oUr sAd nEwS

Well recently we have noticed our little tyke acting a tad funny. It all started to worry us when my younger brother was playing tug of war, his favorite, with him and went to tug on his leg to complicate things. When he tugged, tyke started yelping and crying. He let go thinking that he had a cut or something of that nature. My mom decided to help check him out. Upon lifting his leg he started yelping again. After talking about it we decided to take him to the vet's just to make sure that he was okay. Upon his check up and a set of x-rays we discovered that he has hip dysplacia. Below is a x-ray of a normal hip....





Here is a x-ray similar to what tyke's hips look like





In case you can't tell, and don't worry I couldn't tell until they told me what to look for, what it is is the femur doesn't fit in snug to the hip socket. It makes the leg drop more straight down instead of out sideways. Consequently every time he walks, sits, runs, jumps and lays he is in pain.

The vet put him on a strict playing schedule, no tug of war and really be gentle. He can only go on short walks every once and a while. He has to eat ONLY Science Diet and now takes Rimadyl, an anti-inflammatory and arthritis medication once daily.

It is sad and other than the medication the only other option that we have is to do surgery, where they reshape the hip joint or they replace it all together. We had his x-rays sent to an orthopedic surgeon in Salt Lake... he called us back and wants to meet with us and check tyke out himself on February 4th. However, without surgery if we stay to what he needs like a healthy diet, exercise and medication he should be able to live a full and fun life without too much pain!! Wish us luck!!