bad news on popping hips of my 8 month old pup

Confirmed SEVERE him dysplasia. It is so bad that he may not be a good canitate for the TSP and our option would then be the $15,000.00 total hip replacemnt. I am so angry and so sad. Our Vet has referred us to a specialist. $4,200.00 is what they are asking for the TSP if he qualifies. It is rare for an 8 month old to be diagnosed as severe. They think his knees may have some issues also.

WE financially and emotionally can not handle this. IWe have a 6 yr old son with a rare intestinal disorder and the stress from that alone has been extremely tough.

So what are our options? Pain meds until the pain get so severe that we will have to put him down because we don't have $4000.00? We can not commit to payments due to never knowing when our son will need more surgeries. He has had 6 in these past 6 years. 2 of them just last March.

Am I a bad person for thinking about putting him to sleep? Is there an organization that helps dogs live comfortable?

Lisa

 

No your not, not at all. Its so frustrating that health comes down to money, in UK there is an organization called the PDSA that offers free health care for pets to low income, welfare recipients etc but I dont know of any anywhere else.

You really do have to look at the quality of life that your pup has and what you can realistically afford....So would you also be looking at further surgeries on the knees? I dont envy you one bit, Ive seen many people go through this heartbreak because of a financial situation.

Ive sent you a PM although I dont know if it will help.

 

my former dog, Sadie, was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia at 3 months of age.
I hope you read this cause I was where you are at now.
My son, at that time, was 5 years old and I also had a teen at home. We simply could not justify spending the kind of money on Sadie that was going to be required to replace her hips. The vet also suggested the TPO surgery but with a larger breed dog there was no guarantees on the success of that either.
Sadie recently passed away at nearly reaching 12 years of age!!! Every winter, after she turned 7, we thought her hips would be the end of her - ended up being her spleen.
Yes she did experience discomfort but it wasn't to the point where she ended up crippled from it.
Sadie hiked a lot (hiked Mt. Washing twice in her life), we took her swimming tons (non-weight bearing exercise), we kept her weight down.
We also put her on MSM which is a supplement to help keep the joints running smooth (we take it also).
When Sadie got older I did take her to a holistic vet for chiropractic treatment and that helped quite a bit. We tried acupuncture but her hip degeneration was so severe that after 3 sessions and no improvement we stopped (the vet didn't think it would work either).
I would seek out the advice of an alternative vet (holitic and/or homepathic) for help. Most traditional vets suggest only surgery will work but there are lots of supplements you can give your dog to help ease the discomfort.
You figure people live with joint issues on a daily basis and manage to get through life fine without being PTS. Not everyone has the option for either hip or knee replacements.
You need to keep your dog's weight at a minimim as to not add to the stress on the joints. Give him a nice soft bed to lay on. We have hardwood and ceramic tile floors and Sadie would slip on them easily so I have foam-rubber backed scatter rugs all over the place so she wouldn't slip.
We kept her active so her joints wouldn't stiffen up quite so much - but we didn't overexerice her. We let her tell us when she had enough.
And watch your dog - this doesn't need to be his demise until he gets to the point where he's in pain and can no longer get around.
Be cautious of Rimadyl or other drugs....we used only buffered aspirin before and exercising to help Sadie.
She lived with this her entire life - which luckily ended up being long for a Shepherd with crap hips.

 

I agree with Mary. Try everything else in your power - supplements, alternative vets, etc. Keep her weight down. If it gets worse, there are wheelchairs for dogs but I don't know enough about that. It's something you can look into, though. I'm not sure if homeopathy would help, but it might. Chiropractic might. Try to keep your pup's quality of life as good as possible and if that becomes impossible that's when you have to think about putting him down, but knowing that you gave him everything you could and he was happy.

I forget - where did you get the pup? Did they have any sort of health guarantee for the first year? Not that those are generally useful, because "replacing" the pup doesn't solve the problem, since he's not a pair of shoes or something like that. But if there are any laws in your state that protect against this sort of thing, you may be able to get help with medical bills.

 

your poor babyI also agree with Mary, her dog lived a long fairly normal life with HD. I would try the supplements and just go from there, since surgery is not an option for you. If it gets progessively worse, then a decision can be made at at time. you are not a bad person for thinking about putting her down to end her suffering, but if she is not there yet, and its too emotional I would search a new home that someone will be willing to take her in.

I read in your other post you got her from a pet store, A lot of states have laws that protect the buyers of puppies from pet stores and they are either required to pay vet bills or refund your money. I would go to the pet store and demand payment from the vet bills you already incurred.

good luck

 

Oh wow. What a tough decision. But I think you got some good advice here. Good luck with whatever you decide. My heart goes out to you.

 

I called PetCity. There response was that they already paid the 1 1/2 times the purchase price on the medical for the dog when he had pneumonia so they are in the clear now. They take no responsibily for this puppy's HD. We have only had him since 8-1-05. They will not tell me the breeders name nor will they tell me if this dog ever had his hips checked.

The odd/funny thing is.....the dog that my son picked out has HD. My son has a rare intestinal disorder who's appreviation also goes by HD. (hirschsprung's Disease)

I guess things really do happen for a reason I have to find some humor in all of this.
Lisa

 

Unfortunately too late for the advice to never buy a puppy from a pet store but that store should at least provide the name of the breeder so your local SPCA could check them out.
You seem to be handling your situation much better that I could. Hopefully I pray your pup will do OK on suppliments.

 

puppy with popping hips

I'm so sorry this had to happen, but yes, maybe it is for a reason. I too recently had our 3 year old boxer diagnosed with h.p. the weird thing is we got him when our first dog(1/2 boxer, 1/2 lab) had h.p. I am such a dog lover, I couldnt see coming home to an empty house.
last year we had to have our 1st dog put to sleep. He had had hip dysplasia for most of his life also. We hadndt heard of msm or glucosamine & chrondroitrin. this time we will be using it daily to see if our boxer will improve. My vet told me to continue daily short walks, stay away from stairs and slippery floors, and no wild continuious play. They can live with this until they get too painful and grumpy. our first dog had to be put down because the pain reliever wasnt working and he was beginning to get grumpy and snappy with my 6 year old. he also stood off the mailman. (I'd thought he bit him but later found out he was just "putting his teeth on him" ) I miss him almost every day still, but I'm glad we did it. PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE don't blame yourself. You couldnt have known. None of us do. Its hard to know that someday you will have to make the choice, but you will know when its the right tiime.
Again, I'm so sorry, your puppy is so young. Keep us posted.

 

15000 for a hip replacement?!?!?!?! thats insane. it only costs around 5000 here. mary has some good suggestions but if they dont work then perhaps being pts will be the best option

remember folks, dont buy animals from pet shops! im unsure as to whether kuma is ever going to have hip problems but i can tell you now if she did it wouldnt suprise me one bit.

p.s. i agree with dukesdad about finding out more about the breeder and getting them inspected. they might not tell you at first but if you keep persisting or make threats to take them to court they might give up the name.