Dr. Mike Ortaleza: Hello. I’m Dr. Mike. Today, we are going to talk about hip dysplasia in dogs. To cover this topic, we’re going to visit with Dr. Anthony Cambridge who is board certified in veterinary surgery.

Dr. Anthony Cambridge: Hip Dysplasia is essentially as a deformity of the hip joint. It can lead on to degeneration of the joint, arthritis, inflammation and pain. The vast majority of dogs acquire hip dysplasia likely as a result of inherited factor and that’s combined with factors such as body weight, rate of growth possibilities of trauma during development and other factors such as their environment play a role in this.

When we see hip dysplasia in breeds such as Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Rottweilers and the German Shepherd is probably the most common in our practice.

Most owners are going to recognize some type of discomfort often reluctance to play as a puppy. They’re gong to see perhaps a change in the way the hind limbs are being used often smaller dogs, younger dogs help using both hind legs together to get around or specially going upstairs.

They may recognize pain when the dog first gets up after a period of rest or they may see a little exhaustion compared to other dogs they’ve had experience with in the past.

If owners feel that their dog is possibly suffering from hip dysplasia the simplest, best solution would be to see their local vet to get first an examination and then quite possibly X-rays to follow.

Veterinarians going to examine the dog to determine if it has hip dysplasia. Some dogs can be examines awake, however, often it’s useful to sedate the patient to determine whether the hips are lax. Laxity is the key finding in dogs with hip dysplasia. There is a test for laxity we refer to as the Ortolani’s sign and we can demonstrate that on this model. In the Ortolani’s sign, we push on the femur and the sedation. The femur head rises out of the joint, the acetabulum. We lift the leg up and it clicks back in and were filling for that click back in to tell us that the hip was actually out. If we confirm this, this is hip dysplasia regardless of what we see on an X-ray.

Dr. Mike Ortaleza: As always, it is best to discuss with your veterinarian the ideal treatment options for your pet. I’m Dr. Mike. I hope that this information has been helpful and thanks for watching.