Disease Description: A developmental malformation or subluxation of the hip joints.

Inherit Mode: The mode of inheritance of this disease is polygenic (caused by many different genes). Scientists do not yet know which genes are involved, or how many genes. Factors that can make the disease worse include excess weight, a fast growth rate, and high-calorie or supplemented diets.

Disease Symptom: While there is a severe form of hip dysplasia thataffects youngdogs (less than one year of age), signs of this disease are mostcommon in older dogs. Theloose fit at the hip joint will be present in young dogs, but it maytake years for theother changes (such as osteoarthritis) to cause pain. Your dog may bepainful afterexercise, have difficulty with stairs, or even have difficulty gettingup. You may onlynotice this once in a while, but over time you will find it gettingworse. There is nocure, but your dog’s pain and lameness may be reduced by making surethat s/he is notoverweight, restricting exercise, and using pain-relieving medicationsand/or alternativetherapies such as acupuncture. Large and giant-breed dogs are more likely toget hip dysplasialater in life if they are overfed and gain weight quickly as puppies.If you have such apuppy, you may be able to reduce the chance of future hip dysplasia bycareful feeding.Your veterinarian can help you determine the right body weight anddiet for your dog.

Disease Cause: -

Disease Diagnose: Your veterinarian will probably suspect hip dysplasiaif your largeor giant breed dog has pain or lameness in the hips. Your vet willtake x-rays to evaluatethe general fit of the femur and pelvis, and to look for anyosteoarthritic changes in thehip joint. Usually sedation or anaesthesia is required to ensureproper positioning of thedog. In order to see how much looseness there is in the hip joint,your veterinarianmay take special stress or distraction radiographs.

Treat Method: The degree to which the hips are dysplastic doesnot alwayscorrelate with the amount of pain. Some dogs with very bad hipsradiographically are lesspainful than others whose x-rays show only minor changes. Although there is no cure for hip dysplasia,there are ways tomanage the pain. Your veterinarian will work with you to keep yourdog comfortable.Treatments include anti-inflammatory drugs and/ or alternativetherapies such asacupuncture. Nutraceuticals such as glucosamine may also be helpful.Controlling exerciseand maintaining your dog at an appropriate weight, are important inmanaging the pain. Your veterinarian may suggest surgery (such aship replacement) ifthe pain is severe, and/or can not be controlled by medical treatmentas above.

Breeder Advice: Canine hip dysplasia remains a problem in mostlarge and giantbreeds of dog, despite efforts to control this condition dating backto the 1960s. Becauseit is virtually impossible to determine the exact genotype, it isdifficult to controldefects like hip dysplasia that have a polygenic mode ofinheritance. The best attempts at control are based on a gradingscheme for identificationof the defect and a breed policy of recording and publishing theresults for as many dogsas possible. Breed organizations and veterinarians in variouscountries havedeveloped control programmes that rely on radiographic evaluation and acentral registryof dogs. Dogs from large and giant breeds should be evaluated by oneof these establishedscreening programmes before breeding, and should be bred based on theguidelines of thatprogramme. The distraction index (DI) is determined by the PennHiptechnique and isstatistically the most predictive method for hip joints in pups.Essentially, the best wayfor breeders to prevent hip dysplasia is to breed only dogs that havedisease-free joints,based on appropriate radiographic evaluation, and that come fromfamilies withdisease-free joints. Do not breed dogs whose offspring have hipdysplasia (dogs with hipdysplasia can produce normal offspring, and normal-appearing dogs canproduce offspringwith hip dysplasia). Two registries that keep statistics on hipdysplasia are theInstitute for Genetic Disease Control (GDC - www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/gdc/gdc.html)and the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA - www.offa.org)Thoughtful selection by breeders, using dogs from these registries,has reduced theincidence of hip dysplasia in some breeds and some areas.

Disease Description Source: Link