Hi All, still a bit shell shocked really.
Jo, Annie is just over 21 months old and build wise is probably on the shorter side in regards to height but is definately not over weight, with the exception of this hip thing I would say she is in pretty good condition.
I did all the right things to start with, she comes from a good pedigree, went thru the puppy officer from the breed club over here and she came from a breeder who loves their dogs.
Exercise wise when young I was carefull not to do too much with her to give her a chance to grow and gain strength. I guess it all boils down to sometimes sh*t happens, dissapointing to the extreme.
Short term at least I've decided to keep going with the injection treatment and possibly modify the field work to keep her real close at heal to limit the miles she does. I really don't want to see her waste away in the yard and want to spend the time while she can doing what she/we want to do - hunting.
Longer term don't really know what to expect.
Cheers,
Waldo
I would get a second opinion. As I recall, you are in a rural area so your vet may be a pet vet, not a breeder vet. I once had a pet vet tell me my dog (different breed) who was limping had hip dysplasia when he x-rayed the hips. I went to a different vet recommended by breeders, had the dog x-rayed properly (the position makes a difference to how well the hip joint can be seen) and scored by an accredited vet - the hip score was 1:1 (which strictly speaking is hip dysplasia because it's not 0:0, but a very good hip score and unlikely to cause limping). The limping turned out to be a tear in the cruciate (probably from leaping from the bank into a river where the water was low). It was suggested that I take him to a greyhound specialist for treatment. It took six weeks of rest and separation from the other dogs and supervised on-lead swimming and heat treatment before the limping was cured.
Thanks for the advice, I did see the xrays and the difference in the hips was noticeable to my untrained eye. They did give me a "spare" xray to keep and while not as good as the ones the vet kept it's not too bad. My boss' wife is a vet (not currently practicing) so I may ask if she could cast her eye over the xray I have and put her 2 cents worth forward. If she thinks it's worth while having herself or another vet do an examination I'll give it a go.
Thanks,
Waldo
If you can scan it in and it comes up reasonably clear you could send it to Anne Eissing as her husband Andreas is I believe a vet. _________________ Annie
Handle every situation like a dog, if you can't eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away
The positioning of the hips when they are x-rayed can make a BIG difference. I would seriously consider going to a vet who specializes in hip x-rays to have the x-rays done again or at least tell you if the hips are correctly positioned on the x-ray you have. If the hips are poorly positioned, it is a waste of time having them scored.
I drive 200 km to go to an expert vet for hip & elbow x-rays. The local pet vets just don't have the expertise in this specialist field. Given that you want to hunt this dog and have invested time in her training, it is worth the extra expense to make sure.
If you log on to the forum at www.dogzonline.com.au and ask breeders there, they will be able to recommend a good vet near you for hip x-rays.
I am hoping that the shots being given to your dog is
"Adequan" a glycosaminoglycan injection to help regenerate the
cartilage in the joint? I hope they are not using Steroids as this will aggrevate the bone over a long period of time.
You can also provide dietary Glucosamine and Hyaluronic Acid in liquid molecular form to help alleviate some of the symptoms and basically keep her on it for life. If you can find an Equine product in liquid it should work well.
One thing for sure if she is exhibiting pain now then you will definately have to adjust her exercise and modulate her weight downwards.
Swimming is a good exercise as it is not weight bearing and helps to maintain the muscle tone which is very important. _________________ Goldie Coats
Wyngold Britanys
Bend, OREGON, USA
The injections are "pentosan" which will be a series of four injections followed up latter with another series when needed, etc, etc.
I'm going to monitor everything closely and as said before modify how I work her and see how it goes.
Surgery options were discussed for if/when things get too bad for her but don't want to go down that path because it all sounds a bit too extreme.
Not sure what to expect but in the short term at least we've got some hunting to do.
Cheers,
Waldo
Went back to the vets yesterday for Annie's 4th pentosan injection and a follow up consultation. The vet was feeling her back legs and couldn't identify by feel which leg had the issue, so she has put muscle back on the left leg where originally it was a bit wasted. This appears (to me at least) to be a good sign, the favouring of the back leg is bit less pronounced and not as regular as it was previously so hopefully we can manage the situation. Annie will be due for her regular vaccinations in June so I'll be back at my more regular vet for those and he can have a good look at her xrays and check her out so I can have a second opinion. Meanwhile next weekend looks like we'll (son & I) have a 150 target skeet shoot then the following weekend the 3 of us have an "appointment" with a stag we saw/heard last week.
Cheers,
Waldo
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