hip displacia
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| Welcome from St. Louis....
I am sorry to hear about your girl. If you search the OES forum for threads on Hip Dysplacia, there have been discussions on various treatments, including surgery. I know with my Beardie, we took her to an holistic vet who gave her acupuncture which helped alot. Have you discussed this with your vet? Please keep us posted and good luck!  |
| I wonder if OESCA could provide details. Have you checked out their health website for different treatment options for hip dysplasia?
http://www.oeshealth.org/hipdysplasia.htm Is your sheepie at a good weight? I've also got a 3 year old with hip dysplasia but I don't know the rating http://oesusa.com/Page30.htm . She needs to loose 2 pounds... she doesn't know it yet but we're picking up green beans today and cutting back some on her kibble  I know keeping the muscles strong and the dog lean can sometimes help a dog cope with this condition. Swimming is said to be a very good exercise for a dog with HD.
We give Cosequin DS, vitamin C, 3V Caps fatty acids, buffered aspirin in the AM which at this point it's enough to control pain. I know that something more will be required at some point and Panda will let us know when it's required. She's also seen an holistic vet for V.O.M. treatments. If all non-surgical options fail to manage the pain, then surgery may be the best hope. I don't have any experience that I can share but I believe total hip replacement is much more expensive than a femoral head ostectomy. If surgery is ever done on Panda, the rescue MADE us agree to a femoral head ostectomy rather than total hip replacement or we couldn't adopt her. FHO is often recommended for dogs under 45 pounds but from what I've heard, it's been preformed successfully on Old English Sheepdogs. It's something to look into further before making a decision. The dog MUST be kept at a lean weight for life and the muscles kept in good condition. The draw backs are said to be decreased range of motion and joint stability... I think the recovery period is also longer and that more rehabilitation required. All surgeries carry a risk so it's important to exhaust all non-surgical options first. Good luck to you and your baby. I'll be interested in hearing more about the total hip replacement surgery too. |
| I'm very sorry to hear about your sheepie. It's a very distressing thing to learn about your baby.
My first sheepdog was diagnosed with hip dysplasia at a very young age. Knowing the grade actually made it worse for me because it seemed pretty hopeless. She had pain medication, was kept at a very trim weight, had a regular, structured exercise regime, and underwent a total of four surgeries (the last two were the ones where they operate on the femoral bone). It was so hard to watch her go through all that but I thought I was helping and I wasn't ready to consider saying good-bye. At the end of the day, though, there is only so much that veterinary medicine can do and she was in a lot of pain. It finally came to a point where I couldn't, in good conscience, watch her suffer any more. All these years later, I can honestly tell you that if I'd known then what I know now, I wouldn't have put her through all that. I realize now that I failed to ask myself who I was doing all that for? her? or me? I think if I'd kept her best interests in the forefront, I would have stopped everything a lot earlier. She was close to four years old when she died but her last year was pretty painful for her. I feel pretty bad for putting her through that. Having said all this, veterinary medicine has made progress since my experience (she died about 20 years ago now) so my advice is to make yourself aware of what is out there now. Also, ask your vet for an objective prognosis. (I say "objective" because my vet at that time was very aware of my feelings and I'm sure that factored into his recommendations) It's important to ask if the prognosis will change depending on the treatment option. I would also ask to talk with people whose dogs have recently undergone similar treatments so you know what to expect in 'real terms'. It's one thing to hear the textbook synopsis but quite another to hear what it means to a dogs life (and to the family) I hope this helps and I really hope things work out well for you and your sheepie.  |
Quote: four surgeries (the last two were the ones where they operate on the femoral bone)
 That is so sad. It's can be a difficult balance of quality of life and quantity of life.
One thing that at a vet from Michigan State University pointed out is that each dog responds differently to his/her own condition... that x-rays don't always tell the whole story. Some x-rays may not look so bad but the dog is suffering... or the dog has done so well that no one knew his/her hips were in such bad shape. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... icleid=184 It's so important to try all the non-surgical options first to try to find relief. As with any surgery, there are risks... of both infection and failure. There are a couple of people on the OES-List who have Old English Sheepdogs that had FHO surgery... the most recent dog was a rescue named Harvey... his surgery was back in March. You might consider joining that list and going through the achieves... possibly contact those individuals to see if they would share their experiences and to see how their dogs are doing now. http://oeslist.com |
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