Atrophy of dogs hindquarters

Question
X-rays of our 8 year-old male mongrel show slight hip dysplasia but nothing too severe and the vet could find no other obvious problems. However, Chips is finding it increasingly difficult to walk and shows obvious discomfort when using his back legs. The extent of this is now so bad that his back end is wasting away and he walks virtually on his front end only with the result that his chest is now overdeveloping. Could this be something like a pinched nerve? Any suggestions/ideas would be welcome.

Regards,

Rick and Vanessa Green

(South Africa)

Answer
Hi there!  Poor Chips!  He's going through so much!
Since he is 8 years of age, arthritis is probably setting in.  Since he has hip displaysia, the arthritis is surely setting in this particular area.  This would be the reason why there is pain and discomfort to this degree.
What will help him, are medications.  Never give a dog any over the counter, human pain medications like Tylenol, Advil, Ibuprofen, ect., as the contents of all of these medications will cause a dog to go into cardiac arrest.
There are special canine arthritic and pain medications that you can obtain from your veterinarian like Rimadyl, Etogesic, and Torbogesic.  Steroids may also help reduce any swelling that may be putting stress on his joints, muscles and nerves.
I hope this helps and please let me know how Chip is doing!
Hilary