FlippingKazza

Hello, Well my boy is nearly 3 now and has shown a lot of improvement since I first posted this message. We decided not to operate, the breeder and dog chiropractor strongly reccomended against it. This is the maintenance program we are following and seems to be helping a lot. - Glucosamine tablets, 1 per day with evening meal. 1500mg glucosamine with 100mg chondroitin. The Microgenics brand is good, 180 tablets for about $50 from Health food stores. He is so good at taking the massive tablet, I just pop it into the back of his mouth and he swallows, I dont even need to hold his mouth!! - Cartophren Injections at the vet, course of 4 injections over a month every 6 months. - Cod Liver Oil drizzled over dinner - Dog Chiropractor every 3 or 4 months. Peter Schofield at Mulgoa ( near Penrith NSW) is fantastic!!!! - Non slip mats throughout the house ( we have wooden floors) he no longer crys when he tries to stand after exercise. Just go to bunnings and buy the yoga mat on a roll, you can cut whatever length you need. He has a mat in each room and only lays on those. - We dont take him for long walks on concrete footpaths, 10-15mins is all he can take. He seems fine at the dog park or beach as he can go at his own pace, rest, play ect. He can stay 40 mins and be fine. - Regular exercise - Our vet believes as the dog gets older and builds more muscle he is able to support the "loose" joint better. This muscle needs to be maintained. - No jumping!!! - Swimming is supposed to be good but my Mallie hates it so that doesnt work for us.

Hi Kelnori, I couldn't imagine life without my big beautiful boy. Malamutes can be the most rewarding breed but you do have to put in the effort from day 1. My pup started training at 8 weeks old as we were always aware of the mals tendancies to dominate. Make sure you get your training classes lined up before you bring your pup home. My boy doesnt eat much either. He is 27" and about 48kg and eats 2 biscuits in the morning and a cup of Purina One and about 200g of meat for dinner. Costs about $10-15 per week to feed. Grooming, while he does require a big brush once a week he need to go to a professional groomer once a quater to keep him looking and feeling gorgeous. I'm actually in the process of finding a new groomer at the moment. We desexed him at 6 months old on the breeders advice, he also has hip displacia which is something to be very aware of as they grow so quickly. Goodluck with you mal!

Our 18mth old male Mallie is 45kg and exercises for about 20 mins each day ( He has HD). He costs us $12.60 per week in food and $7.63 per week in meds for his hip. Per day he eats: 2 cups of Supercoat - 65c 250g of fresh mince - 70c 100g of natural yoghurt - 20c 3x20g supercoat bones - 25c 1 Teaspooon Cod liver oil - 9c 1500mg Glucosamine - $1.00

I'm glad you have found a place to open up about your grief. Your post made me cry, I really feel for you. You know that you did the right thing for your sick pup and dont think of your new pup as a replacement. Your other pup may have sent him to you to ease your grief and for you to be able to pour all that love you have into another deserving pup. I wish you all the best.

Thinking of you, hope you feel better soon.

I'm so glad to hear Abbey is 7 and doing well. We have started our pup on glucosamine and he been having cod liver oil for a while now (2 months). We are going to start the cartophren injections in a few weeks. Hopefully they will make him more comfortable. He is only ever really bad after too much exercise, the more he does the worse he is. I will keep this post informed of his progress.

We have just returned from the specialist. He said we could go for the Triple Pelvic Osteotomy but it would have to be done ASAP as pups getting older (13 mths), then they wouldnt even know until hes on the operating table if he is a candidate. There is a 50/50 chance hes even suitable. Or we could manage him with injections, pain relief, glucosamine, controled exercise and controlled diet. He also said its most likely our pup will be back in the future for surgery but he didnt know how long, could be months or years. We decidedf not to operate until pup shows that he really cant manage. Hes been really good latley, I even err or saying hes improved with regular exercise and cod liver oil. He said he would always have back problems because he twists his back to take pressure off his hip. Over time that causes the joints to become out of shape. I still feel like I dont have a;ll the answers but I guess nobody can tell us how our pups hip will progress. Its reassuring to know that down the track he can still have a total hip replacement anytime, but hopefully we may never need that option.......Hopefully! I'd still like to hear everybodys opinions on the matter, your thoughts have been most useful to me. Thanks!

Rusky. Thanks for the great advice, we dont want to rush into an op either. I'm so happy that your GR is now 12 and still having good days! We can take our pup to my in-laws pool twice a week but cant anymore than that. Hes been showing improvement latley just on Cod Liver every day. He hasn't cried out while trying to get up after exercising since Sunday ( 5 days ago) so thats great for him. What sort of vegies to we feed him and how much? Do you buy frozen or fresh? Do you decrease his other food? Bell, I'm so sorry to hear about your boxer, we looked into the Femoral Head Op but we were advised that a total hip replacement is a much better op and the FHR is done as a cheaper alternative. Also its a salvage operation. Definatley do your research and see a specialist too. I ordered liqid glucosamine from e-bay, I'll report back in a week or two and let you know what difference it makes. We are seeing the specialist tonight so I will let you know how it goes. Thanks Again!

Hi Leenie, I looked up all the ingredients for the Flexi-cose - The bottle is 240ml and it was $17.95USD + $5 USD for shipping on E-Bay. These figures are based on a 7.5ml serve daily ( 1/2 tablespoon) 18 - 45 kg dog and lasts 32 days. Vitamin A - 1250 IU Vitamin C - 15 mg Vitamin E - 7.5 IU Manganese - 0.7 mg Glucosamine HCI and Sulfate - 1500 mg Chondroitin Sulfate - 120 mg Flexibility complex: Aloe Vera gel, MSM, omega 3 fatty acid, niacinamide, yukka root, bromelain, boswellia serrata resin extract - 1600 mg That doesnt seem like a lot of vitamin C, do you think it needs to be supplemented? Do you just use Vitamin C tablets for humans? Thanks!

Hi Leenie, Where in OZ can I get liquid glucosamine? I ordered Flexicose on E-Bay, its $17.95 USD ( about $24 AUD). I have heard Vitamin C is good, there is Vit C in the Flexicose so is that enough? None of the vets have mentioned that! How old is the Roti you refer to? How severe is her HD? Thanks

HI Carebear, I didnt know that a total hip replacement only lasts 5 years, thats good to know. Luckily our pup only has one bad hip so he'd need 2 ops in his life if that was the choice. Thats terrible she is predicted to be crippled at 4, has she gone downhill much in the past year? Where do you buy shark cartlidge from? The injections will be worth checking out too, much cheaper than an op! But of course we will do what has the best prognosis. Hi Wundahoo, I havent heard of trigger point therapy, I will ask the specialist about that too. We have ordered glocosamine liquid from the states, hopefully that will help. Thankyou both for your input.

Check out this link. http://users.netconnect.com.au/~ncarter/snake.htm

Hello, I am starting this thread as a carry on from the thread in the breeders forum " Is the breeder responsible for this? My pup has HD". I am hoping to discuss treatment options for my alaskan malamute who is now 13 months old with anyone who has been through this or knows anything about this topic. My pup first showed signs on Sunday 3rd Oct last year after playing at the dog park with 2 smaller dogs, he was 9 months old. I thought it was just an injury and our vet reccomended 3 weeks rest. After talking to our breeder who said there is no way its HD they sent us to their chiropractor Peter Schofield who after examining him said he has severe HD in the left side only. He also had his back out and problems with the siatic nerves. We were told to wait until 12 mths to do x-rays. We got the xrays back last week ( scored by Bob Wyburn) and they were 3/21 totalling 24. Australian grade 5 or an International grade E. We have spoken to 3 vets and they have all reccomended a different operation! There are 3 ops that can be done on dogs with HD. A Total Hip replacement, a femoral head resection or a triple pelvic osteotomy. From what I understand, a TPO can only be done on dogs under 12 months, a total hip replacement can be done at any stage and a fem head is a salvage operation. Has anybody had any experience with these ops? What is the recovery like? We would like to avoid operating if we can. The breeders basically said hes your dog but if he was mine I wouldnt put him through an operation. I have ordered some liquid glucosamine and want to give that a try first, has anybody used it before? Is it as good as I've heard it is? To put it simply, our pup is normal 95% of the time. The only time he is in pain is after exercise when he gets home and goes to rest then trys to get up off the floor. His leg gets stiff and he limps around until hes warmed up again. He always favours his good leg and keeps most of the weight off his bad leg. He walks normally when hes not stiff or sore ( after exercise) and runs kicking his back legs out. He often lays with his belly down and legs stretched out behind him. I would appreciate any feedback on what we should do so we can know what to ask the specialist this Friday. Do you think we should let our pup grow up some more first and try some alternative options? Hes not in pain most of the time, hes just a normal dog. We dont want to rush into an op if its not the best thing. Regards

Apparently Peter is moving back to Melbourne! I will miss him, he diagnosed my alaskan malamute with hip displacia before anyone else realized. We got his hip scores back and he is severe, just as Peter said!