Course of action with HD

[anna&jacksmom]

My question is more about quality of life for Anna and not course of treatment. She is taking 200mg of Rimadyl a day. I am not sure about shots but will ask her vet next time I see him. We are doing the glucosamine thing but haven't seen many results from that. The rimadyl helps a lot for now, but the weather is changing and Cold bothers her. She still "bounces" (pushes off the floor with her front feet and lands) she hasn't jumped up in 2 years. Other than limping (way she's walked since she was ~10 months old) and transfering weight to her front she doesn't "appear" to be in pain.

We have pretty much decided that when she doesn't show interest in her favorite things anymore then we won't prolong her life. She LOVES to eat or work for food. If that changes at any point or the way her eyes look changes (she shows pain in her eyes...hard to explain they get kind of dull and sad looking) and reasonable treatments are no longer effective I will let her go.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan? She is 4 years old and while she may benefit from surgery, I don't have the resources for that and I can't justify putting her through the pain or spending that much to get 3-5 more years.

Am I being fair to my dog?

I have never had a dog with HD. I don't have a good idea of how fast it may progress. Hers is severe and she has been having symptoms since she was about 6 months old.

I would appreciate opinions and thoughts, this isn't an urgent decision at all, just an issue I will have to eventualy deal with. Thanks!

[brunie's mom]

Two years ago I had to put my 5 year old Rott Bruno to sleep because of HD.
He also started showing signs of HD while young, and grew too quickly and too big.

Since his HD was severe and in both hips, we did consult and get a few opinions on what to do. My own vet was the most honest, she thought since he was so big (147lbs and slim) we would not be able to care for him after any surgery. Also the cost was very high..I was quoted $3000. per hip.

We decided to treat him with supplements and diet and mild exercise and keep him happy and comfortable as long as we could. The first vet that diagnosed him at 9 months of age...said that we should euthanize him there and then.
After seeing another vet..we decided to get him on high doses of glucosamine and chondroitin, feed a raw diet (BARF), salmon oil,MSN and ester-C...these all help with the inflammation caused by the arthritis...bone rubbing on bone.

He did fairly well till he was about 4 years of age...and then we started him on pain medication and he did the series of Adequen injections. He would be good for 2-3 months, then have a hard time standing up or even going down a few steps to go outside to pee.
We continued upping the pain meds...and doing the Adequen...but by the age of 5, nothing much was helping his comfort level anymore.

I could see the pain, his ears back..his eyes dull. He never missed a meal or anything...but with his difficulty of just being able to get up and go outside...we could not leave him this way.

It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do...put a 5 year old, loving, gentle, shiney coated ,healthy looking dog to sleep.....because he could not walk.

The injections were good..probably gave him another comfortable year..it was well worth it.

I know how you are feeling...and when the time comes where the dog is too uncomfortable...then you must do what is right for the dog.

Gina

[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.....