Hip Dysplasia

Hip Dysplasia is most likely found in most large breed dogs. Mainly Labrador Retriever Puppies. It affects their hips and elbows, in regards to their development. It is seen in some cases as being mild and of course the variance can be severe. It can cause pain for the dog and be debilitating in later years. A lot of Labrador Breeders and scientists don’t fully understand the cause of this of this deformity, but what they think is that it is a multi-gene phenomenon of which 50% is congenial and the other 50% is environmental. (The way you take care of your Labrador Puppy) When a Labrador is a puppy it needs to be taken care of in non aggressive style. Easy gentle play while the pup is developing, no hard walking or active jumping, simple ball playing in the yard or with another puppy while the hip joints are forming is enough until the dog is mature and fully reaches his developmental potential as being fully developed and formed. This is usually at 18 months of age.
You must make sure your puppy is getting the right nutrition to have healthy hips. To see our nutrition page click this link
http://www.susanalabradors.com/Labrador_Nutrition.shtml.
There really isn’t a way to check a new puppy under the age of one year old. WE can’t predict if or when the deformity will strike as there are many factors to consider in the way of raising and food abundance, weight bearing on the hip joints and mal nutrition. But there are some noticeable signs of suspecting Hip Dysplasia on your Labrador.
Here are some tell-tale signs:
• Stiffness or soreness when walking.
• No motivation to move or jump.
• Look for dislocation of the hip on both sides of the Labrador.
• Has trouble trying to get up from a lay-down position.
• Has trouble trying to walk up or down stairs.
• Obvious signs of being in pain: YELPING, OR GRUNTING.
A good breeder with a conscious is aiming to produce better puppies not just more of them.
Checking and certifying the hips and elbows with the OFA before entering into a breeding program to screen out potential hip and elbow problems.
Other helpful tasks your breeder can do to benefit the life style of the puppies in the early stages is:

Rule-of-7 and Early Neurological Stimulation Exercises which can be viewed at: http://www.susanalabradors.com/G_Early_Neurological_Stimulation_ENS.shtml and http://www.susanalabradors.com/G_Rule_of_7_Seven.shtml. the breeder should practice these exercises every day for the first 2 weeks of your new born puppy beginning at 3 days old. Other causes that are known for this deformity would be diet, and being over-weight. You
There is really only one way to check if your Labrador has Hip Dysplasia; taking your lab to a vet and get x-rays. Unfortunately, there is no cure for Hip Dysplasia. But there are treatments to prevent it from getting worse and reduce the pain of the Hip Dysplasia. Some treatments include getting medication for your lab, or getting surgery.