We also had a Lab diagnosed at 10 months with mild in one hip and moderate in the other. He was lame and arthritic at that age! Surgery was recommended but I decided to try less drastic measures. He is now five years old and still very active.

I give him two capfuls of Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother (organic) each day with his meals; he also gets a Fish Oil and a Vit E each day. Along with that, he gets Kirkland Glucosamine 1500 AND MSM powder. You get the powder at a feed store or on amazon.

He may still need surgery eventually, but the Vet is amazed at how he retained muscle mass when they thought surgery was the only option.

Except dogs get Hip Dysplacia from parents with low hip scores and within lines of dogs with low hip scores.

So let us have a care for the actual science and not your imagined and simplistic version of what is known.

Dogs are also more than just a set of hips so hip scores are only one of several things a breeder would consider.

Hi there – just thought I’d get in touch. Our labrador is also 17 months old and we found out she has hip displaysia when she dislocated her left hip scooting after toiletting back in January this year. After treying a closed reduction but then dislocating it again the only option was for a total hip replacement. We’re 8 weeks post surgery and so far, so good. I’d be interested to know how you are progressing with your dog. Best wishes

Can you recommend any good supplements for hips/joints? My lab is 8 months old, no symptoms of dysplasia, but would like to start giving her a good supplement for prevention.

Thanks,
Marios

Thanks in Avance

Hi Hannah can i ask as you are going down the non surgical route, how is your lab coping, we have just had a diagnosis or hip dysplasia and he has been measured for surgery, however he has oestio in both hocks and would rather he didnt have surgery, he isnt in alot of pain at all, rarely has medication and moves like he is a puppy, thanks laura

When your healthy puppy suddenly turned into limping disabled dog in pain with each movement you are looking for the answers. After thousands of dollars in vet bills (for X-ray, blood work..etc) you got a terrible diagnosis: hip dysplasia…It means that your dog will be lifelong on pills (that have side effects like NSAIDs) or possible $$$$$ surgery with questionable outcome. …

Later on, you realize that this condition could be easily prevented by screening breeding pair (sire/ dam) of your puppy. The probability of puppy having hip dysplasia later on in life, according to Orthopedic Foundation for Animals http://www.offa.org/pdf/monograph2006web.pdf) in 2 healthy hip (excellent hip rating) dogs (sire/dame) in only 4%, while the probability of dog having hip dysplasia from 2 dysplastic hip dogs is 36%, based on 444,451 screened dogs. This study may have an observer bias because the animals subjected to hip X-ray were probably selected for breeding and their owners were hoping that they are normal. I doubt that many badly limping hip-dysplastic animals were really admitted to OFA certificate, and, because many large breed have up to 65% of hip dysplastic dogs, this % may be actually much higher.

Do you think AKC cares? No, they do not. They can only print pedigrees and organize dog show. They do zero selective work to improve or reinforce breeding standards.

Do you think the breeders are not aware of that? Yes, they do. Do you think they will check the mating dogs for hip dysplasia? Some of them do, some of them don’t. They’d rather prefer to protect themselves by predatory contract making them all excuses to breed sick animals and for you, the pet owner, to deal with it later on.

Why? Because breeding the sick, hip dysplastic animals is legal in USA. Too bad. Let’s change that! Let’s stop that kind of animal cruelty from making –money breeders and keep them more responsible to the damage they are doing! Even some publication suggesting the role of environmental factors in hip dysplasia, such as poor nutrition or over-exercise (usually not randomized observation, read: not really scientifically proven). It is also true that hip dysplasia is polygenetic disorder.

Well, it will not change the fact that probability of puppy been hip dysplastic is 9 times lower if its parents (dam/sire) were graded as excellent by OFA X-ray compare to that whose parents were graded as dysplastic.

Let’s stop animal cruelty from poor money- driven irresponsible breeding and make Mandatory hip X-ray screening for breeding pair. Let’s try to put it into the law! I am not sure how to do that but I am intended to make some changes.