Diagnosed With Hip Dysplasia and Overweight...HELP!

Reese--feel free to read through here for HD advice. First off, here are things that tend to inflame the joints: beef, wheat, gluten, and soy. You should avoid those things. I feed a mix between Natural Balance and Flint River Ranch and my male has lost 13 pounds. He's lean and mean. And I didn't cut out a whole lot. Just fed him less than he was used to, walked him, let him run outside, and managed his treats. He feels a LOT better after taking some of that weight and pressure off his joints.
 
Get him on some supplements, too. You can see those on these posts here.
 
And keep writing--we're all here to help you!
 
Nancy (proud Mom to 2 HD dogs)

I'm so sorry to hear about Reese....
I feel like Nancy and I welcome all the new HD diagnosed owners and their dogs here ... lol.
I have a dog with HD myself, a rescued black lab mix. He had surgery to correct his HD a few months ago. like nancy said, read through some of the other posts in this section on HD, I've listed the supplements I give there. If you have any questions about how I supplement or anything else feel free to pm me as well! I'd definately suggest a few more supplements than just glucosamine.

I feed Solid Gold Lamb and Rice and to take the weight off my HD dog, I just cut down his food. Whenever I give a raw chicken wing, raw beef rib, or raw marrow bone I cut down his food. He eats slightly less than a cup for each meal. I would first try to cut down the amount you feed before bothering to change foods... how much are you feeding per meal? I know she's a lab and will eat as much as you give her, but don't be afraid to cut that amount down ... she won't starve even if she pretends she is lol. To add bulk but few calories to a meal I often add canned pumpkin, canned no sodium green beens, etc so he feels full but doesn't gain weight,

As for heatlhy treats... All fruits and veggies in his Kong put him in heaven ... watermelon, cantaloupe, whole carrots, apple pieces etc etc. you can freeze a low/no sodium, no MSG beef/chicken broth in her Kong and freeze it... she'd love it! Low fat creamcheese/ cottage cheese, tahini, frozen veggies can all go in teh kong as a treat.

You might want to try this joint supplement.
[linkhttp://www.hyaluronex.com]www.hyaluronex.com[/link]

It works better and faster than anything I've ever seen and works equally well for horse, dog or cat.  For a dog you should only need a 1/4 fl oz per day or less.

I can add a link to a massive group of people who were using this type of supplement on their animals, if you like.

First I just wanted to thank each of you for your posts.  It's not a nice feeling to find out that your loved one has a potentially debilitating problem.  But, knowing that there are options to try to slow (or potentially reverse) the problem is giving me a bit more hope than thinking that surgery is the only solution.
 

Whenever I give a raw chicken wing, raw beef rib, or raw marrow bone I cut down his food. He eats slightly less than a cup for each meal.

 
Karen - just out of curiosity....I read in some of the posts that beef was something that HD dogs should stay away from....do you find that giving them RMBs or beef ribs causes any problems (as these are both things I'd like to start giving Reese to get her away from rawhide bones).
 
Also, I plan to stop by the local Walmart to look into the Knox Nutra Joint and Chondrotin supplements.  Reese is currently on the Glucosamine.  And, the vet stated that anti-inflammatories were not needed at this time.  She doesn't show any indications of HD (other than her sitting posture - with legs out at angles from her body).  But, the vet diagnosed HD during her exam while checking her hip joint manoeuvrability.  She almost broke my heart when she yelped midway through that part of the exam.
 
I understand that we should steer clear of giving her potatoes, tomatoes, wheat, gluten, soy and beef....is there anything else that I should keep in mind?
 
With respect to her losing weight...it took until now to realize that we were overfeeding her.  As she has the Lab appetite, she always gave the impression that she wasn't being fed enough.  But, now I know that her health is more important than those puppy dog eyes!  Yesterday and today she got just under a cup of Innova at breakfast and dinner.  And, then I supplemented at breakfast and gave her an orange.  And, at dinner I steamed and pureed apple, turnip, carrot and a small potato and poured beef broth over it to fill her up. 
 
Again...thanks to each of you.  And, I welcome any other suggestions you may have!

Jenn - just a thought, but if you find you're have trouble getting the weight off of her, you might ask them to check her thyroid.  My lab, Sassy (who looks so much like Reese []) had really started packing the pounds on.  Last year she weighed 104 at her appt in June and even with really cutting her back, she was only down to 98 in Sept.  That's when we did the thyroid check and she came back super low.  We put her on medication and I started feeding her more normal amounts and she still was down to 78 lbs in January.  I think she'd been hypothyroid since we rescued her 4 years ago and it had just gotten progressively worse.  If you haven't already, it might be worth ruling out.
 
When I was trying to get Sassy to lose weight, I used raw carrots for treats (still do) and added green beans (no salt or rinse them first) to her food.  She is a chow hound, so I know it's hard but don't let those pleading eyes tempt you into thinking she's starving [].  It sounds like you've got some great ideas with the applesauce and other things.  I just wanted to mention the thyroid issue because, like you, I was doing everything I could but the weight just wouldn't come off.

Cathy - I'm glad to hear that Sassy is losing the weight...I would imagine how frustrating it would be to keep cutting her food and exercising, only to get minimal results.  But, 26 lbs of weight loss is a huge accomplishment!  Congrats to both of you!
 
I'll definitely keep an eye on Reese's weight over the next few weeks to see what progress we make.  Now that she's finally conquered her car sickness (we had to buy a bigger car -- apparently she's claustrophobic, too!) we will be able to make regular trips to the vet to use their weigh scale.
 
And, believe me...I definitely need to practice willpower and stop giving into Reese's eyes!  They're just so sad looking as she watches our other dog eat her larger meal. 
 
Thanks again, Cathy!