Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hip Dysplasia

After a few weeks of treatment for lyme disease, we continued to see Samson occasionally limp on his left back leg, so we decided to have the vet do some x-rays to see if there's something else going on. Turns out there was: hip dysplasia. It's only of a moderate level in his left hip, but it still kinda sucks (though we are relieved it's not something horrible like bone cancer with which pyrs tend to have a bit of a reputation). There's not really anything we can do to fix it, and it will only get worse as he ages. All we can do is pain management.

We may try to get some glucosamine to help strengthen the cartilage in his hip joint, but that won't fix the problem which is the bone itself. Also, Samson's occassional dose of prednisone complicates things because he can't be given anything else while he's on it -- it just doesn't mix well.

We'll just have to take it a day at a time and see how it goes. Hopefully he'll age well, and his hip won't get too bad over time.

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