Hip Displasia

[Plymgreys]

Back in the summer we took Lottie to a greyhound playgroup which was held in an equestrian arena. She had great fun and was running around in a group of 6 dogs for two ten minute sessions. Later that evening we ended up at the vets with Lottie in severe pain and the vet identified the source of the pain to be in her lower spine. A course of painkillers was all it took to sort her out but we agreed that x-rays would be useful to establish what was going on even though I was convinced that the back pain was due to running too hard in too small a space. She did get a little over excited. Anyway, she had those x-rays this morning and I have had the briefest of conversations with the vet. She tells me Lottie has no "boney changes" so no arthritis but has slight hip displasia. Hmmm. Lottie is 8yo. She ran 56 races, won 11 and retired at just over 3yo. She came to us 6 months later and in all the nearly 5 years she has been here we have never seen any evidence of pain, limited mobility or stiffness. I can only guess that HD (if that's really what it is) was there all along. Am I right? Dogs are born with or develop HD at a very early age don't they? She gets glucosamine anyway, has orthopeadic foam beds and is kept warm with coats and pjs when required. Is there anything else we should be doing to ease her old age?

[RobinM]

Very very very rare for Greyhounds to have HD. It's been bred of out them because they are athletes. With that said, my Beau has shown evidence of something as well. Vet said, IF greyhounds got HD, that's what they might call it but they normally do not.

[Guest Gert]

Just saw Dr. James E. Radcliffe (founder of Town & Country Animal Hospital, Inc.) speak at Beach Bound Hounds. Dr. R lives in Wheeling, WV, and is the "go to guy" for injured racers. He says the same thing Robin stated.....if your vet is saying HD in your GH, be very suspicious. He said they don't get it. They might have arthritis or other problems in their hips, but, no HD. One thing he did mention is that our dogs should be x-rayed while awake. Being put under allows the joints to move out of their normal positions...giving some misleading films.

[Brindles]

Highly, highly doubtful that it's CHD. Possible, but not probable.

 

My Echo has pain in the same area. X-rays from a few years back revealed clean hips and her very recent radiographs ruled out CHD and Lumbosacral Stenosis. The vet thinks it's just a form of arthritis. Maybe your girl's case is the same?

 

Echo is on 50mg Deramaxx once a day and 100mg Tramadol 3x/day and it is REALLY helping her when other drugs and drug combinations did not. Both her physical state and attitude have improved.