I got bad news.

I'm sorry.  Poor Rupert.
 
I have an entire protocol I put together with the assistance of several vets, nutritionists and herbalists for my Newfoundland when she was younger.
 
Some very important factors for Rupert now are proper nutrition, tendon and ligament health and maintaining muscle mass. 
 
Honestly, we could talk a lot about this.  If you want to email me, feel free to do so at [email=Missmiser@comcast.net]Missmiser@comcast.net[/email] and I will share with you everything we've been through and what has and hasn't worked for our girl, as well as the outcome so far. 

Karen--nice to see you again! How do you like my news? That Ellie now has what Murphy has. Great. Lovely. Crap. Honestly. Ah well, what are you going to do?
 
And Rup's Mom? Do as Brookcove suggested--no grains. They do better without grains. And that he's lean is good. Mine is, too, though he wasn't when I got him. He was 10lbs heavier!
 
BTW, I'm in the process of figuring out how to pay for surgeries for my two dogs. In Ellie's case, she has, within the last 3 months, really been showing. It's been amazing. I figured she was perfect before and now she's hurting so bad her whole life is changing. Not good at all. That's why I know I need to take this a step further--she's way more withdrawn and so much more pain tha Murphy, even, and her X-rays (yes, I finally did them) didn't show her to be very bad. But, treat the dog, not the X-rays, huh?
 
Finally, his legs will feel better soon. With Murphy, it took 2 weeks, but that's abnormal. Man, thosse X-rays are so darn hard on their hips. I feel so bad.
 
Nancy

Don't worry, start saving!  There are some organizations that may be able to help you. 
[linkhttp://www.imom.org]www.imom.org[/link]
[linkhttp://www.uan.org]www.uan.org[/link]
[linkhttp://www.help-a-pet.org]www.help-a-pet.org[/link]
I think the American Animal Hospitals Assn. has a program, too.
Also, there's Care Credit - a payment plan.
A guy I met at a fair once had bake sales, etc. and made & sold picture frames to finance his Beagle's cancer surgery (which his vet agreed to do, and take payments).
 

Gosh i'm still learning... thanks Rups mom for posting about what you are going through. Currently i'm feeding my dog Solid Gold large Breed Bison and Salmon, but that is nearly beef which I just learned is an inflammatory from this thread and it certainly also has grains which apparently are as well...
Yet another thing to try, what does everyone else feed for brand/type to help with inflammation???
I tried Yucca for a while (that's a natural root that is an anti inflammatory but the quality at my supermarket is not consistent), you could try that Rup's mom as well.

Oh NANCY!!! - that's too bad about Ellie, i can only imagine what you are going through. I'm sorry to hear that, what a chnge from a few months ago.

My really good (and she is) holistic vet recommended Natural Balance Duck and Potato which I mix with Flint River Lamb. No more wheat treats, either.
 
I can't always tell if it works or not, and somedays I'm convinced that I'm piddling my money away into these temporary hopefuls, but you know . . .
 
Ellie has been going to acupuncture because she is tense all over and is extremely sore. Her left hip, while the ball is still nicely in the socket, has bone spurs and she's changed dramatically.
 
So, what am I doing? I have a LOT of equity in my house--enough to fix a couple of hips (one way or another) and still sell it with a nice profit for me. I'm going to refinance it (it is an ARM anyway that will expire soon) and take out a bit extra for BOTH of them, but Ellie has to come first.
 
After visiting with the board-certified surgeons in my city here, I've decided to visit a nonboard-certified one in Sun Valley because I've heard nothing but good things from all of his clients--many of them having had lots of HD issues. While I like the idea of board-certified, experience and very-pleased past customers are pushing me to talk with a man with over 25 years experience doing all sorts of things (and he won a huge award last year). I guess his prices are reasonable, too.
 
Wish me luck. I just took them for their third and final walk tonight, and they're laying complacently. Ellie kind of dreads walking, but I make her so that her muscles don't shrink. And then she gets a massage, so it evens out.
 
Still, it is rather heartbreaking to deal with all of this. It really is. Karen/Outdoorschik--you give us so much hope, though!
 
And Lovenewfies?! We're all ears if you ever feel so inclined in sharing some of your trade secrets. I honestly don't know that much--but I'm willing and scrambling to learn any and everything.

Nancy

I will share our ventures with anyone who asks. []
 
 I only ask to do it privately because certain health factors do need to be considered before implementing some of what worked for my Newf.  In addition, I'd like to be certain that those I speak with about this are certain of what their dog's condition, diagnosis and overall health is.  I wouldn't want to post it all and have someone use any of the information provided as a diagnosis or a fix for a problem that may need different care.

Hi. I am new here and I have a 12 year old German Shepherd. I'm so sorry your puppy has HD at such a young age. Timber had mild hip dysplasia when he was 4 years old. I started him on gluco/chondro and later added MSM. several years later his hips were normal. now of course he has other problems since he's old. I will put those in another post. MSM is an anti-inflammatory and has worked wonders for Timber. it even got rid of his allergies which he had for several years.  I was also giving him aspirin for pain. Rimadyl and some of the other pain meds didn't work for him. I think the supplements and metacam will really help your puppy until he is old enough for surgery. you are going to have to leash walk him only, no running or jumping or stair climbing. maybe his hips will heal on their own like Timber's did and if not by the time he is old enough for surgery you may have the money for it. at any rate he will be stronger and feeling better with regular use of the supplements.

Thank You! I am so glad I posted on here. I really didn't know what to expect from a dog with HD, but glad to hear everyones dog still lived a happy semi-"normal" life.
 
Rupert is on Glu/Chondroitin and MSM right now. He's on the high doses right now (as vet and label says) and will be on maintenance levels in 2 weeks. He already is feeling much better. But I can't tell if it's because of his medicine/supplements or because his hips aren't so sore from the neutering and xrays. Either way I'm pleased. []
 
Thanks again for all the advice everyone!!

my former dog, Sadie a GSD, was diagnosed with severe genetic hip dysplasia at 3 months of age (verified with an x-ray when she was spayed at 6 months of age). At 6 months the ball joint of her left hip was virtually nonexistent.
We also couldn't afford a total hip replacement (and she would have required both hips be done).
We kept her weight down, get her active (she hiked Mt. Washington twice!) and treated her hips naturally. She couldn't take Rimadyl so drugs were out.
We thought her hips would be the end of her - she passed last fall at 11 years of age due to a tumor on her spleen.
She did develop some arthritis in her front wrists as having to rely on them to get off the floor put stress on them.
Don't feel you are being neglectful by not doing the hip replacement - we don't all have thousands of dollars to do that with...I know we couldn't do it.
But Sadie led a very good comfortable life in spit of her severe  hip dysplasia...your dog can too
also see if you can find a vet who does chiropractic and acupuncture works GREAT for HD dogs

Hi..I am so sorry to hear about you're baby..I lost my former GSD 2 years ago to Hip Dysplasia she was 12 years old..Then about a year ago my 5 year old shih-tzu all of a sudden became shaky on his back legs...Took him to the vet did xrays and was told he has sever hip dysplasia and bad knees the next day he was unable to stand on his hind legs...He was in a lot of pain I couldn't believe I was going thru this again.. but this time with a much younger dog.. The vet put him on steriods and rimadyl...I was told he was not a candidate for surgery he was to far gone..I was told he might need to be put to sleep...Forget that it was NOT going to happen...I kept him on the rimadyl for a couple months..He still couldn't walk I carried him outside and made a strap so I could put it under his belly so he didn't drag his hind end it was heartwrenching to see him drag his little self along..I went online and read everything I could find on hip dysplasia I was reading in another forum about someone who put there dog on a product called Dog Gone Pain.. I found it and tried it and it worked for me..It took a while to work I was nearly at the end of the bottle and was about to change to something else it worked..I also put this little dog in my spa everyday to help his little hips...he now not only walks but runs..Dont give up hope cause there are things out there that can work for your baby if one supplement dosn't work then try another dont ever give up.. and give you're baby a HUGE hug from me and my babies

As a massage therapist, I also would recommend accupuncture or reiki in addition to your supplements.
 
You can also massage Rups hips too... I give massage to Dexter a Rott friend of mine with hip dysplasia.  Just hold his hips for about 2-3 minutes with your hand so the warmth of your hands can get into his hips.  Then, start to massage the muscles around the hip bones and muscles down the leg and to his feet if he will allow.  Dexter loves it.  Then hold the area a again for a few more minutes.  If he gets up, the session is over, he may not be in the mood always.  When you hold him, send him your positive healing energy... think of his hips healing as needed.  He can sense your energy. 
 
 

ORIGINAL: AOskay

As a massage therapist, I also would recommend accupuncture or reiki in addition to your supplements.

You can also massage Rups hips too... I give massage to Dexter a Rott friend of mine with hip dysplasia.  Just hold his hips for about 2-3 minutes with your hand so the warmth of your hands can get into his hips.  Then, start to massage the muscles around the hip bones and muscles down the leg and to his feet if he will allow.  Dexter loves it.  Then hold the area a again for a few more minutes.  If he gets up, the session is over, he may not be in the mood always.  When you hold him, send him your positive healing energy... think of his hips healing as needed.  He can sense your energy. 

 
Wow, thats awesome. Just so happens I have a friend who does Reiki..so I'll have to talk to her about it. []

Thanks Cathy (Cakana) for referring me to this post.  I osted questions on the same topic recently and I'm glad that I found this post with a lot good information.  I'm new here and not every educated on HD and/or the Medicines, so forgive me. 
 
I have an Australian Shephard/Beagle mix (Lilly); she turned 1 year on 6/18/06 and is 49 pounds.  On 6/12/06 my kids were playing with her when my son accidently stepped on her foot (toes).  She started limping; I waited a few days and she still was limping so I took her to the vet on 6/15/06.  He did an exam and said he didn't feel anything broken; he gave me Rimalyl and sent us on our way.
 
A month later, she was still limping (noone else noticed the limping but me, it wasn't too noticeable) and since I finished the Rimalyl, I called the vet and requested xrays; those were done yesterday.  The xrays showed that she has cronic HD on her left side (not on the right).  He said this had nothing to do with my son stepping on her toes but worse.  Does cronic mean severe? 
 
Lilly runs and plays; you would never think anything was wrong with her; it's when she walks that she slightly limps or she holds her leg off the ground when standing still. Can such a thing heal on it's own?  I never researched Rimalyl; I just gave it to her because when the vet orginally gave it to me, he thought it was only going to be temporary.  Yesterday the vet did mention the blood work that would be needed after time.
 
Right now she eats Purina Dog Chow but after reading your posts; I'm concerned about what I should be feeding her, any suggestions?   Also, should I limit her running and playing?  She loves playing outside with the kids; again, you would never know anything was wrong with her by looking at her playing.
 
The Vet didn't seem too alarmed (as I am), he mentioned a possible ortho specialist consultation but he said he wouldn't suggest it at this time; why wait though?  Does it cure itself?  Does it get better in time?  The visible symptoms of her having HD happened 1 month ago; isn't tending to the diagnosis quickly make it better?  Again, I just learned of this yesterday and not sure what path to take; I would hate to wait and later find that she would have had better results if I had taken care of it right away (possibly surgery) but the vet said it wasn't something he personally wouldn't do at this time.
 
It was one of those things after leaving the vet; where you leave and then you think of all the things you wanted to say and ask afterwards.
 
Thanks a lot for any replies and sorry for all you & your dogs having to go through this too.  With Lilly only a year old, I want to give her the most comfortable/good life that I can.    
 
 
 

Well, here I am again...with no (knocking on wood) personal experience iwth HD.  But, I do have large breed dogs and I supplement with Missing Link just to provide a bit of extra joint support.  And, I buy the BIG cans meant for horses cuz its a heck of a lot cheaper.  Callie (I think) swears by Knox Nutra joint or Joint support...never can remember the name.
 
Chronic doesn't mean more serious...it means long term. Acute is like a sprain or ear infection.....just a now sort of thing...chronic is long term as in myself with chronic pain from a shoulder injury....and in my case 12 plus years of it!
 
HD isn't something that heals itself, ever.  I think for your own peace of mind, do the ortho consult NOW, find out how severe it is and go from there.  I wouldn't limit her play one bit...she will self limit based on her pain.  And truely, do a search for MaryNH and email her...her Sadie lived many years with HD and she likely has some really good advice for you.

Hi, and Welcome! I'll try to answer as many questions as I can, but since I'm new to the whole HD too, it might not be many. []
 
People have told me to have the dogs with HD on good food. No glutens, and grains. My vet said if Rupert wants to run and play, let him. Not an everyday event, and he'll soon learn, playing hard will mean sore later. Which I think he has learned already. Rupert was dignosed in the beginning of this month and is almost 6 months old.
 
Idk if chronic means servere...my vet used the word servere with us. And he also explained 4 different surgeries and which would be ideal for Ruperts case. All being very expensive. Some surgeries the dog can't get till 18-24 months. Like total hip replacement (which Rupert would need in both hips). Total hip replacement cures all, dog will be back to normal. The other surgeries don't cure HD, but it helps then live a more normal life.
 
Also right away I would get your dog on supplements (glucosamine, chondrotin and MSM). Those help somewhat repair joint tissue and help support the joint. I've only had Rupert on them for 2 weeks, so I don't think I would beable to notice a change yet, but I'm looking. Also our vet put Rupert on Metacam instead of Rimadyl. I don't exactly what the difference is, maybe someone can answer that. I haven't researched it yet. [8|]
 
Well I hope this helps alittle. I'm going thru the same thing too!!