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Hip problems in Cavaliers

A

anniespeeps

Guest
Has anyone experienced any hip problems with their Cavaliers? We noticed that Annie (9 months) would yelp sometimes if we touched her hind quarters in a certain way, or when she jumped off the couch, etc. We took her to the vet, who x-rayed her and found some abnormalities in her hips.

He referred us to a vet who specializes in orthopedics, who confirmed that Annie has a form of hip dysplasia. It's worse on the left side than the right. He said the usual surgery for hip dysplasia -- a triple pelvic osteotomy -- is not an option for such a small dog because they only make the hardware (pins, screws, etc.) for larger breeds of dog. There's another procedure where they remove the head of the femur so it doesn't contact the hip socket. He recommended we try to limit her activity to see if the condition would improve.

The vet gave us an anti-inflammatory (Deramaxx), which seems to help a great deal when Annie is in pain. We have to try to keep her from overdoing it, which is hard because she's a puppy and loves to run and jump. Sometimes when she exerts herself too much, she's in so much pain that she can't move without whimpering.

We found some treats (Hip Chips) that contain glucosamine and chondroitin, and we're hoping those will help.

Needless to say, all of this has been very distressing. It's hard to see such a young pup going through such pain. Hip dysplasia usually affects much larger dogs, but I understand that it's not uncommon in Cavaliers.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Any thoughts or recommendations?

Dave
 
oh no , i feel u , poor little Annie ! she's just 9 months ! :shock: how did you notice the hip problems ?? cause my gurl, when she gets excited she kinda wiggles her bum too much that it looks like she has some hip problem n sometimes it worries me. Even the vet says when she gets a little bit older she should be x-rayed. Her hind legs are really weak too. Should i be worried ? is this a cavy thing ? I've seen another girl cavy did this too but she was so young.. 8 weeks .. that i thought she was just learning how to walk .. :|
 
I didn't know either that it was not uncommon in the breed until we were looking to get our girl after we lost our first cav. It was the breeder who told me about it and how the breeding "stock" should be hip scored as it was one of the health checks that she did with hers. Fortunately the vet told me that my girls have strong hips :)
Julie and the girls
 
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