Interesting, Juliana. Keep us posted. If he's so young, and wonderful otherwise, an operation isn't the end of the world, if necessary. You could have ALL your babies together then, if Garm is acting out of pain! Good luck.

I read an article recently about using stem cells they harvest from the Dog's..fat..marrow...i cant remember. I is still experimental but showing lots of good results and progress in dogs with degenerative conditions and joint problems.

I will look around for it and let you know what I find.

Update: Well, I was correct, unfortunately. Garm has hip dysplasia. The X-ray showed that his hips are grinding in their sockets and they've already worn away enough to leave quite a noticeable gap. They look a little like square pegs in round holes. He has also got noted mobility loss. Our vet says that I caught it early enough that I can take measures to ensure it doesn't deteriorate too quickly. Unfortunately those measures fall along the lines of severely cutting down Garm's activities, and yet somehow also making sure he looses between 10 and 20 pounds. This seems like a contradiction to me and I'm not sure how we are going to pull it off. He's not really overweight, just robust and naturally stocky, but the vet says that if he is thinner he will not have as much pain. We are to keep him from doing anything that might jar his hips, and that includes his favorite activity, fetch. We're just supposed to take him walking a lot for exercise. How frustrating this will be! This is so much worse than it was with my last dog Samson. It was one thing to have a 10 year old dog that has his hips suddenly go out and can no longer walk and is in intense pain. It's quite another to have a 2 year old pup that I'm going to have to confine to very little activity and watch deteriorate, knowing that he'll eventually end up the same way.

I asked about hip replacement surgery and I was shocked to find out how expensive it was. $4,000 per hip! That is insane! How can anyone afford that? That's like buying two decent cars. I don't think I could ever afford a surgery like that and I even have insurance for my pets. There must be something else that I can do besides put him to sleep when it gets too bad. Does anyone have some advice?

Dysplasia Article
This article gives some info on Glucosamine and Chondroitin, and Adequan shots among other things. For exercise, its swimimng. We have a lab who's almost 14 and we found out she has terrible elbows when she was young,about 18mos or so. We would take her on short easy walks and we would let her swim in every river, lake, or beach we could take her to.

Dear Juliana: I know hip surgery is very expensive. My friend had it done to her giant lab and it was wonderful. He can go on short walks now and trots around the yard. He is 8 years old and it worked well for him. Just info on how well the operation went.
God bless you and I pray you will find a good solution for Garm.

Oh no! Oh man, I am so sorry to hear this bad news. Poor Garm... I know that surgery is expensive, but is there anyway you can get a loan for it? I know there is some line of credit that can cover medical expenses for humans and animals...Anyone have that info? I can't remember it off-hand. Will the insurance cover part of it?

I know it's a horrible situation to be in and I feel just awful.

On the exercise front, swimming is usually a good activity. Are you in a warm spot in CA, or have access to a dog friendly pool?

Sorry for the swimming repeat, Steve. You beat me to it!

Edited by Amber Morgan (01/22/2008 10:01 PM)
Edit reason: Steve's a faster typer!

Juliana,

My 18 month old was diagnosed with HD at 4 months. At the time he was limping and he really looked like hell. A total hip replacement on both hips was suggested and, like you, I nearly died at the price.

Fortunately there are things that you can do and supplements you can give that can really help HD.

Adequan therapy, I'm convinced, made a HUGE difference in my dog. I can't recommend it highly enough. I'd urge you to read up on it and talk it over with your vet.

I've also seen some amazing things done with acupuncture and dysplasia. Not a cure, by any means, but it can really help with pain and range of motion. We haven't needed to go down that road yet but it will be a part of the plan when/if things get worse.

And as Steve said, swimming is the best therapy of all. If you don't have easy access to a pool or lake, many vets are adding PT and underwater treadmills to their practices. Usually at least 1 practice will have one in a given area.

Also Juliana, watch him on slippery floors and no jumping off anything. Like what Sarah is saying, you can get some fairly good results with pain management and the right exercise (swimming)

Swimming... hmmm. I am a little worried about taking him swimming. Remember how I posted about how freaky he gets when I try to give him a bath? Well, he gets a similar sort of panic when his feet can no longer touch the ground. I took him to two different people's houses who had swimming pools and both times Garm would wade in on the island (very shallow step of the pool) up to his chest. But, when he stepped off the edge he completely panicked. I tried to get in to lead him toward the edge, but he just started trying to climb me and scratched me up. Once he even bit me when I tried to touch him in the water. Similar to what he did when I tried to give him a bath in the tub. I'm pretty convinced that he was almost drowned as a puppy and he now has a permanent fear of drowning. Since I had bad experiences with Garm in pools twice I haven't tried taking him swimming again. Maybe my trainer could help me figure out a way to get Garm used to it without him being a danger to anyone. It would be nice if we could play fetch in the pool. At least that way he could still have some semblance of his favorite game. Some of my closest friends have a swimming pool and they said I could bring my dogs over there to swim any time I wanted. If only I could figure out how to get past Garm's hydrophobia! It's not like he doesn't like water. We got him a kiddy pool and he likes wading in that. He just gets scared when he's in a large body of water.

MY dog who was scared to death of the water does better with a life jacket on, he still doesnt really swim but he will float.
Also mine are afraid of pools, I think to them it looks like a big hole. A difference of depth perception perhaps?

They do much better in murky water and lakes.