Worried about hips in young corgi (confirmed hip dysplasia)
Lately i have been noticing that when i put my hand on Rhun's hips to get him to sit when he is being stubborn and not listening that i feel a popping feeling. Then today he got up and walked of while i had my hand on his back end and his hip pops while he walks. I am very concerned because he is only 9 month old and I have never noticed it in his sister (litter mate). We have only had him about a month and a half and i didn't notice it when we first got him and the vet didn't say anything when we took him in for a vet check and shots and he did check his hips. Should i be concerned? could it be something like arthritis or something worse? He doesn't lay like Adora with the legs spread out behind. When i move and stretch his back legs he doesn't seemed bothered by it, but he is very aloof about everything anyways. He wiggles his back end a lot more than Adora. He isn't overweight, he is actually skinny side. I am really concerned and i don't know what to do. I have just been laid off of work, have major problems with my house, problems with my own health, now this. i don't know if i could even find a way of paying the vet bills if he need surgery, i can barley pay my bills now.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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I think there are some old discussions on this you could look back on...sorry I can't help with advice!
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Permalink Reply by Renee Kovacs on
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I'd be inclined to watch & wait, and make sure his nutrition is optimized. I'd also hesitate to push down on a young dog's hips to get them to sit - instead, use food just over his head, moving it back, as his nose follows it, his butt will go down, no force needed. I'd also limit jumping (particularly high things like beds) and avoid cement if at all possible (opting for grass/fields/woods for walks).
If he DOES have something wrong with his hips, it might be transient & resolve itself as his body matures. On the other hand, if he is dysplastic ...well, I don't think at 9 mos there is anything anyone could/would do. It wouldn't seem likely at that age that he could have osteo-arthritis, and dogs can have rheumatoid but geez, let's not go there without cause, and you're not mentioning any real problem other than hearing his hip pop.
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Permalink Reply by Kimberlie on
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We don't force him into the sit, we practice visual, verbal and touch commands with both of our dogs. Flat hand on back end means sit, flat hand on head is down, four fingers on neck is come/follow. When they are being stubborn we end up saying it, then we try the visual then we use the touch, one of these always works. As soon as i noticed it we have been preventing him from jumping up. And making him keeps things easy.
We don't hear it we just feel it pop. He is bigger bones than his sister, he is obviously taller because he is male, he is a little longer has a bigger head, rib cage, jaw, his legs are thicker and his paws are a good 30%-40% bigger than adoras. But dad was the large side of the scale for a male as well. But both of there body fat is low, you can very clearly feel the ribs and are well defined when you feel but you can not see them. And he has a clear defined waste. He has a very big swing in his back end when he walks and runs, he is a very slow mellow fellow but i don't know if it is because of his hips or just his personality as we have only hand him a month and a half and he has always had that about him. He also never slowly lays down he always plops himself down.
We be making a appointment for the vet we will just have to find a way to pay it. Should i get pet insurance before we go to the vet? Would pet insurance help enough with the cost if he it does end up being one of those three?
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Kiberlie, most insurance have a "waiting period" for different age group to prevent abuse / fraud claims. Read the fine print and ask all questions, know what you're getting before signing anything. Remember insurance is a business that makes money, not a charity.
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I know that with pet insurance there is usually about 30 period for illness and a 1 week for accident, I have been contemplating getting pet insurance since we decided to get adora when we picked her out at 6 weeks old. I know that this will not be covered by pet insurance but with 2 dogs and already having once possible illness/ health concerned should i just take the jump and get pet insurance for both of them now. One big illness is one thing. I couldn't handle another on top of this especially if it happens reasonably soon.
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So yesterday we were able to get in to see our vet, and our 9 month old Rhun has been diagnosed with hip displasia. We did a set of X-rays to confirm and it showed that it is worse than we thought even worse than the vet thought. We noticed the hip popping on the right side only, so we thought it was only his right hip. But X-rays showed that his left hip is actually worse than his right. There is so little bone surrounding the Femur that it can't even make the popping feeling. Vet said he has half the coverage that he should have on his right and even less with his left. Good news there is no signs of inflammation, irritation or pain. For now we are to make sure he keeps the muscles mass good in is back end, but no rigorous activity like jumping and keep his at a good weight like he is now and to wait for a call back about how we should proceed, he is contacting a specialists and surgeons. Surgery is a big possibility in the future but not until it is effecting him, as he see no reason to do surgery on a happy and other wise healthy dog that is doing just fine, running, playing, and getting around just fine with no pain. He does suspect that it could of been from poor nutrition during the important growing stage of puppy hood, sadly we didn't get him till 8 months and the breeder had told us when we went to meet him that she has suspected that he was on a very poor food when he was returned to her. So now the annoying wait and see period.
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Kimball on
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I am sorry. That's one of the hardest diagnoses to get.
Does your breeder have a support system for him and for you? That would definitely be something to get going. Every breeder is different but in my little circle we'd offer you a couple of options, if you'd bought a puppy from one of us - we'd take him back, so we'd be stuck with the bills, and offer you a different puppy, or we'd in some way try to help out. Most breeders can't afford to pay huge vet bills any more than you can, but we try to make as much effort as we possibly can.
If he were mine, I would NOT do surgery. There's not a lot of good data that says surgery works very well. The pain from the surgery itself and all the tendon and muscle damage that does can be a lot worse than the dysplasia, especially in a breed that relies less on its hip sockets like the corgis do. I've known many corgis with dysplasia who get along beautifully, well into old age.
Exercise, exercise, exercise. There's nothing better. He needs lots and lots of good flat work (not jumping) but as much walking and running as possible. The more muscle mass is surrounding the joint, the better it will stay in place even without the bony support. Remember that there's no bony attachment at all in the shoulder, which is what bears the most weight in these dogs - just tendons and muscles. Soft tissue is very effective at holding a joint in place IF it's worked hard and strong. He can hike, climb, track, and play now, and when he's older he can pull you on a scooter or a bike or can do other strengthening work on the flat.
The other key to mitigating dysplasia is keeping the dog thin. Like THIN. Not "OK" or "typical for a corgi" but THIN. When you pick him up he should feel like a hard bundle of muscle and bone and you should see the outline of his ribcage when he walks. You want him about a 4 on this chart. It'll be a lot thinner than most people keep their corgis (a lot of people look down and say they see a waist, but it's just an indentation between pads of fat! You want to see a waist created by flesh falling off behind a clearly visible bulk of ribcage), but it will be incredibly protective for his joints.
Finally, joint supplement - Glycoflex is good, as is Adequan as his disease progresses.
Good luck, and please keep us updated.
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Rhun we re-homed and did not even pay a cent for him, she just wanted to give him a better home because his first wasn't very good and she was so pleased with how Adora was doing. If for some reason we would not be able to take care of him she would take him back, but we don't want to give him up just because he isn't perfect. Our Vet thinks that in his case it wouldn't be genetic and is most likely did not get the proper nutrition(which she warned us about that suspicion) while he was at his first home and there for not being able to grow the properly, you could tell just buy the look of him when we picked him up that he wasn't being fed good food, and that changes within the week of bringing him home and feeding him quality food. The vet said that he is very optimistic and believes Rhun will do very well for a while, he wouldn't be surprised if Rhun didn't need surgery till his senior years, as he has lots of muscles in his back legs and his is already THIN as per the chat he is a perfect 4 already so we just need to keep up with what we have been doing food and exercise wise. We have more than enough time to start a saving account for Vet costs. For now we just need to give him a supplement each day which we just picked up and the cost is minor compared to what i was expecting. My sisters dogs allergy medication costs a lot more than what i will pay for his. I found there kibble for $11 cheaper than where i previously bought it, and the saving more than covers the added cost of supplements.
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Sounds like your doing well considering the news...glad you're not giving up...he needs someone like you! Poor boy...I never even gave it a thought about how important nutrition is to a growing pup...how terrible of his 1st owners!
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Permalink Reply by Monica, Orion, and Laika on
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Everything Joanna mentioned is good advice (keeping him thin, join supplement, etc.). Also, from my experience from working in a vet clinic, the surgery for hip dysplasia that my vets most commonly do is for management of severe pain and is usually done with those bigger breeds. Since he is not in any pain I don't think you'll have to worry about surgery for now but maybe set aside a Rhun hip fund somewhere just in case he'll need the surgery somewhere along the line. So hopefully your vet is right about him not needing it until his senior years! Good luck with everything and lots of corgi kisses from Orion and Laika :)
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I am sorry to hear this but optimistic that it sounds like he will be able to live a full and happy life. I second everything Joanna said about exercise, and wanted to add that one of the best exercises for four-legged animals to build hind end strength is hill work. Depending on where you live, this may be a part of your normal walks (it is ours), but for other people in flatter areas it's not. You want slow-ish, controlled trots (which would be normal walking-speed for you) up gradual inclines; the dog should really be engaging the back-end and you get this in part by keeping the pace controlled. Loose dogs tend to run up hills, which does not engage the hindquarters as much as a controlled trot.
If you already do hill work, great! If it's new you want to add it very gradually, give rest days in between at first and gradually increase distance and incline.
Off-leash hikes are also good, as changing terrain uses more muscles than work on smooth surfaces like grass or pavement.
Good luck with Rhun.
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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on
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I don't have advice to add, but I wanted to comment that this is such a wonderful supportive community, the advice here was given so thoughtfully and given in such a positive manner. I'm so glad I found this site! And I'm so happy to hear that the condition can be managed and that he's doing so well.
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