Of all the diseases your dog may suffer from, one of the most frustrating is hip dysplasia. It strikes dogs at any age, often times as young as two years.

The disease is orthopaedic in nature and will lead to the abnormal formation of the hip which then causes looseness in the joint and cartilage damage. The result is severe, early onset arthritis that can make movement by your dog much tougher.

Warning Signs

Hip Dysplasia will be preceded by a drop off in energy levels, a difficulty in standing or moving and a lameness in your dog’s back legs. The dog will stop wanting to use the stairs, especially when going up them, and will rarely want to stand up on its back limbs or jump up on anything.

They will start hopping with their back legs to walk and will show signs of soreness when they lie down, especially after heavy exercise. If your dog shows any of these signs, regardless of their age, it’s important to get them to the vet for X-rays as soon as possible.

Who Gets Hip Dysplasia

Dysplasia is a genetic disease that passes down through a specific lineage of dogs. If you have two loose hipped dogs mate with each other, the result is often a dysplasia stricken puppy. Of course, not all dogs with the disease suffer from it or show symptoms so it can be hard to determine if your new puppy has a heredity.

There are some environmental factor as well, including obesity, too much protein in food (such as in cat food), or too many vitamins and minerals. Things that are designed to make puppies grow faster have been shown to increase the risk of dysplasia and arthritis as well.

Treating Dysplasia

There are quite a few ways to treat dysplasia. More conservative, non-invasive treatments include weight loss, pain medication, physical therapy, and basic exercise routines to work the hips.

If the disease has grown to a severe enough state, surgery may become an option instead of simple treatments. In one case, the veterinarian will attempt to slow the spread of arthritis while other methods will work to salvage the degenerating hips before they can get too worried by the disease.

The only real way to know which treatment is best for your dog is to see a vet and have the necessary X-rays and tests done to determine the extent of their dysplasia. A vet will then determine what works best to treat those particular issues.