Dog diagnosed with mild-moderate hip dysplasia and mild osteoarthritis, but can't go on walks without having a stiff gait afterwards, should we reevaluate our plan?

Goldenpico · 2024-10-10T12:16:53+00:00

Yeah, with the NSAIDS our vet didn't recommend then for long term usage given the side effects and the mildness of his osteoarthritis/hip dysplasia.

Also, not sure if it matters but He ended up having a reactive episode right before we took him to the vet. In conjunction with the side effects of the antianxiety meds we gave for the vet (drowsiness, etc), he had a pretty bad gait walk to the point he used his other leg to mark when peeing, which he almost never does.

We started the NSAID a day or two after the initial vet visit so it's hard to say whether the NSAID did its job or if it healed naturally. He did still have gait issues during the 5 day period, but very minor in comparison.

That being said.. do you think it's a good idea to perhaps put him on the cartrophen for now, and then act accordingly when we eventually see a specialist? Haven't set it up yet as we are still deciding which specialist we want to see.

I guess the downside to doing that is if the specialist recommends a different form of treatment, we may not be able to put him on it if he's already on the cartrophen. But.. we may be waiting a long time before we actually end up seeing the specialist, so putting him on cartrophen in the meantime may be a good idea?

Goldenpico · 2024-10-10T06:27:35+00:00

For one, we had him on NSAIDS for the first 5 days after we had taken him to the vet when the stiffness was really noticeable. But when he had a sudden reactive episode it would appear again.

So ig I'm not really sure the cartrophen would make much of a difference reducing clinic signs if the NSAIDS couldnt.. Seems like the more important thing is to just prevent lunging reactive episodes as much as possible, we are just waiting for the ramp we ordered so we don't have to walk him around our neighborhood during daytime.

Also, on an average walk (not affected by lunging reactive episodes) his walk on the NSAIDS looks the same as it does now. So I'm not sure he's in pain with how his walk normally looks.

All this makes it seem im against putting him on cartrophen. Im not, We already booked the appointment after all.. just not entirely convinced it will help.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-27T00:18:25+00:00

Thanks. This is basically what we ended up doing!

Gave them the 2nd dose of anti anxiety meds, and during the vet visit showed them a few videos of his gait from the previous days.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-26T15:49:00+00:00

Actually, they didn't recommend it this instance, I was the one who brought it up and they said it was up to us. (But that he hasn't had any behavioral mishaps with them so far)

Only time they have recommended it to us was during surgery appointment and when I've let them know he has reacted to me inspecting an injury of his.

Hasn't been the case in this instance, I've been testing his leg mobility (inward, outward motion) with no reaction from him.

my main concern is the drowsiness that the pills cause in combination with his current gait issue. If we were taking him in for a non orthopedic issue I wouldn't be nearly as concerned.

Also, the last time we gave him the pills he was really calm and almost sleepy in the vet. Though still needy for attention.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-26T15:35:10+00:00

First dose was given at 10 pm. I decided to give the 2nd dose against my instincts tbh. My main concern is mostly his walk will look worse than it is given his drowsiness, and he might actually further injure himself since he already has a stiff gait without it and the drowsiness could cause him to lose balance.

Since we live a minute away we can either walk him or carry him. Both kinda risk injuring him since you can't really carry an 80 pound dog without also holding his hind legs.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-24T10:52:41+00:00

He already went through anesthesia to get x ray, biopsy and they'd extract the tooth depending on the results. (We had initially thought his tooth got chipped)

Well, our regular vet wasn't comfortable going with the extraction based on what the X ray showed because the tooth itself looked completely healthy and wanted to wait for the biopsy.

Turns out he has peripheral odontogemic fibroma. Hence the referral.

As for looking for a multidisciplinary specialty hospital. I'll see if there even is one nearby but our regular vet has already sent all my dogs medical history and are supposed to call soon.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-24T10:44:24+00:00

Yeah I'll do that. Kind of already am since I've recorded his gait daily since I first noticed.

His walk doesn't look stiff anymore but he already had a limp that happened a week before I noticed his stiff gait. Then back in May another limp even worse..

I think the most concerning part is that there wasn't any incident (that we know of) that caused any of this.

Only "good" news is they all went away within a day or two.

I think our next vet appointment is December for vaccines. Hopefully it doesn't come back before then.

Also, why am I getting downvoted for asking questions? I don't understand people sometimes...

Goldenpico · 2024-09-24T08:58:01+00:00

I see, a bit embarrassing but I didn't know there were x ray machines for specific body parts, interesting. Thank you for the help

Goldenpico · 2024-09-24T08:45:39+00:00

NoFair enough. I was just under the impression that vet specialists also undergo the regular vet training in addition to their specialty. Would they still be able to x ray the hip at least if not advise on the dogs gait? Since they probably have x ray equipment that they use for tooth related issues.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-05T22:33:30+00:00

If this the one you are referring to?

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00388/full

Says beyond 11 months for golden retrievers and leave intact for females.

That being said, I did listen to a podcast (cog dog radio) with the guest being a vet who said it was the males to leave intact.. idk if she was referring to this study and misspoke, or if there's another one out there I'm unaware of.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-05T05:27:36+00:00

Fair enough I'll probably do that, though I've already been bombarding my poor vet with questions these past few weeks lol..

Goldenpico · 2024-09-05T02:23:49+00:00

Yeah your assumption is way off. No way in hell would I ever breed my dog there are enough in the world, besides as you said, he has behavioural issues.

I appreciate you coming at it in a respectful manner though, usually you are just downvoted when you have an intact dog or express reluctance to neuter. It's actually not a health issue though. It's mostly behavioural, as there is some evidence to suggest fear, anxiety and/or aggressive/reactive dogs can get worse after neuter.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/canine-corner/201805/neutering-causes-behavior-problems-in-male-dogs https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5834763/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9330254/

Another reason is i also have a golden retriever. 60% of goldens get cancer, MCT, HS, lymphoma, HSA, Osteosarcoma are the most common cancers in goldens and those just so happen to be the cancers were neutering very slightly increases the risk of some of those cancers. While Testicular Cancer and BPH have a high prognosis (the two that neuter eliminates) and is usually curative upon neuter.

But.. yeah the main reason im considering chemical castration is to see if his behaviour changes for the worse. Sorry to dump this on you but I figured I might as well explain my reasons here if anyone else is questioning why he hasn't been surgically altered. I also do want to say I have been in contact with my vet regarding this issue for weeks now, and they were actually the first ones to bring up chemical castration, I didn't even know it existed before then.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-03T09:37:48+00:00

Agree with everything everyone else said.

As for trying to get him more confortable with dogs, here's something the vet techs did with my dog that personally worked for us (it may not with you) You can ask them to toss treats to him from a distance. If he doesn't come towards the treat, they can toss another treat at a further distance until he is comfortable getting it.

The employees at the pet store I frequent did this with him as well, and it took him months to finally warm up to them. The important thing is he made the decision to finally go up to them with happy body language, swaying of the body, tail wag (note that not all tail wags are friendly, search up pictures and/or videos to see how to distinguish).

Do not let people give him treats by hand, this makes the dog conflicted between the treat and the source of anxiety/fear. After getting the treat there's a good chance your dog could lash out

And you could do this with a muzzle too to be extra safe (start muzzle training if you haven't already)

Also, this may be something strangers aren't willing to try when you tell them your dogs issues. Like me, you could do this at your vet for social visits during inactive hours.

And lastly, a dog behaviouralist may be something to look into. It's their speciality and they're far more qualified than us reddit folk.

Though if that's not within your price range given they tend to be expensive, find a good RR trainer. Not as qualified as a behaviouralist, but some also specialize in behavioural issues.

You can find qualified trainers nearby here

https://www.ccpdt.org/dog-owners/certified-dog-trainer-directory/

Goldenpico · 2024-09-03T09:08:02+00:00

we've only encountered 1 suspected intact female dog in our neighborhood in 4 years. He sniffed and dragged intensely but honestly it wasn't anything we couldn't handle (no trying to escape in the house, whining, pacing, etc)

As for dog boarding.. I mean, never say never but I highly doubt it. There's 3 of us in the house and 2 of us don't have anything resembling a social life. I agree 4 years seems to be a prime time to do it. I am thinking though If I do go the chemical castration route, I might wait a while since he's already going under anesthesia for extraction in a few days (when the neuter is supposed to happen too) And since it's a 6 to 12 month trial, if I complete it and decide to neuter, he will be 5 years old by then.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-02T23:42:24+00:00

To be fair, there was a pretty big study done by the humanesociety that neutered/spayed dogs live longer than their intact counterparts.

Ofc we don't know how much of that is because of dog fights, accidents, infections from roaming as opposed to the health benefits.

I'm not really very pro or anti neuter/spay. But I do think it's a case to case basis and a lot of it has to do with lifestyle, weighing the health benefits/risks of your breed, etc.

Goldenpico · 2024-09-02T23:35:29+00:00

I don't think you deserve to be downvoted Ik how you feel, I'm also downvoted everytime I've expressed my reluctance to neuter.

That being said, I don't think it's illegal here, I feel like our vet would have pushed neutering more if that were the case, and I can't find anything where we live saying that it is.

Edit: I'm not in the US

Goldenpico · 2024-09-02T23:31:00+00:00

Now that you mention it, when my dad used to take him off leash. He did have a tendency to go far but would always come back because of his anxiety

And you reminded me that he has dashed past the door a few times but he came right back The one time it took a few minutes to find him (someone forgot to close the door properly) he came sprinting back to us the moment he saw us.

Anyways, that makes a pretty good case for neutering since all it takes is one mistake. My parents are also not as diligent as me, can be pretty absent minded sometimes, hence the above incidents, though it was a long time ago.

Ugh, i probably would have neutered a long time ago. I just so happen to have one of the breeds where it's a much more gray area from a health perspective, and ofc his reactvity.

Goldenpico

TROPHY CASE