Dog care, symptoms, health issues, and dog health advocacy from an owner's perspective. In loving memory of Jasmine.
Here is the logic of health issues in dogs – an acute problem likely has an acute cause. Doesn’t it make sense that a disease progressive in nature would have a progressive onset? Some conditions can wax and vane with a dog having some good day and some bad days. But what if the dog is perfectly fine one minute…
Is our thinking correct when it comes to risk factors for the development of hip dysplasia in dogs? Last time Jasmine was at her chiropractor’s, she met a young Rottie girl. They really liked each other, and both wanted to play badly. They could not. Her new friend had hip dysplasia so bad, her back end had to be carried…
Sometimes you hear a word so often that it loses its meaning. Hip dysplasia is a common orthopedic issue in dogs. That doesn’t mean that it cannot be debilitating. There are still dogs who are euthanized because of the severe effects of hip dysplasia. Thank you, Dr. Mark D Newkirk, for sharing Hunter’s story. Hunter’s story Hunter, a one-year-old yellow…
The primary cause of hip dysplasia is genetic. However, other factors, such as husbandry and environmental factors, play their role as well. Prevention starts with selective breeding. Breeding Responsible breeders screen their dogs’ hips with either PennHIP or OFA x-rays before including them in their breeding population. Genetic testing is not available at this time. Dogs without obviously dysplastic hips…
You might think of hip dysplasia as sore, arthritic hips. While it is true that arthritis inevitable develops, hip dysplasia means an unstable hip joint. You can learn more about hip dysplasia and how to prevent it here. Thank you, Angie Falcsik, for sharing Indy’s story. Indy’s story Indy’s story began about 4 years ago when Indy was just 6…