Hip Dysplasia

Hip Dysplasia is a debilitating disease that is similar in nature to human arthritis. This disease tends to be primarily genetic in nature and affects mostly large breeds of dogs. Although other animals besides dogs can also have this disease.

If a dog is known to be Hip Dysplastic it is imperative that they be spay / neutered so as not to pass on this negative genetic trait. Responsible breeding has the greatest impact on the prevalence of this disease. Along with not breeding a known Hip Dysplastic dog, breeders should also limit their levels of inbreeding. The greater level of genetic diversity any species has, the healthier that species is. Lack of genetic diversity is why many species have been placed on the endangered species list and in many cases have become or do become extinct.

Hip Dysplasia can severely effect some dogs’ qualities of life and not even show to be positive in review of their x-rays. Others may appear to have severe Hip Dysplasia on their x-rays but exhibit little or no symptoms.

In other cases a dog may be a simple carrier of the Hip Dysplasia gene yet it may never develop into the disease. If two such carriers breed, the potential for the disease actively developing in the offspring is significantly increased. Because inbreeding brings out the most recessive genetic traits it is easy to see how such practice can increase the odds of offspring developing the disease from seemingly healthy adults.

It is important to realize that if a dog is diagnosed with the disease the effects of the disease can be minimized through dietary control and exercise. Probably the best known exercise is swimming. This disease when mild may also be treated with various over the counter aspirin medications (NOT TYLENOL – especially in cats where it can cause methemoglobinemia).

When necessary, prescription medications can be used to manage the negative effects of Hip Dysplasia. Some cases, however, must be surgically repaired. When this is the case there are three primary options:

-Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO)
-Triple Pelvic Osteotomy (TPO)
-Total Hip Replacement (THR)

It is important that if this disease is suspected in any way that proper diagnosis be made. If positive, one should take the time to sit down with their veterinarian and discuss treatment options thoroughly. It is always a good idea to confirm the diagnosis through an unbiased second opinion by another vet. Treat your pet’s medical health the same as you would your own and get second and even third opinions if necessary. Your pet may survive a botched job from an unscrupulous vet, but at the same time their quality of life can be severely diminished if you are not careful.

I know this is a old post but I was just looking around the pb fam forum and ran across it. My experience w/ hip dysplasia in this breed so far has been none existent, b/c pit bulls for centuries were not overbred in size, as they were bred for pure athleticism and pit performance so a large overweight dog with those defects would not be of any use, so traits like that only showed up after years of BYB's enlarging this breed for personal profit.

any more comments on this issue?

*bump* still looking for replies on this topic

I can tell you a story about a pup I got with the worst hip dysplasia. This took place in November 06

There was a breeder in town that I ran into at one of the dog shows down here, he seemed like a really nice guy with a understanding about the breed and his dogs and what not he had a few with him and I loved his male and female… so anyway I told him to call me next time he had a litter and I would come check them out. it was one night I went down town and meet him at (I think was his house) and talked about this little female pup he had. She was way too freaken cute to say no to lol. we started to talk about prices and what not and he ended up just giving me the pup and allowing me to make payments on her, in total he wanted 4500 for her… well we brought her home and she was SCARED TO DEATH of people and all the noise and commotion… well after about a week of her hiding under the couch she finally started venturing out. I didn’t want to push her too fast with socialization so I let her take her time... Well about two weeks after that and her being a fire ball and not scared of any one anymore. We noticed that she was hopping off her back legs… she never really walked just hopped on her front. She was about ten weeks of age at this point. We named her baby girl she was just a freaken cutie well she had also developed the worst under bite were she couldn’t keep her tongue in her mouth because her bite was so bad… we took her to the vet because she wouldn’t stop hopping. Well the vet just looked at her and said “oh my” we took x-rays that day. Ok see if I can make this make sense… you have your thy that has a ball on top of it that fits inside a socket that allows motion for the leg to walk, right? Well she didn’t develop the sockets for the balls to go into so her leg bones were freed floating… and grinding against bone on bone… the vet said that she might develop some type of socket but nothing that is going to be comfortable for her… in the mean time the guy is still asking were his money is ($4500) I told him about the situation and said that he isn’t getting a ******* dime because he is the one that created this he is the one that made her this way.. Well he then told me and others that we stepped on her to break her hips……. I had x-rays and I had two vets look at her and they both told me the same thing… they gave steroids and said maybe 1 year she might make it without being in extricating pain… if she could be fine in a year we could try hip replacements then when she is mostly finished developing (15k a hip) anyway she turned six months old and one morning she couldn’t get up to use the bath room so she peed on herself… that night we gave her the Biggest dinner of biskets and gravy with steak and ice-cream for desert…(sorry im crying) but because of the breeding went bad and because this guy had no idea what the **** he was doing he broke our hearts and killed another… but there is my story, Im a freak about hip dysphasia now I worry about it I have seen what can happen in the worst way… don’t take this lightly guys

Wow masterpiece I am truly sorry about your lost both emotionally and financially, it seems your heart was set on this little pup and also it seems the price of this dog was extremely high, but I'm glad you were confident enough to share this story here on pb fam, but I think it's outrageous for a pure bred pit bull to suffer something from a defect that was never a part of this breed until relatively recent years. Thank you so much for sharing this story with us here.

Yeah it hurt pretty bad socally we tryed to get her better and worked with her a lot and then to find out that she couldnt make it because of this i hope this story helps every one in realizing the extreme that this can lead too you know...

i never paid a dime to that guy nor will i...

Masterpiece as a buyer there was really no way of you knowing what you had gotten yourself into but unfortunately those things happen. Even some of the "quote" professional breeders are really just BYB's that wanna be bigtime names involved w/ Pit bulls. But hopefully we can all learn from this and continue to move forward. But that is another reason I prefer to get my dogs within the written standards b/c those dogs tend to be free of certain defects as such. But if this guy was any kind of decent human he would have at least allowed u a new pick of pup or tried to work something out w/you. But once again just shows that he was nothing more than a BYB in my opinion. Hope you and your family are doing better now from this lost.

Yeah typical BYB in my opinion, wow I can't believe he really said that, he said to you that he'll take the pup back and give you the first pick of a dog that's virtually handicap by her hip problem and can't really walk. Man that guy sucks.

Here is my take on it....

HD is common in many breeds including APBTs.

Old timers culled any weak and or sickly dogs so I think in part that is why it did not seem as much of an issue in my opinion.
Also no one was doing genetic health testing on their dogs for issues back then and most still don't.

I've heard people say over and over that performance bred dogs never have it and that is simply not true. I've also heard many say oh it doesn't run in my line yet they have never done any testing to prove it to be so...
You can not just look at a dog in most cases and say Oh that one has HD.

Another thing to remember APBTs were bred to work and please their owners. Due to the way they are built and their drive even if they have a structural issue the dogs may work through it... unless it is very severe case many dogs with HD live long hapy lives and don't show signs of anything until later in life and then some chalk it up just to plain old old age. Thus giving owners the false sense of security that their dog is fine.

Yes, BYBs have also added greatly to the problem and many other health concerns by breeding and producing not only unhealthy but substandard dogs, but so have those who breed blindly and ignore the potential problems.

HD is also not even the only genetic issue that runs in the breed.

Patch I think u make some sense about a few things as there was probably a few larger pitbulls of the time that carried the problem, but that would have been very few and no where imaginable to how prevalent the problem has become today. And the reason being i'll useYOUR OWN QUOTE. "Old timers culled any weak and or sickly dogs so I think in part that is why it did not seem as much of an issue in my opinion" . This is what u just typed, and my question for you is, that if owners were culling dogs to prevent any signs of physical weaknesses and genetic defaults such as this, that therefore substain what I previously said is that this wasn't a major issue in Pit Bulls until mid 80's when BYB's started trying to increase the size of the Pit Bull by breeding larger dogs of different breeds that already have these problems persist in their own DNA. Once again just my opinion, but even you said that old timers culled out these kind of problems, IMO if I'm culling out those kind of things, at some point it's going to become near non-existent.

Thank God I have not had to deal with this issue, sounds just horrible. Had a lab that had it but it was very mild and only started acting up after walking about 3 miles. But it would be devastating to have to put such a young dog down for that. She was such a pretty baby.

alfisher3 wrote:

Patch I think u make some sense about a few things as there was probably a few larger pitbulls of the time that carried the problem, but that would have been very few and no where imaginable to how prevalent the problem has become today. And the reason being i'll useYOUR OWN QUOTE. "Old timers culled any weak and or sickly dogs so I think in part that is why it did not seem as much of an issue in my opinion" . This is what u just typed, and my question for you is, that if owners were culling dogs to prevent any signs of physical weaknesses and genetic defaults such as this, that therefore substain what I previously said is that this wasn't a major issue in Pit Bulls until mid 80's when BYB's started trying to increase the size of the Pit Bull by breeding larger dogs of different breeds that already have these problems persist in their own DNA. Once again just my opinion, but even you said that old timers culled out these kind of problems, IMO if I'm culling out those kind of things, at some point it's going to become near non-existent.

I see what you are getting at but you need to look at the whole picture to see my point and not just the aspect of culling which is just a piece.

Reputable breeders today still cull whether it be by humane euthanasia or having them spay neutered and placing them in pet homes to take them out of the breeding population.

... and again it is not only huge dogs that have genetic issues. You can't look at a dog and just because of the size distinguish whether it will have HD or not.

Also ....Culling pups that were weak however also means that the dogs who produced them carried those genes which may or may not have been passed on for generations without showing up or in mild cases. It wouldn't just disappear it would still be in the line thus it was always present in the breed. Of course, BYBs breeding certainly though has brought it more so to the forefront sadly.

So how many dogs of the past were greatly affected by HD or made it through with mild conditions that worked right through it & were not recognized or just written off for old age or even injury as it id start to show up?... because like I said the only way to recognize if a dog has it, is x-rays unless it is a severe case.

Healthy dogs who do not have HD still can be carriers and pass it to pups and carriers and those with HD may or may not pass it on as well. Genetics can be a complex topic. There are a ton of really good articles on this out there.

Consequently, in my opinion you can't flat out say how much HD or any other genetic defect runs in a breed's past that isn't tested and has little to no data available on it....

Just my opinion on it of course.

Well it might be true that you can't find Microscopic traces of HD unless u have a dog x-rayed, but how many cases of HD have you honestly saw develop after a dog is 6 plus years of age, I don't know of any medically documented cases that were reported after a dog has turned 6 years old, so I think it's pretty safe to say that the old timers were pretty dang good about their breeding and judgement of a dogs health, b/c if the dog is 12 years old plus I think it's safe to say that it was probably caused by years of work and it's not actually HD at all. I think we both have valid points. But honestly I think Hip Dysplasia and old age hip problems are completely different things. It's like comparing Osteoporosis to common hip ailments two totally different things, although it might look similar on the surface and have similar problems, but yet and still two totally different medical conditions. U never here of Rat Terriers or Jack russells having a high prone problem with Hip Dysplasia in their breed b/c it's not a problem for dogs of small and medium statute breed for working purposes which the pit bull old old days were and still are by some few good breeders.

alfisher3,
I understand where you are coming from but don't agree with all your points. Of course there are other aliments older dogs can get I was strictly talking about HD. If they didn't test the dogs they wouldn't know the cause nor would there be any data. The OFA data base itself was not even started until I believe 1966.

So I'll just agree to disagree.

lovemypits wrote:

So when choosing a puppy how can you know if it has HD? If it's a severe case as the above story, I can see but what about if it is a mild case? Also, does hip testing the parents garauntee that any puppies they have will not have HD?

You really can't unless there are already outward signs. Things like reallly funky standing and structure in the rear assembly as well as muscle atrophy, and bunny hopping are sometimes but not always a sign of a structural issues like HD. You have to remember even in adults HD often goes undetected until the dog is older unless it is a severe case. The muscle tone and weight and strength of an otherwise healthy APBT sometimes helps it cope with this disorder better it seems than some other breeds

OFA Prelims and also Penn Hip can be done as early as 16 weeks to check pups if an owner is seeing possible issues or wants some extra piece of mind

No, health testing is not a guarantee that the pups will be ok. Health testing is a tool available to help breeders to help them make decisions about breeding prospects.
2 healthy HD free parents can still at times produce HD

Not to sound arrogant or cocky, but I assume the day I have to worry about a problem with HD in the breed of my choice "American Pit Bull Terrier" that's the day it's time for me to choose a more hardier working breed as the "American PitBull Terrier was. My breeder of choice has had these dogs all of his life, he's a 3rd generation family of dogmen, his forefathers didn't run into the problem, neither did his dad and nor has he, and when I spoke over the phone with him I specifically asked him b/c I'm sure his wisdom on this breed goes far beyond most people talking online of this breed, but he assured me as my previous statement that HD was not a problem with the American PitBull terrier, until you start adding other breeds that are not working dogs, e.i. the AKC dogs the American Staffordshire Terrier although the Am Staff and the Am Pitbull were once basically the same dog, but after 72 years of different breeding strains it's pretty safe to say they are indeed now two totally different breeds, anytime u start to breed a working breed like a pit bull based on looks and colors, you've already made the worst mistake in dog breeding and you've open your doors up to several problems, HD being amongst one of them. But my belief is that a pure bred Am Pitbull Terrier shouldn't have to worry about things like HD being so common within the breed.

Like I said, I absolutely see where you are coming from, but with no testing and no documented proof there is no way to know with 100% certainty about anything especially not with this type of complex genetic concern.

Think of it this way...
Think of what the dogs of old endured for their master and you will not get me to believe that none of those dogs could or would or did work right through a mild even moderate case of HD without their owners ever realizing it. This is what I'm getting at. Just think of the endurance, drive and willingness to please of the purebred APBT.

JMO like I said and I certainly respect yours and those who have been in the breed for much longer. However for me personally to change my opinion, I'd need to see solid proof since you can not look at most dogs and say whether or not they have HD nor is it a totally debilitating condition in every dog that has or carries it.

For example: I can look at a dog and say if its movement is off due to things like no turn in stifle and poor angulation but I can't tell you if it has a funky shallow hip sockets or a malformed ball on the bone by just looking at the dog. I can look at a dog I see bunny hopping and know something is structurally off but it could be any number of things.

I totally agree with you on this aspect though....
Indiscriminant breeding such as breeding for looks alone, size color etc & not taking into account the standard and total dog is where many many problems arise with this breed and not just HD.

Also wanted to add I don't consider a mixed bred dog or one of questionable heritage an APBT. Breeders who are doing this disgust me and I feel are ruining the image of the breed by slapping the name APBT onto mutts.

I also agree that many of those HUGE dogs being called APBTs probably have a multitude of structural issues many more than than any properly bred dog of today or old time APBT. This however doesn't change that you sometimes don't know what conditions the dog may or may not have unless you test the dog.

This is a good article :
http://www.ukcpitbull.com/encyclopedia2/tiki-index.php?page=Health+Testing

I clicked on the link but it was a longggggg document (LOL). But I have read the problem w/ HD and proper testing for it. Although I think we can agree on some things I still have to beg to differ, although the old time breeders may not have had access to HD testing programs early on, they had something that many breeders and owners of this breed today are lacking, which is common sense. Like many of us can't understand why their dogs lived longer, healthier, and weren't known as man biters, YES all of this w/o testing. It's also a testament to the people of that time b/c unlike the many of us that walk around sick on thousands of different medications they took home remedies and common sense when it came to dealing with health and it seems they lived as long as healthy as many people do today. Although I think u have some valid points, I just can't agree b/c of what I've seen and experienced for myself.