[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Well we have been to the vet. The vet looked her over and agreed she does need x-rays. We need to find out what is going on with her leg. The bad part is they have to sedate her and I had to leave her there. I did not want to leave her. I am very upset. But they said that it would be several hours. There is only 1 vet there today and she will do the sedation and x-ray inbetween other patients. Then she can be there with them to get woken back up. They will call me in a few hours to come and pick her up.

So here I wait very impatiently.

She was feeling around her knee. And said she did feel a little thickening above the knee cap and murmered something about a subluxed knee cap. But we shall see what the x-rays shows. Hopefully nothing or something very tiny.

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

X RAY RESULTS. Well, we now know what Sadie's pain has been and why she has been limping.

HIP DISPLASIA

The vet said she did not suspect this because it is common in German Shepards and larger logs. But the x-rays shows this in her right hip. Left hip fine. Both knees fine.

It is a inherited, genetic disease. Where the ball and hip don't fit real good and tight. She must have aggravated it last week. We didn't know about this of course.

Treatment is taking anti-inflammatory, taking Glucosomine and rest. The vet said she will get better, but it is a problem that will be around unfortunatly for my baby girl.

 

[Murphys Dad]

At least you know what the problem is and how to manage it. Thats half the battle.

Give Sadie rubs from us.

 

[LuckyBeagle]

Poor Sadie. Give her lots of love from Lucky and me!

Jenn & Lucky

 

[Murphys Dad]

Hugs to you and Sadie! Spend a few minutes thinking about all the things it could have been, take a deep breath and then give her a big kiss. Thank goodness her condition is treatable and you will make whatever concessions you need to for her. Am sure you will find lots and lots to read about hip dysplasia. So glad you decided to proceed with x-rays.

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Sadie is back home. She dragged me by her leash out of the vets office. She was very, very ready to come home. She certainly has a lot of energy. Just has a slight limp.

The vet said she will get better with rest, anti-inflammatory pills twice a day and Glucosomine twice a day.

We got to look at the x-rays. Her knees are perfect. The left hip is great. The right hip has a tiny space where the hip and socket are to meet. They are supposed to be very, very tight. Hers is not. But no arthritis. No broken or crumbly bone, which our vet said happens sometimes. She has always had this. Some dogs have this and never exhibit any signs of it. But she aggravated it somehow last week. She did something, moved somehow, jumped a wrong way, who knows.

Anyway, she will be ok. Shew. At least we know now. And yes we were thinking all kinds of bad things that could be wrong. Even thought about cancer. So this is a relief in a way.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Poor Sadie! I know how painful hip dysplasia can be for our babies. Amber had a pretty severe case of it. Instead of her hip socket being shaped like a "C" with the ball sitting in it, hers was flat and the ball just rubbed and ground itself into her hip socket. Glucosamine supplements really helped her out. We'd give her anti-inflamatories and pain killers when things would get worse. It was very treatable.

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Thanks Jen. Is Amber the the Beagle that also had a herniated disk too?

Well, Sadie's is not that bad luckily.

The vet said to give 500 miligrams of Glucosomine twice a day.

 

[BookerMoose]

Poor Sadie! But as everyone else has already said, at least you know. A friend has a golden retriever who was diagnosed with severe hip displasia at 8 months... told she would need surgery or face a lifetime of pain and problems. 13 years later she is still going strong without surgery on a daily regimine of glucosomine and without any apparent hip pain or sensitivity.

 

[ricksconnected]

mom of 2

wow, i didnt see that coming at all.
at least you can do something about it.
please give her good belly rubs and a gentle squeeze.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Quote:Originally posted by Mom of 2 Beagles:
Thanks Jen. Is Amber the the Beagle that also had a herniated disk too?

Well, Sadie's is not that bad luckily.

The vet said to give 500 miligrams of Glucosomine twice a day.

I'm glad that Sadie's case is not too severe. The glucosamine will help a lot. It takes a few weeks before you see a real difference, so be patient.

As for Amber, yup, she had the herniated disk too...along with a heart condition, arthritis in her front paw and Cushings. There was a time she took so many pills that I had to use one of the big Morning, Afternoon and Evening pill cases to keep everything sorted out. My poor girl.

 

[jcfehr]

Thank goodness that it isn't any worse than that. Big hugs to you both !!

 

[missmollygirl]

I'm glad you found out the source of her pain. Hip dysplasia is a fact of life for many breeds, unfortuantely. Some more common than others. I'm glad the vet can get it under control with rest and meds.

I had a GSD that was diagnosed with severe HD at 9 months old. She had absolutely nothing holding the left hip other than tendons and ligaments. The right wasn't as bad, but would get worse with time. We had no idea. She never showed any signs of pain or discomfort. It was heart breaking. Of course the vet suggested surgery, but not replacement because she was so young and would need it done again in about 5-10 years. He had learned of a new surgery pioneered at the University of Wisconsin that is equally invasive, but the results are better and it was less expensive. The surgery consisted of creating a false joint. The procedure consisted of sawing off the ball on the leg bone and cutting a piece of leg muscle and wrapping it around the part of the pelvic bone where the hip socket is supposed to be. Of course we opted for this and had her left done at 1 year old. She babied it for a long time. The next year, we had the right done and she had no choice but to use her left. The doctor was amazed that she was using both the same day as her surgery. Within 3 months, she was back out running the lab and chasing balls. It was the best money I ever spent. She is now 8 years old and lives on 10 acres in Kentucky.

The reason I told you all this story is because a lot of people think HD is a death sentence for dogs. Of course not for our babies, but please, if you know anyone else going through this, tell them about PJ the German Shepherd and how she beat HD.

Sorry, Mof2B, I didn't mean to hijack your thread.

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Becky, thanks for the good information. I have been reading up on hip displasia on the Internet.

I'm glad you had that surgery done on your baby. Sounds like it was quite successful.

We are lucky for now that Sadie's is not that severe.

thanks all!

 

[debannib]

Oh ....NOT again.....MORE quiet time for Sadie after all the work you've done to keep her quiet these past months? :freak:

Well, I'm sad that Sadie has another challenge, but I KNOW her mom and dad will do everything she needs. I'm sending good thoughts and prayers.......

 

[Mom of 2 Beagles]

Sorry, I meant to say this in my last above post. Sadie has lived with this for 7 years undetected. She hasn't show any signs of it up till now. Some dogs don't ever show signs of it with a mild hip displasia. But she somehow moved her hip or did something to aggravate it big time last week. Anyway, I wanted you to all know that our vet feels confident that with anti inflammatory meds, Glucosomine and rest she will get over this bout and hopefully can get to where she doesn't have any hip pain.

Sadie and Pooh Bear have their own room. I think I've told you all about this. It has an old love seat and couch in it. It is a small room. The loveseat is pushed up to the window and they have always sat in that love seat and snoozed and looked out the window while we are at work. We suspect that she aggravated her hip jumping around on the love seat in that window. They do this when they see a cat, dog, squirrel, or person in the front yard. Sadie gets real ferrocious and barks and jumps wildly. Well, we have covered the window. They can still go in their room, but cannot look out that window. I hate it for them, because they loved to look out the window. But it is for their own protection.

 

[angelaH]

So sorry to hear about Sadie, but we shall pray she now gets treated and makes a full recoverey. :heart:

 

[Genie]

Well, as some cartoon hero used to say (I think it was He-Man) "Knowing is half the battle." If this is something that Sadie has had all her life, and it's just now showing up, it must be fairly mild. So I hope the anto-inflammatory and the Glucosamine will have her back to her old self in no time! Of course we'd rather Sadie not have gotten this diagnosis, but it could have been so much worse. I know you must be relieved that it's something manageable.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I'm sorry to read about Sadie's diagnosis, but glad that the vet says the pain will ease with treatment.