Hip Clicking?
I mentioned this to my vet at every visit and he just keeps telling me that they are growing pains and they really cannot check anything out until he is older. He is just over a year now, and they still click - I try not to get too aggresive when playing with him to put any undue stress on his back legs, but he jumps like a mad man when playing frisbee and he doesnt always have the most graceful landings. I just cringe every time he falls on his back legs. I dont intentially throw the frisbee where he has to jump, but sometimes he just goes for it when it is well over his head. Anyway, i was talking to my sister about this, and she was telling me that he may have hip displacia (sp?) and for them to really test for this that they have to dislocate the hips and take x-rays.. Doesnt really seem like an option i want to really pursue, but concerned on what this may be. It doesnt seem to bother him, no soreness or anything, but he does get up like an old man from time to time, but will also jump up like a pup when he wants. Is this something that is just normal to the larger breed dogs? just a little lazy in th rear? Wondering if there are any additional suppliments we should be looking at for his bones - already feed him large breed formulas which i thought had these extra nutrients in them. Any suggestions? |
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| From previous posts here, it could go either way. With my 3 year old, he had a hip click that has turned out to be nothing. I believe it was Sheepdogmarine that has 2 OES whose hip clicks turned out to be severe hip dysplasia and that was found pretty early.
They can x-ray to check for gross abnormalities but if it's a small problem they may not find it until later. There are quite a few people here who have gone through this process that will be able to walk you through it. Good luck!! |
| When we first got Barney he was 6 months old. I noticde that he clicked too and just didn't seem to walk like my other sheepie. So when we went to have him neutered at 7 motnhs I asked them to take xrays. They did and discovered that he has hip dysplasia. But they also said that it would be hard to tell how severe it would be until he was finished growing...past 2 years of age.
He's now almost 19 months old and doing fine. Like you said in your post, when he jumps he often doesn't have the most graceful of landings (although nothing Barney does is graceful!) and I worry about that too. He'll run in the kitchen and then try to turn on the tile and slip and he'll end up with his legs splayed. Currently we just give him 2 tablespoons of glucosamine with his meals (1 TBS a meal) and he seems fine...I don't know if it is because he's still young that he just doesn't care if something hurts and he'll do it anyways, or that it doesn't bother him yet... I would just monitor it and always ask your vet for advice if you have questions... |
| I would have him x-rayed just to see if hip dysplasia is really there. If it is, you can do some preventative measures now to try to minimize the long-term effect - like giving him a chondroitin/glucosamine supplement daily, moderate exercise to keep the muscles strong, swimming.
My 12 and a half year old Drez has hip dysplasia. We didn't know about it until she was 11. We switched vets because of it - figured that our regular vet (who we had gone to for YEARS with various animals) should have at least suggested x-rays to see if there was a problem, seeing that she was a large breed. We had an FHO (femoral head ostectomy) performed on her right hip at 11 yrs. Can't do her left hip because her right hip wouldn't be strong enough to support her during recuperation. So now all we can do is give her meds and watch her slowly decline. If we had known about this sooner, we could have helped her more. But we never heard of the condition and were angry that our vet never alerted us to the possibility. For my own peace of mind, I would get him x-rayed now. May be something, may not. But at least you'll never second-guess yourself in the future. |
Quote: for them to really test for this that they have to dislocate the hips and take x-rays
Dislocate? Yikes! That sounds very scary... all they do is take x-rays but they have to make sure they're positioned properly. We've had 3 of our sheepie-girls x-rayed... only one had to be sedated. Personally, I'd take him in to be properly evaluated by the vet... as mentioned, daily Glucosamine and also keeping him a lean weight will help. Emma has had an occasional clicking too. She's just over 2 years so we had the x-rays done. Her hips are great but it didn't rule out clicking from the knee. She shows no signs of lameness or favoring of either leg. We also have a sheepie that actually does have some pretty awful looking hip x-rays but we knew this when we adopted her. We treat her hip dysplasia with Cosequin DS 2x daily and 1 adult buffered aspirin in the morning to start her day. http://www.nutramaxlabs.com/products/an ... og_FAQ.asp She's been doing real good so far. |
| One of our members, Eric (Sheepdogmarine) started his conversation about HD the same way:
Has anyone ever had a clicking hip? And a follow up here: Not having a good day ...and here: Breeder has no concern! |
| They do NOT dislocate the hips.....
All that is needed is an xray. |
| As stacey said They do not dislocate the hips. The dog is sedated to keep it still, they are placed on their backs and then the vet sort of spreads the back legs open and down then the x-ray is taken of the hip area. No discomfort to the dog what-so-ever. They sedate or knock them out completely just to keep them as still as possible for an accurate x-ray of the joint area of the hips.
Around 18 months to 2 years is the most accurate age to get a good idea of what is happening with the hips as they have ususally finished the rapid growth stage of the bones by then. In the meantime, keep your boys weight on the leaner side, no jumping as that can accelerate the problem if there is a problem with his hips. And no over-exercising him at this stage till you have an idea of what is happening with the hips. Sometimes it is just the fact of the rapid growth stage and all not growing evenly at the same time, but that can correct itself when they are around 18 months or older, in the meantime correct management of him is essential or you could be doing worse damage to the hips if there is a problem with HD. |
| http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=7434
The Penn hip test is what my sister was talking about http://www.pennhip.org/. "the hips are positioned in a neutral orientation and a special positioning device is used to apply a harmless force to cause the hips to displace laterally." Sounds like they do displace them for this test, and it appears we could test him successfully today vs. waiting till he is 18 months for an x-ray. Not sure what to do, he is our baby.... dont want to do anything to hurt him, but they say there are no negative effects from this test. Reading the symptoms just get us worried, he does Bunny Hop, hip click and i think he is a little on the slow side to get up sometimes... |
| I don't think Displace = Dislocate. Sounds like they move the hips into an unnatural position but that is not necessarily painful. Maybe ask the vet for more info about whether there is any recovery period or pain medication after the exam. They should be able to address any concerns. . . |
| Go to the OFA site and read the info on there. http://www.offa.org/
If your really worried go get a hip x-ray done, don't have to give anything to the dog to relax, the vet doesn't have to get a perfect pic. as your not sending it into OFA. The dog is put on the table, vet tech holds the front legs/chest area, vet holds the back legs in normal position, clicks a pic. It is that simple. If the dog will not lay still they give him a shot, makes them relax. Might not be the hips clicking, could be something else. Barbara |
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