The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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My German Shepherd, 9 years old now, suddenly developed a painful limp in his rear leg and could barely move without whimpering in agony.
The vet I was seeing initially suggested it was a sprain and prescribed NSAIDs, but after a few weeks of no improvement, I took him for a review and then got an xray done. After reviewing the plates myself, I'm confident he's developed hip dysplasia, which is what I initially suspected.
So far, I'm not satisfied with the followup advice from the vet, which encompasses more painkillers and physiotherapy. Does anyone here have experience with a large dog with hip dysplasia? Any tips for restoring QOL?
What especially sucks is that he was healthy as ever till it happened, seemingly overnight, and it breaks my heart to see him this way. If surgery or other, more intensive options can help, I'll shell out for them. I want him to be happy, goddammit. Why does everyone we love grow old and die? Especially dogs, who are cursed with a lifespan far shorter than their nature warrants, when nobody fucking asked for parrots to often outlive their owners. "Polly wants a cracker." Shut up, Polly, unless you want a cap in your ass, you glorified echolalic painted chicken.
All dogs don't go to heaven. Nobody does. That's all the more reason to make their fleeting time here worth it..
Sorry to hear it; it's one thing if their health in general is declining, it's trickier when it's just one potentially-soluble thing.
It may not be the easiest thing to find in many places, but I do Extracorporeal Shock Wave therapy - mostly on humans, but have dabbled in veterinary work - and have seen some cases of hip dysplasia significantly improve. At the very least, it does no harm and doesn't have the post-op drama and healing of surgery. Extracorporeal shock wave increases the rate of tissue healing, and via recruitment of mesenchymal stem cells can elicit a regenerative effect on local cartilage. Though it doesn't solve the core issue of hip instability, it can allow the body to 'catch up' with the progression of the degeneration and restore its function for a time.
I've only ever heard of that being using for kidney stones, at least in humans, I appreciate the suggestion and I'll look into it! I sadly suspect it's not easily available as a therapy.
Have you heard about surgery or any other common intervention being a significant help?
ESWT started as a way to shatter kidney stones, but really cool regenerative effects were noticed as a side effect. The inter and extracellular microtrauma it causes seems to be very minimally damaging, but nonetheless elicit an outsized and broad-spectrum healing effect on the area. It's been really cool seeing what we can do with it! Lots of irrecaletrant issues just...gone. But the therapy fits poorly into the pharma ---> surgery model we typically see at least here in the States, so yeah, most doctors haven't heard of it and it's hard to find.
Unfortunately I tend to only see canine patients that have undergone unsuccessful surgeries, or whose owners are trying to avoid surgery in the first place, so I can't offer much insight past what you could easily find yourself via Google. At nine years you could certainly get a few more years with your dog, but that is getting a bit on for a larger breed. I think the least invasive therapy where they hew off the acetabulum and just kinda hope the joint re-forms would be the route most taken there, and it can reduce pain a lot in some cases even if it doesn't restore full function. Recovery is rough though, they need to be on painkillers and you need to keep them moving even if it hurts them :( If it were my dog and I had the ability I might give it a try though, Shepherds can live to 12 easy.
Sorry I can't be of more help here.
Edit to add - veterinary ESWT is currently most commonly performed on horses; it's possible you could find an equine vet who does it that would be willing to work on dogs.
A real vet? Not from Iraq or a flea-bitten African merc? I'm honored haha. No really, I appreciate the advice, 9 years is getting on for a big dog, it's just the sheer abruptness of the transition from "as healthy as ever" to the situation he's in now that's painful.
I am aware of ultrasonic therapies for enhancing healing, not that I've ever seen them in practise, the main issue is simply finding a provider for my dog, humans hardly get them here in the first place.
The vet I saw said much the same thing regarding lifespan, I suppose I'm succumbing to the same urge I see in a lot of human patients, which is prioritizing aggressive intervention when something gentler might work too. On the topic of vets specializing in horses, sadly that's even less of a thing here since we don't have a recreational riding culture. Thank you for helping me out!
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