Labrador Hip Dysplasia Treatment

 

Question:

My lab was just diagnosed with CHD in both hips. I started her on Glucoflex already. I just read several studies on ester-c and they sound really promising. Have you heard of this and if so would you recommend this?

Also her parents were just bred again. I was told they have both been xrayed and had good hip. I looked on the ofa registry and there is no record of this.  Her mother is due at the end of the month. I know that some of the people are planning on breeding the female puppies from that litter. If the puppies are ofa good could they be bred. I would think that they could carry the genes for CHD and should not be bred.
Am I wrong? Thank you S.

Answer: S.-

I am sorry that it took so long to get to your question.

The genetics of hip dysplasia are pretty complicated, since it is a disorder that is affected by the more than one gene and also by environmental influences, especially the weight of the puppy as it grows.
However, the best advice seems to be to try to get information from multiple generations. The reason for this is that even when two dogs with hip dysplasia are bred, there are likely to be as many as 25% or more of the puppies who will have good hips despite their parent’s problems. But these dogs have a much higher risk of passing on hip dysplasia to their offspring than if they had been from a breeding in which both parents had
good or excellent hips. In that case, the odds of a puppy having good hips might be as high as 75% or more. I have attended one seminar in which this issue was discussed in detail and the person presenting the talk said that knowing only the parent’s hip status improved your chances of getting a puppy without hip dysplasia only by about 25%. Knowing two generations improved the odds by about 50 to 75% and knowing three generations improved the chances to about 75%. These were not presented as hard facts, just as general guideline for the value of the information. She felt that even
knowing more generations than this did not help in breeds prone to hip dysplasia but that it was obvious that with a large number of generations in which selection was made to eliminate carriers hip dysplasia could be eliminated. She used greyhounds as an example. They have been selected for speed for so long that orthopedic conditions that might interfere with speed are lower in the breed, including hip dysplasia.

It would help a lot if there was good reporting of all testing for hip dysplasia in a breed so that it was possible to look at multi-generational pedigrees and the occurrence of this and other disorders and then make breeding selections based on that knowledge. At this time, that isn’t possible, though. It is definitely worthwhile to ask for proof of an OFA or PennHip test result for hip dypslasia, though. I know of many instances in which clients of mine purchased puppies with the assurance that the parents had “good hips” when they were never actually tested.

Mike Richards, DVM

Question:

Female Labrador, 5 months old.  Two weeks ago she started doing “the walk”
….back legs close   together, difficulty rising from laying position. Some hopping.  I know the walk.

From that date to present, we are doing the bunny hop occasionally and the legs close together  walk. She seems to be getting somewhat better as the weeks go on, although this ‘bothers’ me greatly….those words of ‘hip dysplasia’ pop up.  Yesterday a visitor over here, knowing nothing of the previous weeks rough play, said that dog has ‘hip dysplasia’.  The bunny hop….This visitor also did not know she was a puppy either…
I dont want to run the gamete with unnecessary x-rays so your knowledge will help me in knowing how long to expect healing or take a look at possible hip displasia.
Is it possible for a pup this age to show clinical signs of hip dysplasia?
What can I do for her?
Is walking and training safe to do with her while she shows these signs of back leg problems.

Thank You

Answer: Hi-

It is definitely possible for a five month old puppy to have clinical signs of hip dysplasia. When clinical signs are present, it is almost always possible to diagnose hip dysplasia from  X-rays, if it is the cause of the signs. This would be a good age to get a diagnosis, if you would consider reconstructive surgery of the hip joint (triple pelvic osteotomy), a procedure that must be done while the puppy is still growing.  It is also possible that the clinical signs could be due to another problem, such as a strain or sprain of one of the joints in the leg, a pelvic injury or a back injury. Other problems, such as osteochondrosis, sometimes cause lameness in one or both rear legs as well.

Puppies with hip dysplasia often have more discomfort at some times than at other times. There can be periods of soreness and then apparent recovery even though the disorder is present the whole time. Recurrences of the soreness are common, though.  It is a good idea to consider X-rays if you see a pattern of intermittent lameness in a young dog.

Strains and sprains usually heal within two to three weeks. Back injuries can take a very long time to heal, or may not ever heal completely. At some point, it may become necessary to try to differentiate between hip dysplasia and a back injury. If back problems are present, neurologic deficits are more likely to be visible, with signs such as dragging the toes or problems with placement of the feet occurring. It is often possible to tell if a neurologic injury is present through a physical exam but it doesn’t rule out a problem with hip dysplasia being present at the same time.

It may be helpful to use Glucosamine and Chondroitin at this age to try to limit the inflammation and provide the necessary nutrients for joint repair. Pain relief can be useful. I still like aspirin as first choice for puppies with hip dysplasia but it can be irritating to their digestive tract.

Weight control is very important in limiting the progression of hip dysplasia. If the puppy is overweight at all, a diet may help more than anything else.

I think that moderate exercise is not likely to cause additional problems and may help due to increases in muscle strength and possibly joint mobility. Heavy exercise will increase joint inflammation and could potentially make the dysplasia worse. Sitting can be pretty hard on puppies with hip dysplasia and if pain is observed, or if the puppy shows obvious reluctance to sit, it would be best not to push the issue. Teaching the puppy to heel should be no problem.

It really would be best to have X-rays taken to see if hip dysplasia is present, to assess how bad it is, if it is present and to plan what to do for the puppy. This is especially true if it is possible to consider surgery such as the triple pelvic osteotomy. If you know that surgery is out of the question, then it isn’t nearly as important to have the X-rays because medical therapy, weight control and restricting exercise to moderate activity will have to be plan.

Hope this helps some.

Mike Richards, DVM