[CGraney]

I'm sorry I can't offer much info on the chemical itself - but it seems whatever they are using the drug for with your dog was not the original purpose of the drug.

I think it's cool that you consider surgery a last resort and looked to other specialists... but it looks like you got 2 opinions from the same area of expertise -- why did you just go to another person with the same specialty? ... why another surgeon and not a few people with different points of view... ?

Sometimes we use "no pain" as enough proof that everything's pretty ok. thats easy to think but not always true.
Cartilage does not have the nerves necessary to feel pain.
Although HD and cartilage wear are not the same thing, they are related in that one can encourage the other. With that in mind, I think it's important to point out that in joints, cartilage wear does not necessarily correlate with pain.

If your dog "walks funny", it's possible that he can continue to wear on his joints unevenly, eventually creating pain... and by then everything is worse.
altered gait should be enough reason to continue exploring different assessments/treatments... have you considered alternative therapy/medicine?

 

[CGraney]

Since the bony structures of the hip are not keeping the joint stable, it's more important than ever that the muscles work correectly to stabilize the joint.
The tricky part is knowing how much activity to get to stimulate muscle activity but not make the joint situation worse. Swimming sounds awesome.

Have you ever tried animal chiropractic treatment?
I think of that because it's important to make sure there is no nerve interference coming from the spine, otherwise any attempt to exercise muscles would be less effective.
Sounds a little crazy to some people, but can be really great for your dog.
If you choose to explore the possibility of chiro, I suggest finding someone who was a vet, and then went to school for vet chiro, not a human chiro who later went to school for vet chiro - know what I mean?... but that's only my silly thought.

You might want to search for other animal accupuncturists in your area and find out what other modalities they offer - a lot of these guys use several tools, accupuncture or chiropractic being only one of them, and they might suggest some homeopathic type of thing etc.

Here are some links with info, and practitioner locaters:

American Veterinary Chiropractic Association
http://www.animalchiropractic.org

Chi Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine
http://www.chi-institute.com

International Veterinary Acupuncture Society
http://www.ivas.org

Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association
http://www.vbma.org

The Healing Oasis Wellness Center
http://www.thehealingoasis.com

American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture
http://www.aava.org

Good luck!

ccasion5:

 

[CGraney]

btw how is your pup going i remember u putting up a post saying he was being unusually clumsy. have you found out what the cause is and is he dealing with it ok now?

I was getting my feelers out back then when I asked about clumsiness (secretly hoping clumsiness was all his problem was.)
But I'm sorry to say that he has been sloppy as ever - we took him Saturday to someone new for more evaluations, and we have more xrays later this month - we need more taken with his spine in full flexion and full extension.
Looking at the basic xrays, if nothing seems too out of the ordinary (misaligned, or malformed vertebra etc), we consider having MRIs done to look at his soft tissues, spinal cord and brain.
The possibility of wobblers still exists.