Quote: Alex Madsen

He's doing okay. He seems slightly more comfortable, but not by much. He still starts to limp after about 20 minutes of walking and his right hip is still significantly larger than his left. There's only two days worth of pills left on the NSAID, so I'm not sure how much more it can do.

He's an extremely energetic dog, and he's going crazy since he doesn't get his long walks or playtime anymore. I can't seem to get him to stop running around the house. I have to find another way to keep his brain stimulated without having him run around or walk for too long.

What did the vet say about the swelling, the significant enlargement of one hip?

Also about the sudden onset?

And the lack of NSAID effect?

I have been wanting to make a post about this all on it's own and just have been busy. But I wanted to at least put it in here. Look this up: Prolotherapy. I don't know where you are located but we took our dog from TN to Chicago, IL to see a veterinarian there who did this treatment. Dr Shaun Fauley. there are other vets here and there around the country doing it successfully.

I had what I jokingly referred to as hip dysplasia in people. My hip capsule was popping out of joint because in the same way a dog does, the tendons and ligaments are too loose to hold the joint in place correctly. Talk about painful.

I went to a doctor who does prolotherapy for people only. He is one of the best in the country. People fly in from all over to see him. When my hip started bothering me, he did the treatments on my hip and voila! I hiked 5 days a week this past winter.

It was when our 5 month old puppy was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia that we got involved with finding a vet who did the treatments. It took about 4 treatments and he went from being a limping puppy who our vet's office thought we should think about putting to sleep, and the best orthopaedic specialist we could find said there was nothing we could do, to being a normal 2 1/2 year old dog who hiked 7 days a week, with me and my husband, this past winter, painfree. Last year he did the same thing. Running, jumping, up and down hills, amazing.

I know of a couple vets who are doing the procedures, and there are others out there. It works if you find a vet who knows what they are doing, same as with any other treatments. We drove Tanka 11 hours one way to see the vet who fixed him, but the treatments themselves were very very inexpensive, and he was not put under. He did not have restricted activity, he lived a normal puppy life and healed. It works for older dogs too. Same as older people.

Look into it, it works. I carry pamphlets for the people doc all the time because I want to share the info with people who need it. it gave me my life back,and then amazingly, the same treatment gave our dog a chance at a normal life. it worked for both of us.

I wish you the best with your dog. I hope he gets better.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

What did the vet say about the swelling, the significant enlargement of one hip?

Also about the sudden onset?

And the lack of NSAID effect?

The vet said that he has a case of Hip Dysplasia and Degenerative Joint Disease. She said that his right hip bone has bone on bone rubbing and has become lumpy (not perfectly smooth). She also said that she sees signs of bone spurs which could have caused minor fractures. She said that he's got an unusual amount of swelling, but she's not sure exactly what's causing this much swelling.

As far as the sudden onset, the last X-Rays taken were in 2008, so he's had four years to develop. I think the pain at this point has become unbearable for him which is why it was noticeable for me.

I did talk to her again about the NSAID blood tests, and she said that she had a full blood work on him from January that she was using for prescribing the Rimadyl. She recommended that I talk to a surgeon to get my other options assessed, and she also recommended for me to switch to Yucca (a natural steroidal anti-inflammatory). She said that the effect won't be as significant as Rimadyl, but it will be the better option in the long run.

 Quote: Julie Sloan

I have been wanting to make a post about this all on it's own and just have been busy. But I wanted to at least put it in here. Look this up: Prolotherapy. I don't know where you are located but we took our dog from TN to Chicago, IL to see a veterinarian there who did this treatment. Dr Shaun Fauley. there are other vets here and there around the country doing it successfully.

I had what I jokingly referred to as hip dysplasia in people. My hip capsule was popping out of joint because in the same way a dog does, the tendons and ligaments are too loose to hold the joint in place correctly. Talk about painful.

I went to a doctor who does prolotherapy for people only. He is one of the best in the country. People fly in from all over to see him. When my hip started bothering me, he did the treatments on my hip and voila! I hiked 5 days a week this past winter.

It was when our 5 month old puppy was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia that we got involved with finding a vet who did the treatments. It took about 4 treatments and he went from being a limping puppy who our vet's office thought we should think about putting to sleep, and the best orthopaedic specialist we could find said there was nothing we could do, to being a normal 2 1/2 year old dog who hiked 7 days a week, with me and my husband, this past winter, painfree. Last year he did the same thing. Running, jumping, up and down hills, amazing.

I know of a couple vets who are doing the procedures, and there are others out there. It works if you find a vet who knows what they are doing, same as with any other treatments. We drove Tanka 11 hours one way to see the vet who fixed him, but the treatments themselves were very very inexpensive, and he was not put under. He did not have restricted activity, he lived a normal puppy life and healed. It works for older dogs too. Same as older people.

Look into it, it works. I carry pamphlets for the people doc all the time because I want to share the info with people who need it. it gave me my life back,and then amazingly, the same treatment gave our dog a chance at a normal life. it worked for both of us.

I wish you the best with your dog. I hope he gets better.

Thanks! I will look into it!

Is there any chance that something happened to this dog when you weren't around? Like possibly bumped by a car, or kicked by a neighbor, or a horse, something of this nature? I really don't recall seeing much visible swelling in dogs with hip dysplasia.

Me too, Betty. Elbow dysplasia, yes. But this severe change in size of one hip has been bothering me too.

 Quote: Alex Madsen

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

What did the vet say about the swelling, the significant enlargement of one hip?

Also about the sudden onset?

And the lack of NSAID effect?

The vet said that he has a case of Hip Dysplasia and Degenerative Joint Disease. She said that his right hip bone has bone on bone rubbing and has become lumpy (not perfectly smooth). She also said that she sees signs of bone spurs which could have caused minor fractures. She said that he's got an unusual amount of swelling, but she's not sure exactly what's causing this much swelling.

As far as the sudden onset, the last X-Rays taken were in 2008, so he's had four years to develop. I think the pain at this point has become unbearable for him which is why it was noticeable for me.

I did talk to her again about the NSAID blood tests, and she said that she had a full blood work on him from January that she was using for prescribing the Rimadyl. She recommended that I talk to a surgeon to get my other options assessed, and she also recommended for me to switch to Yucca (a natural steroidal anti-inflammatory). She said that the effect won't be as significant as Rimadyl, but it will be the better option in the long run.

I'd want an ortho vet to look at him.

She's right: yucca won't have anything like the anti-inflammation effect of an NSAID, and even the NSAID is not effective.

JMO, but I would want an ortho vet to see the dog asap. I'm not a health professional, but I wouldn't be comfortable with the lack of relief, and with the vet basically telling you that despite the clear indication of HD, and OA changes, she's puzzled by that much swelling.

I'm usually not away from my dog often. The longest time I've been away recently was over the summer for a period of 2 weeks, but that's about it. I don't think anyone would have intentionally and if an accident happened, they would have told me (at least I hope!).

I will take him to an ortho vet asap. I'm going to do some searching online tonight to find a good ortho vet and I'll make an appointment.

So I went to a specialist and she said that the "swelling" that's visible on the right hip is actually due to the fact that the right hip is protruded out of the socket more than the left hip and also because he has more muscle mass on the left leg than the right. The vet also said that she suspects that a piece of the bone broke off recently and that's what caused him to become more irritated all of a sudden and that it's possible (not visible on the x-rays) that he's lost a lot of cartilage.

She said that he's a great candidate for hip replacement surgery, but the quote she gave me was $7200 and that is way beyond my budget at this time. I'll have to see if there's another way to make him better without the surgery route.

Has anyone suggested removing the femoral head? It sounds ghastly but it does
provide pain relief . The bone on bone grinding is what causes the pain.
Not all dogs are candidates for this procedure. It is generally less expensive and the recovery period is not all that different from replacement.