{"id":2412,"date":"2023-07-07T09:58:40","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T13:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=2412"},"modified":"2023-07-07T09:58:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T13:58:41","slug":"what-to-do-about-hip-dysplasia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/what-to-do-about-hip-dysplasia\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do about hip dysplasia?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hip dysplasia is a fancy way to say that the hip joint did not form correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hip is a “ball and socket” joint. It is made of the ball of the femur or thigh bone (aka femoral head), and a socket or cup in the pelvis (aka acetabulum).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Gunner, a 7 year old Lab, has pretty nice hips. The \u201cball\u201d of the hip is rounded, and sits deep inside the \u201csocket.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We typically think of hip dysplasia as a canine condition. In fact, cats can be affected as well.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Peanut, a 3 month old kitty, has severe hip dysplasia. The \u201cball\u201d of the femur is not at all rounded, and sits out of the socket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hip dysplasia can cause pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young patients are typically painful because of stretching of the ligaments of the hip as the ball slips in & out of the socket.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mojo, a 6 month old Mastiff, had severe hip dysplasia. The \u201cball\u201d of the hip is flat instead of round, and completely out of the socket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A very important point is that there is not always a good relationship between how bad X-rays look and how bad a patient feels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, patient A may have “horrible” hips on X-rays (meaning full of arthritis), yet may be functional and happy and able to run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas patient B may have “OK” hips on X-rays (meaning without much arthritis), but may act very painful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I always say, “I don’t treat X-rays, I treat pets.”Depending on the severity and the stage, there are many ways to help hip dysplasia patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conservative way is to use all or some of the options we have discussed before to help arthritis: weight control or weight loss, arthritis supplements, arthritis diets, physical therapy, controlled exercise, pain medications etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surgical way involves 4 mainstream options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n