Our Experience with Hip Dysplasia

Thank you for the well wishes for Fiona.  She is on the mend and doing quite well.  She has been running around the yard like crazy this past weekend as the weather has finally warmed up a bit and Fiona has decided to take advantage of it.  I swear, if you saw her, you'd never know she has hip dysplasia.  There is nothing better she loves to do than run.  She would've been the ultimate sled dog.  Sigh.  At least we got a couple good years of her sledding with her mom, Silver.  They were a good pair together.  How I wish I had video of them two sledding together.  Long before the times of GoPro's and such.  Or even a picture of them would be great.  They were my slow and steady girls.  Such a nice comfortable ride.  Steady pace.  So much fun for a beginning musher like myself.  The good ol' days.

And even though Silver had hip dysplasia as well, it never gave her any pain or problems.  And she really didn't pull until her later years, when she ran with her son, Zappa.   Another slow and steady runner.  And they ran beautiful together, especially when Silver did start pulling and taking some of the weight.  Silver still ran pain free and wasn't bothered by her hips issues.

But Fiona was a different story.  I notice she was bothered by her hips around the time she was 2 years old.  A few times sledding with her mom, regular chase games and it became obvious she was uncomfortable.  I gave her just regular pain meds, until the pain got so bad, we took her in for x-rays at age 3 to confirm, she had hip dysplsia,  Fiona was immediately put on a glucosamine supplement called:  Dasuquin with MSM.  Within a day, there was dramatic improvement, she was moving and eating again.  Dasuquin was our miracle for Fiona.  Not only was it helping with the pain, it cushioned the joints in her hip bone.  She's been on it now for 7 years, with no signs of stopping.  We just recently had x-rays done again and you can actually see between the hip bone and the leg bone a layer of cushion that wasn't there before.

When Fiona over does it, like running around the yard or I take her for too long of a walk and she needs pain and inflammation relief, the prescribes Melaxicam and seems to take care of pain.  This is how she is able to run around the yard at free will, one of the most beautiful sights to see.  Even if Zappa won't play with her, she runs FREE.

We've had three different dogs with hip dysplasia, Alex, Silver and Fiona. It's difficult at times, but with medication and management your dog can run free too.

I don't know why I went down this memory lane, but if it reaches you, know that hip dysplasia isn't the end of the world.

I wouldn't trade my three dogs for nothing and if I had to do over, I would do the same.

Don't let your dog and you be defined.

Burial or cremation?

Brut's roses adjacent to Alex's ferns and flowering bushes.

The open space next to Brut is where Silver now lies.

If you've been around us here at 24 Paws of Love you probably know that we prefer to bury our pets than cremate them.  It's just our preference.

Silver is buried next to Brut as one would guess and adjacent to Alex, her first love.  Then going counter clockwise from Alex are our two cats, Claw and Sparky.  Next to them are the ducks, Luigi, Mojo, Bandit and Lucky.

All of their graves are created into a memorial garden with flowering bushes that bloom around the time of their deaths.  I actually just completed planting the ducks garden this past fall, with a Holly bush for Luigi.  I thought I was all done for a while.

And now there is Silver.  My baby girl Silver.  Out there in the cold as the new addition to the "family."  Because there was a foot of snow and ice (at least) on the ground, we didn't know if we would be able to dig a grave for her or not.  We weren't sure how frozen the ground would be or how far the freeze line would go.  We considered cremation for her.  We didn't know if we were going to have an option.  And neither of us liked the idea.

My fear was that I wouldn't really get Silver "all back."  That there might be other dogs or cats mixed in somehow or that would be a mix up of sorts and I wouldn't really get her at all.  Mark has never liked the idea of cremation at all.  We were both uneasy at the thought, but didn't know if we had a choice or not.

Enter the beginning of a January thaw and two determined spirits.  We removed the snow and found only the top layer of the ground to be frozen as the snow had insulated the ground.  Add a little rain and some wind and we were able to dig a four foot deep grave for our girl.  This was two days before we buried her, something we had never done before, have an early grave.

We rested and breathed a sigh of relief.  Our girl would not be cremated, but buried beside her two loves in the way we felt was right.

And when we laid her down we were both quite grateful for being able to bury her as we have done with all of our other animals and we were thankful for Silver being no different.  She was right where she belongs with Brut and Alex and I feel her body is at true rest and peace.  And that gives me true rest and peace.

So how about you?  What do you prefer burial or cremation and why?

b/w sundays-My Sweet Alex

HiYa!

(1991-2007)

Monday Memories-Napping with the Godfather

Monday Memories-our weekly trip down memory lane...

Brut here.  I had to hijack the blog today or nothing was going to get done.  Mom and Dad came down with the sniffles and well...you know what big babies humans are when it comes to getting a cold.  Which gives me a great chance to share my favorite memories of Godfather Alex and me.  Sleeping.  Yup!  That's what we did best together.  What better way to have the torch passed on from the Godfather himself. 

These were our first days together.

You couldn't keep us apart when it was nap time.

He shared all his secrets of being king with me...

And the couch.

 

He said to always treat Silver as the Queen she is.

Godfather Alex said it was up to me to carry on the family legacy.

He taught me everything I know.

I will never forget you Godfather Alex.

I hope I am close to filling those big paws of responsibilities you gave me.

May you live on forever.

Love, Brut

Godfather Alex

1991-2007