Hips displasia/arthritis - may be a time for the op....

gettingready

Thanks a lot - Zara does not like pedigree at all though.

Also, she got an ortho bed but never sleeps there, prefers hard floor

Zara's 7k insurance went within a month , twice (once for each leg).. She had one op from one year insurance (all gone) and the second from next year insurance (all gone again).

Anyone with a large dog, pls get them insured for 10k, now I wish I had, thouht 7k would be enough

elliesmemory1

If you are not happy you should go back to the vets that did op.

Green lip muscle may help , but you need to know why she is still bad, has she a problem with her spine too?

Physio might help too, but you may end up spending lots on bioflow collars etc etc untill you know whats wrong it probably will not help.

I would ring and explain to the vets, ask to speak to a snr vet or practice manager tell them how she is and that you are not happy.


It may be that she is as good as she will ever be, as she is a middle aged large breed yoou may have to except that she will not be perfect.

gettingready

Hardupandfedup wrote: »

I would ring and explain to the vets, ask to speak to a snr vet or practice manager tell them how she is and that you are not happy..

Did that, got nowhere.

Hardupandfedup wrote: »

It may be that she is as good as she will ever be, as she is a middle aged large breed yoou may have to except that she will not be perfect.

I do not expect her to be perfect BUT after both hips done THR I expect her to be better than she was before the ops and she is not. Possibly worse actually.

elliesmemory1

I would try vets again, it may be there is another problem, unfortunatly lovely as they are GSDs do suffer from many problems. Maybe write a polite letter to the vets, send it recorded delivery and see if you get a reply. If you are really unhappy with the vets you can complain.

I seem to remember you saying she had a problem with her spine, Maybe thats the problem, not her hips. Hope you get her sorted out.

gettingready

Some narrowing of the spine came up on her MRI - lumbar stenosis.

BUT that was not forwarded to her regular vets. No MRI no mention about lumbar stenosis. Just her hip Xrays.

Just been to BOOTS. got Ester C but for the life of me can not remember how many tablets (they are 1000mg each) was I giving her.

Does anyone know of a link where the dosage is mentioned? Per 10kg of a dog? I think it was 1 tablet per 10kg but need to look it up.

gettingready

Dr. Geir Erik Berge, a veterinarian in Oslo, Norway, gave 100 disabled dogs 30 mg/kg of Ester C® three times daily for six months.

http://www.yourdoghealth.com/dog_ester-c.htm

so with Zara at 40kg it would be 1200mg three times per day

I thought I was giving her 1 tablet 3 times per day...so about right

krlyr

Try an Armadillo collar. Cheaper than Bioflow but have heard lots of good recommendations (on forums I use by well-known members, not just random reviews)

elliesmemory1

You say her leg goes under her, does she drag her feet or scuff her nails at all? Only ask as CDRM is common in gsds and that can be a sign, hope its not but might be worth checking out

paddypaws101

GR, I had/have no idea what CDRM is so googled it and found this thread
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=544696
They talk about ticks and Lyme's disease.....

Notsosharp

krlyr wrote: »

Try an Armadillo collar. Cheaper than Bioflow but have heard lots of good recommendations (on forums I use by well-known members, not just random reviews)

Just to say GR I'm sorry to hear about Zara, I hope there is something you can do for her.

About the bunny hopping thing; I have a Collie with severe hip displaysia (he's had it since birth and has had several operations). He has practically no hip joints to speak of but it hasn't stopped him, he just walks as though he is trying to keep a toffee in place up his bum, kind of like the tops of his legs are kept together and his feet sort of twist round in front of each other (it's hard to explain!)

It's never stopped him and he can still scale six foot dry stone walls when need be (though as he gets older - 10 now) it's getting harder for him.

It might just be the way Zara walks now and if she is fine it might not be something to worry about?

With regards to the CDRM if she is scraping her back paws on the ground (my mum's GSD got it when she was older, she developed callouses on her paws) it probably is that, have you tried gently pulling her back leg forward and seeing if she brings it back. If she can't it may be a sign of CDRM and there isn't a lot you can do for it to be honest, my mum's GSD got to the point where she wasn't really able to walk more than 100 metres but it was bladder cancer that got her in the end

Kylr would those collar things be any good for my collie? He's not in pain but it might ease things a bit for him (his hips were checked today after he had to have an operation for an unfortunate incident with a door he chewed a hole in) but if it helps it might be worth it especially as he is kicking on a bit.