Great Pyrs and hip displasia

Hello,

Has anyone ever dealt with this? My GP has hip displasia, what are some alternative treatments for her? What would you do if your GP had it? Has anyone had or have a GP with this problem and what worked/didn't work? I don't want to see her suffer.

NEED SOME ADVICE.

Thanks

I had a St. Bernard with hip dysplasia. We manage our dogs from infancy with this in mind. We give various supplements to help prevent it, and those same supplements help them cope with it. Fish oil helps lubricate joints. Give the other major joint helpers as well.

In my personal opinion there isn't much to do. You help them with the pain and plan for when it gets too bad. For us it was a double whammy. We had figured he'd only make it a year on his hips but he also had cancer and the cancer got him first. We put him down. We were planning on putting him down for the hips as well. There is just a point where I can't let me animals suffer anymore.

When he got towards the end he wasn't eating well and he was spitting out his supplements. As such we were making him 3 eggs (that was his sweet spot, you make more and he wouldn't eat it) with the supplements mixed in.

Plan for a winter death if you think it's possible. Dig the hole in fall. Burying a giant dog is quite an ordeal.

so not a good prognosis then

It depends on how severe it is. Our St had a pretty severe case. I know that some people do surgery for it. I would not do that myself. It doesn't really fix it, just puts it off, and that's if it's a good outcome. I've seen dogs who were ok hobbling about for years. Some got it quick and bad. I've watched family struggle with the issue. I know my husband was not on board for putting the dog down, even though the cancer had him bleeding to death out of his nose. It's a hard decision to make. Just try to keep the welfare of your animal at the forefront. It's been over a year and we still miss our St. He was an angel. I would not have prolonged his life and made him suffer to keep him with us though.

But as I said, do the supplements. Do what you can to help. In the meantime prepare yourself mentally for what you will eventually have to do.

The two biggest things are to keep her active, and keep her lean- not emaciated, she needs to build good muscle- but she should not EVER carry any extra weight. Those aren't a 'fix' for hip dysplasia, but they're the simplest and most critical things to do to successfully mitigate it. In most non-severe dogs, those two things alone will be enough for a normal and full life.

I was just researching a rather prolific weed that I have growing in the yard, it's called Teasel, and it turns out it is good for musculoskeletal (I'm sure that's a word - when will the auto dictionaries catch up) pain and for treating lime disease. It is used to treat people with chronic arthritis as well (I'll heading out today to dig up the roots to make tinctures).

Now the question is can I treat a dog with it? I also think adding a bit more fat to her diet would help. I was told by a neighbor who has an akbash that their dog was all stiff and seemed to be aging fast, her coat was all dull and patchy. So they added a "dollop" of rendered lard to her diet every day, and she is really healthy now. Lush coat, no stiffness, looks good to me anyway.

Frankly I think all of us could use a few more "dollop's" of fat in our diets Just sayin.

try a search " diatomaceous earth and hip dysplasia " I have 2 old dogs with knee hip and joint issues - the silica/minerals in DE is supposed to support the bone, cartlidge and over all joints and muscle - search for silica benefits ... after 5 weeks on this stuff our dogs ( 1 is 13yrs and the other is 10ish yrs old) move and run easier - no more struggling to sit or lay down either - also check into detox symptoms they will be detoxing and act like they don't feel real good and the stools might get soft or runny for about a week or 2 - make sure it is a good quality food grade white powder that has no chemical additives

I never thought of that! I take DE for my joints and I didn't make the connection that it could work for dogs too. My GP is a puppy right now and I was thinking to add some de to her water. She is going to be HUGE if her paws are any indication. How much de do you give them? Glad you mentioned de!

When we give it we put a small amount of anything for a treat in a bowl - usually a pinch of shredded cheese, add the DE to it then mix some water in to make it creamy - since it has no flavor they don't notice and its easy to trick them -by using a small amount of treat for this I know they eat it all and with it being creamy I feel like it gets in their teeth to help clean them too ( their breath is better since doing this also )
Our dogs are approx. 60 and 80 lbs. and get a heaping tablespoon daily - I keep an eye on their poo to make sure it doesn't get to hard - so far they do fine with that amount - your dog will get large, but I would guess if you do this daily now as it is "smaller" it should all ready be in its system and could be maintained with a tablespoon when it is huge - for adult humans it doesn't give weight/dosage , I don't weigh as much as my hubby but we take the same amount ( 3 tablespoons) - you will know if it is to much because it will cause constipation

Give some serious thought to your pup's diet. Make sure that it is species appropriate. Exclude all grains and other fillers used in most kibbles. Do not skimp on fat. Feed raw if possible, including bones. A GP pup can easily handle chicken wings if you supervise and make sure she doesn't snarf them without chewing.

My 70-pound lab-cross mutt is 15 years old and going strong. She eats mostly raw beef heart, kidney and liver (all items my local abattoir sells for a song). She handles poultry wings, necks and carcasses as well as rabbit bones with no problems. I throw some canned salmon and eggs into the mix a couple times a week. She is not fond of veggies (though she likes some berries), so I have to be sneaky to get some vitamin variety into her diet. I do sometimes go back to grain-free kibble (love Acana) when my schedule gets in the way of raw feeding.

There are commercial kibble producers coming out with quite good grain-free products, but kibble will never be as good as a BALANCED home-prepared diet. Dr. Karen Becker has lots of videos (and a not-very-good book) about raw feeding and there are more and more vets getting on board with feeding dogs and cats whole foods, just as we do for ourselves and our kids.

We permies types are big on pastured livestock. That is species-appropriate feeding that results in healthier animals (and hence higher quality meat). All the animals who work with us, especially our hardworking LGDs, should be getting the foods they evolved to eat.