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To: Frantzie

It’s tough thing to deal with - really, the only cure for hip dysplasia is surgery, and it sounds like his is severe if they were popping out when he was a pup.

Even now at age 10 it might be too late for surgery as the arthritis caused by the malalignment of the ball and socket has probably already occurred.

My old dog had mild dysplasia in one hip and moderate in the other. We started her on Glycoflex (glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM mix - the MSM is really important to keep the inflammation down) when she started getting gimpy at age 7.
As it progressed we added in Adequan shots (injectable glucosamine) and then when that stopped working we put her on Metacam.
Metacam is an NSAID like Rimadyl or Deramaxx but with a better benefit/side effect ratio - gives you a bit more bang for the buck. It’s expensive but works great.
We finally lost her at age 14.

I’ve not heard of a lot of the treatments in your original post except for acupuncture. We opted out of acupuncture for our old girl because of the time (we both work and couldn’t take off 2 hours 3x a week to take her in - the place was pretty far away from us).

One thing I have heard of which seems very weird but apparently can have good results in severe cases is a surgery called a femoral head ostectomy. The hip “ball” is actually removed and the muscles form a capsule around the socket. The dog has to be young enough and with good enough muscle tone for this to work though.

Good luck to them, the road they are on is a tough and frustrating one....

LQ


7 posted on 03/02/2011 11:02:32 PM PST by LizardQueen (The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.)
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To: LizardQueen

Thanks. Yes I am aware of femoral head ostectomy. I am not sure he is young enough for it. I was not aware of Metacam.

Yeah it is very hard. As much as I lover dogs, I will not do it again because the end is too painful.

I remember reading something by Caspar Weinberger. He always had Golden Retrievers. He was working for Reagan, lost his dog to old age and was down. Reagan told him he needed to get a new one because there was a dog out their that needed his love and I forget the rest. It was I think in Weinberger’s book. It was very touching and sounded like something Reagan would say.

Thanks for the suggestions.


11 posted on 03/02/2011 11:17:59 PM PST by Frantzie (HD TV - Total Brain-washing now in High Def. 3-D Coming soon)
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To: LizardQueen

I agree. Surgery is probably the best option.


50 posted on 03/03/2011 6:21:01 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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