Hip dysplasia in dogs

[Blaze]

I noticed fairly soon after we got Fifi that when she walked, she sometimes slightly rotated her right back leg inwards. The movement was almost imperceptible and when she trotted it wasn't noticeable at all. She didn't limp, or squeal and she's always been extremely active, particularly playing with Rafal. We decided it wasn't normal and took her to the vet who couldn't feel anything from the exterieur but immediately referred us to the orthopaedic specialist vet in the same practice. Specialised X-rays a yesterday under GA confirmed that there was a laxity in the right hip, more than desirable. They also showed a laxity in the left hip which was only just inside the norms. If left untreated, Fifi would go on to develop hip dysplasia later which would be uncorrectable.

Apparently a dog's pelvis "sets" at around 4 months and Fifi is 14 weeks so just inside the limit. The ortho vet did a procedure called PennHIP which stops the growth of cartilege in the pubis, thus allowing the pelvis to grow round to encapsulate the head of the femur. This procedure has been practised in France for about 25 years and is highly successful. It will correct both hips at the same time.
The vets congratulated us on spotting the problem so quickly. Had we waited until the symptoms were more obvious, it would have been too late. He has advised us to contact a friend of ours who has a pup from the same litter, which we've done.

Fifi is in fine fettle this morning - the difficulty is going to be keeping her calm for the next couple of weeks ....

[Pathca]

Poor Fifi but at least it was caught in time

[Blaze]

She removed her plaster (unsurprisingly) last night and I replaced it with another .... which she has just removed. As long as she doesn't worry the wound and it's kept clean and dry, she should be okay. The plaster can be removed in a couple of days anyway. Puppies heal very quickly.
As for putting a collar on .... too traumatic for her though it might take several tries. That said, if she leaves the wound alone and the stitches survive, there's no point in over-stressing her.

[hughnique]

Glad to hear it was caught in time, it seems to be that the majority of pedigree dogs are suffering from one inherent problem or another. I can remember in our "showing" days, Dobermans trotting before the judge with what looked like a disjointed rear half, surprisingly elevated up the desired ladder to a champion so as they could pass on their genetic problems to another litter of profitable puppies. My own fellow died from DCM, yet he had several tests as a puppy, notably one at the veterinary college in Paris, where he picked up kennel cough. It's as if when you try and find a good healthy specimen, you are entering a lottery, run by greedy breeders.

[Lori]

So fortunate that you noticed this early on. Our collie had hip dysplasia. It was painful to watch in his last years.

Best wishes to little Fifi.

[exile]

Well done for being so observant @Blaze

[Veem]

I have a friend in the UK who breeds working spaniels a Chinese Cresteds. All prospective parents are tested for hip scores and many other genetically inherited abnormalities and only those with favourable scores are bred. I don't know if the same thing happens in France?

It's not easy to spot nuances of abnormal movement in such a young animal, so well done Blaze et al.

[Blaze]

I'm not sure what the rules/law is in France. I believe private individuals are not allowed to breed and sell.
Perhaps we should have smelt a rat when the breeder said the mother was "craintive" so we didn't see her close up. Perhaps we should have insisted ....
We received full details of the father but not the mother. Looking back we now realise that the breeder was evasive and had clearly not had the mother hip scored.

Our friends with a pup from the same litter asked us to have a look at their Vanda, and I could see almost immediately that she seems to have the same problem. Easier this time round because we know what we're looking for. OH and I reckon Vanda's problem could be greater than Fifi's. She's been given a lot more exercise, in our view too much for a 3 month old pup. This could aggravate the problem of dysplasia.
Our friends will book her in for a scan on Monday and hope that if there's a problem it can be dealt with quickly.

Will the breeder contact the other owners of pups from the same litter ? I doubt it ...

[Chappers51]

My second OES, Dooley, had hip problems which my mother noticed. He had surgery which was not good so we refused it for the second joint. He went on to live a happy and active life for 14 years.

[Loup-garou]

One of my border collies was a little fella (although he never realised it), he was called "Loup-garou".

He developed a hip problem at about 3 and we were referred to a vet at a specialist practice called Davis White (then) where it was decided that because he only weight 16 kilo he could have a new treatment. That treatment involved cutting the ball off the head of the leg completely and letting the muscles develop to keep everything in place and functioning. He had hydrotherapy (swimming against strong currents) to aide his muscle development. It worked brilliantly for Little Loup.

When his second hip caused him problems at about 6 years old the specialist, Rob Raywood, said he had never done or heard of a dog having two hips treated like that but that Loup was a walking advertisement for the procedure and we might try it on him - still 16 kilo. If it was not a success, a standard hip replacement would still be available to Loup. That option also worked fine and with the very rare exception of straining a muscle when fighting his brothers and over stretching he was healthy and happy for many years after.