u working on friday la 

What is HD?
Hip Dysplasia is a genetic disease that affects the hip joints of dogs. Dysplasia literally means abnormal, so hip dysplasia literally translates as abnormal formation of the hip socket.

What is the cause?
1) Genetic (inherited)
2) Environment

Symptoms:
- Your dog may become unwilling to run and play as much as they used to.
- They may have trouble getting up and down the stairs.
- Popping or snapping sounds when walking.
- They may be reluctant to exercise.
- They may have difficulty in rising.
- They may be reluctant to jump or stand on hind limbs.
- Some may have a soreness after lying down or after heavy exercise.
- A sensitivity to touch the hindquarters.
- An abnormal stance (leaning forward) or gait (bunny-hopping).

The condition will worsen until even normal daily activities are painful. Without intervention, these dogs may be unable to walk at all by a couple years of age. In most cases, however, the symptoms do not begin to show until the middle or later years in the dog's life.

Prevention / Care:

1) Weight management
Overweight dogs are at a much higher risk of HD, as by carrying the extra weight will stress the joint in a dog with a loose hip and cause it to worsen further.

2) Exercise
Do not over excercise the dog at a young age. Moderate exercise that strengthens the muscles, such as walking, slow jogging and swimming, is probably a good idea. Whereas, activities that apply a lot of force to the joint are not encourage. An example would be jumping activities such as playing Frisbee.

3) Warm and good sleeping areas
Most people with arthritis find that the signs tend to worsen in cold, damp weather. Keeping your pet warm, may help him be more comfortable.
Providing a firm, orthopedic foam bed helps many dogs with arthritis. Beds with dome-shaped, orthopedic foam distribute weight evenly and reduce pressure on joints. They are also much easier for the pet to get out of. Place the bed in a warm spot away from drafts.

4) Making daily activities less painful
Going up and down stairs is often difficult for arthritic pets, and for dogs, it can make going outside to urinate and defecate very difficult. Many people build or buy ramps, especially on stairs leading to the outside, to make it easier for the dogs to go outside.
Larger breed dogs can especially benefit from elevating their food and water bowls. Elevated feeders make eating and drinking more comfortable for arthritic pets, particularly if there is stiffness in the neck or back.
Wet or slippery floor will increase the chances of accident and may aggraviate the problem further.

5) Glucosamine and chondroitin supplements
When a dog has hip dysplasia or other osteoarthritis, the joint wears abnormally and the protective cartilage on the surface of the joint gets worn away and the resultant bone-to-bone contact creates pain. Glucosamine and chondroitin give the cartilage-forming cells (chondrocytes) the building blocks they need to synthesize new cartilage and to repair the existing damaged cartilage

6) Selective breeding
Selectively breeding animals with good hips can significantly reduce the incidence of hip dysplasia. If we choose to use dysplastic animals for breeding, it can increase the incidence of hip dysplasia . Breeding two animals with excellent hips does not guarantee that all of the offspring will be free of hip dysplasia, but there will be a much lower incidence than if we breed two animals with fair or poor hips. If we only bred animals with excellent hips it would not take long to make hip dysplasia a rare occurrence. If owners insisted on only purchasing an animal that had parents and grandparents with certified good or excellent hips, or if breeders only bred these excellent animals, then the majority of the problems would be eliminated.

Good article:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...9&articleid=444
http://www.labradorforums.co.uk/hips.html

Hi everyone.

Recently shushu's right hind leg is a bit "bengkok" when he walks so I might be bringing him to the vet for a checkup soon. 
I will probably get him x-ray for HD too. I know the vet told me once before (when shushu is small) that he may have mild HD problem and I think the x-ray will probably confirm better whether he has HD and /or how mild/serious the problem is currently.

I am also doing some reading about hip dysplasia (HD) to get myself prepared. Since this disease tend to affect a lot of GR and labradors, perhaps we can share some experience or tips on how to reduce/prevent HD.

Here is what I got so far:
I also noted that some article mentioned about diet and supplement, such as not to feed high protein and high calories food or calcium supplement to the growing puppies, as rapid growth during puppy stage will increase the chances of HD. Not too sure about this info.  
Any other tips/info to share?

OK here are sumore picture of my doggie la



Srry my N81 only have 2MP so the picture not so sharp la

For those dogs with hip problems, I will normally recommend Acana Adult Light, simply because dogs with such problem, shouldnt gain too much weight, and it is good for those already overweight, to reduce weight. Also, it contains Glucosamine and chondroitin, to help to ease the problem.

OK here are sumore picture of my doggie la



Srry my N81 only have 2MP so the picture not so sharp la

Won
Better take care of him whether shushu have it now or not better give him supplement to built up his joints first.
Like Ben now 1yrs 2 month i change his food 1 day once and i started give him glucosamine even he did not see any sign yet. i see others dog with HD aiyaa... hati sakit.
Remember don't let your dog stand right up with 2 back leg and don't let him lay down like a piglet is very bad can easy cause HD.
Rapid growth will not increase the chance of HD but the way they flooring that hurt it. LIke in one thread the Huskly puppy 4 month only having HD now.

Hey xXAaronxX your dog very nice, where did you get him from and how much did you paid for it?

Yes, reduced weight /light dog food is better. 
I noticed that a lot of dog foods packet also contains glucosamine and chondroitin but not sure what is the dosage inside.
It may not be enough probably, so we may still need to add them as supplements.
Thanks for sharing the picture. 
Yes, I did gave shushu the supplement last time when he was small for a few months. The vet advise us to stop for about 2 weeks before continuing. Subsequently, the vet said that he is more ok and we can stop the supplement. However, recently I noticed his is favouring one leg and i am thinking to put him on supplements again. Can I ask what brand of supplements you are giving to your GR? I did ask my vet and he recommend me to get human glucosamine hydrochloride one, but so far those i found in pharmacist are of glucosamine sulfide only. 

Erm, you mean the piglet pose (with 2 hind legs straight out) like this?

That's his favourite pose.    I do notice the difference with kero - kero when he lay down, he will rest one side of his backside on the floor and 2 hind legs together on the other side.
Luckily my house flooring is tiles and not the very smooth one. It might get slippery if it is wet. I did to put a large carpet on the floor once, then shushu destroyed my carpet after a few months. 

My mum got it from my cousin's ex bf from Ipoh for Rm800 (Pure breed & 2 month old if i not mistaken). My cousin say her xbf house got lots of type of dog cauze his dad is a dog lover.

Won
That the way he lay down with leg open wide (open wide left and right) is very bad don't let him do that and another way the leg straight to back that not not so bad... i don't allow Ben do that.
ya lo.. this GR..... nothing can keep long in the house biting only now Ben turn all my plastic chair and bite off and shorten the chair leg 
I try give Ben this type Synoquin is good but expensive so i change JD Ark Natural cheaper.

Well if u wan champion breed or import from other places sure will ex 1.

izzit??
erm.. i never see goldie do that before mayb flooring rough, and she is outside dog..

hmm.. my aunt have a dog like shi zhu.. he loves to do that post.. we call him 4 leg pa pa.. in chinese.. he seem understand and start making angry face.. need ppl to pujuk him back to not angry wan... 

hi broz n sisz...

juz deposited a labrador retriever yest nite.. will b picking her up sunday.. so excited..

been searching a while for the golden n labrador retriever for a while.. lotz of ppl tell me that it's champion breed, champion's daughter breed, etc etc... how real r those story? n some even told me that it's australia champion..

btw.. there is a guy selling his female golden retriever for rm900.. claimed that it's a champion too...  it's 3.5 months old... dono how true is the champion thingy...