Dog Community

help! hip dysplasia? Breeding?

Posted : 7/19/2006 2:04:24 PM

Hi, I have two chihuahuas, a female and a male both over a year old. I took fajita (thats the girl) to the vet a few months ago for check up. She has this problem where she is afraid of new people and likes to bark and such... (embarrassing story short they had to muzzle my 3 lb chihuahua :-( ) Anyway, the doctor was messing with her with that thing they stick in their rears and he checked her legs and said that one of her legs has hip dysplasia.

The whole process of him checking the leg only involved like 2 seconds of time. Is this an accurate diagnosis? ( I since havent gone to that vet again because I was so embarrassed of how badly she behaved- she didnt act like that at her old one so we are going there from now on )

Also, Ive read that its genetic. We got her from a breeder that had like 30 chihuahuas and said shes been breeding them for 20 years. The lady was real nice and i dont think she would breed bad qualities and sell them to people.

My second problem is that another vet told us that our male, paco, couldnt have babies because he had only one testicle. We were hoping to breed them to share the joy with other family members who would like dogs. We gave up on that a long time ago, so since then we havent bothered to get either of them spay/neutered because we thought it didnt matter. (and fajita couldnt get knocked up by another dog in the neighborhood we live in so we didnt think it would matter ).

Well.... Heat season came and they kept having sex and getting stuck together. (MANY times) we would have to hold them for like 20 mins until they were able to get a part ( this was weird and scary) However... does this mean she is pregnant? I thought he couldnt have sex??? Also if she does have hip dysplasia- how would that affect her pregnancy (if she is )and would the kids have it???

When she was young she randomly jumped out of my arms and fell about 3-4 feet on her legs. would this have caused it? and if its environmental like that would it then still be genetic???

But she shows no signs that ive read of. She doesnt gimp or anything. shes very active. she does run kind of like a bunny (both her hind legs and her front legs move together when she runs ) but that seems normal, it doesnt look awkward at all and if i had four legs i'd probably run like that too. That and she doesnt express any signs of pain...

Thank you so much if you read this entire post. I'm very confused and don't know what to do about my dogs. Hopefully someone with more dog experience could answer some of my questions.

Thank you in advance.

glenmar

Posted : 7/19/2006 2:15:04 PM

The thing he stuck in her rear was probably a thermometer to check her temp.

Typically, xrays are needed to confirm all but the most severe HD.

Getting stuck together is perfectly normal when dogs mate. You shouldn't hold them or try to pull them apart. The fact that your male has only one testicle doesn't mean he can't have sex, nor does it mean he can't sire a litter. It DOES however mean that he has an undescended testicle someplace in his abdominal area that the body KNOWS doesn't belong there, can see as a foreign object and attack with cancerous cells.

Call the vets office to set up a spay, and be sure to tell them when she was mated so he KNOWS he may be dealing with a pregnant uterus. While she is under for the spay, have proper xrays done of her hips. And get your boy nuetered at the same time. They might as well both be recovering at the same time.

nate hurst

Posted : 7/19/2006 2:52:26 PM

Wow, so i guess the vet told us wrong :-(. I guess I will need to get them neutered (especially paco with his testicle stuck ). However, if I get Fajita spayed while she is pregnant would that abort the babies?
The original intent (before they told us they couldnt have babies) was to have babies to give to other family members then to spay them.

However, now that she may be pregnant would that abort the babies if she were spayed now? ( I am pro-life for humans and I couldnt support having my dog have babies aborted)

Also, if she does have hip displasia, is that genetic? or environmental? Would it be passed onto the children if she does have children?

thanks again!

glenmar

Posted : 7/19/2006 3:06:57 PM

Yes, HD is genetic, meaning she can pass it on to her puppies. If she is pregnant, the added weight will very likely make the HD substansially worse. As can the father pass on the propensity for undescended testicles. So, two strikes against potential pups from conception.

Yes, removing the uterus will also remove the pregnancy. Again, you're talking pups with two strikes against them to begin with...AND a mother with serious temperment issues. Chi's are snappy enough when WELL bred without bringing poorly bred pups into the world. Additionally, if she is young, and this is her first heat, it's not likely she will produce HEALTHY pups anyway. Aborting possible pups that are pretty well certain to be unhealthy and have temperment problems is far kinder than subjecting them to lives of misery.