As I said above the gloucosamine has made a tremendous difference, her food has it in there and I also give her additional supplements. Good Luck.