Hip Dysplasia

[Thunderflight]

My lab has hip dysplasia.

Anyone have, had, or know some whose dog has or had it?

[backstrap]

Growing up we had a Golden Retriever who had that problem, later on in his life. It was tough watching him go through that. Had problems with getting up, and stairs, even hard for him to walk. I have a 9-month old Choc. Lab now. So far he hasn't shown any signs. When he was a pup I got a chance to meet his parents, both of those hadn't had any problems. I guess only time will tell. I know that problem is big in Retrievers, Labs, and Sheppards.

[Thunderflight]

I saw both the parents of mine and they were good to go.

If your dog is nine months and you haven't seen any signs yet then your probably good to go.

My lab is ten months old and he started showing signs around the six month mark.

Supposedly there are some surgeries that can correct it, but they are costly.

[backstrap]

I can imagine the cost of the surgery would be high. I think the only reason my parents didn't have surgery on my Retriever was that he was up there in age. What are some of the signs I should be looking for?

[Thunderflight]

The best way I can think of describing it is like this.

It looks like my dog is always trying to pinch his butt cheeks together. His rear end is kind hunched.

The vet checked him out and his left side is pretty bad off. I'm getting xrays done on the 1st and he is getting snipped to.

[OhioHunter88]

One of our labs have it, mom sometimes gives him aspirins if he is lipping pretty bad.





Kaleb

[COMpounder]

A good breeder usually gives a warranty against hip dysplasia. It is a good idea to have the dog neutered to keep from spreading the desiease.

Sorry to hear that about your Lab.

[Thunderflight]

I've heard that too, but the catch is that they'll replace the dog after it's six to nine months. Guess what,,,, by then your attached to the damn thing and don't really want to give it up.:yikes:

[Thunderflight]

Here's a picture of Bubba.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/baughncr/Cowgirlray003.jpg

[backstrap]

Between hip dypslasia and seizures, why do these things have to happen to such a good breed? :nono:

[Bucko]

I had my lab hips checked before breeding her ,We still had a pup from the second litter get dyplasia , It is a law you must refund $$ up here and the pet owner can either keep the pup or give it back there choice.They wanted to keep the dog so we split the surgery $400 each.the pup is a house a fire now.you would never know it had any problems. Bucko

[camjam]

I have had many Labs and just recently put down my 10 year old due to liver cancer. When this dog was less than a year old he had hip problems which he out grew. The vet said this is not uncommon when the pup is growing very rapidly.
I also had a female that had arthritis and when she was 10-11 I started giving her buffered aspirin. My vet said not to give a dog staight aspirin as is to acidic/tough on their stomach. This female lived to be 14 years and finally was put down as she could not move well at all due to the arthritis.
My suggestion actually would be to take this pup back and get another as you are likely going to experience a lot of heart ache and more financial pain than you should. One of the problems with Labs are the breeders. The Lab is so popular and has been for such a long time that now there are many "breeders" that know nothing about selective breeding.....only making puppies and the results can and likely are affecting the entire breed.
Good luck whatever you decide with your pup!

[Thunderflight]

Dog ain't going back.

The number one reason is the person I bought him from lives in Utica and I live in North Carolina.

Second reason is we've become attached to him.

[Cap't Ernie]

Tf,

Is your lab an English Lab or an American Lab? (Englishes tend to be a little bit smaller)

We have an English. She is now 11 years old (God Bless her) and has developed a good cause of arthritis and she has hip troubles every now and then in the winter. When she was a pup (and I was too), she did come with a 2 year warranty if she developed hip problems (heck of a breeder, up in Rochester, New York). She never developed problems until the last few years, as expected for an old dog.

My aunt's family also got a lab at around the same time. She fed it Puppy food for too long (I'll get back to you about when you should stop), and it has lived a pretty miserable life to be quite honest.

We give our dog asprin when she has bad days, but we also got advice from the vet and she gets Glucosamine Chondroitin (yep, the same thing old people take), and that has done wonders to her.

I'll get back later when I can ask my dad about the specifics.

Captain Ernie

[Cap't Ernie]

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e74/Captainernie_0870/Molly.jpg

Here's Molly! She was never a hunter, just a family dog. She's a great dog, not a mean bone in her body. Loves little kids and old ladies too!

[Cap't Ernie]

Tf,

Make sure you don't feed Bubba puppy chow any longer than now. After 6-9 months that protein is too much for the dog and they will build too much muscle and tear it (another example is creatine in humans).

Also, it is a genetic thing, so make sure he gets snipped.

In respect to your breeder, you should get your money back. I know with our breeder, she would do a complete refund and let you keep the dog as long as it was spayed/nuetered, or she'd take the dog and give you another one. Heck of a lady, I don't know if she's still in business but if anyone is trying to get a great lab, let me know and I'll try to dig up her info.

Labs are the best dogs out there, it is too bad they have problems.

Captain Ernie

[Thunderflight]

Well Bubba had his doctors appointment yesterday.

He got snipped and x-ray'd.

The x-rays aren't good infact they are VERY bad. He has it bad in both hips and one is so bad that the vet told my wife that if arthritis set in soon we could potentialy have to put him down in six months. He said that's a worse case scenerio, but more than likely we'll be putting him down around his four or five year B-day.

This just kills me because he is the best dog I've had yet. We are considering getting hip replacements done, but they are VERY expensive and if arthritis sets in we could be putting him down in four or five years anyway.

This just sucks.

[Buckmaster141]

TF,

I had a yellow lab that had hip dysplasia and she had a really bad case of it. We found out when she was like 6 months old and we were going to get surgery on her because we got really really attached to the pup and it was too hard to think about giving her up. Our vet told us to take her to Ohio State University to do the surgeries and it would 2000 dollars a hip. But right before her 1 year birthday she got hit by a cruiser that was in pursuit and her back paws when we first found out she had hip dysplasia were almost touching when she would sit and before she was killed they were actually straightening out and the hip dysplasia wasn't as bad. So i hope that maybe your dog might have a milder case as he becomes full grown and maybe it won't be as bad, you will still have to get the surgeries to fix him but hopefully the case isn't as bad

[Thunderflight]

Bubba is 10 or 11 months old now. He's got it pretty bad, but amazingly gets around fine.

We're going to take him to a specialist to get more info on the surgery. I never thought in a million years that I'd actually consider spending $3,000 on getting a dog fixed up, but we've become really attached to him and he's part of the family. I guess the old saying about the quality of a good dog is true.

[MUZZY MAN]

I;m sorry TF. I can't imagine going through that. My shepard is a stray we picked up. Half starved and sarcoptic mange. It took a 1,000$ to finnaly get that ckeared up. Like you said, She is family.