Older Male German Shepherd & Hips

Question
Hi Dawn-I am hoping you can help me with this. My husband & I have an older GS-he's 91/2. Within the past 3 months he has had some problems with his hips. It has really come to a head in the last month. He was having problems getting up so we have him on Rimadyl. He started that on 10/16/2006. However his back legs are all over the place when he walks. It is almost impossible to take him for walks anymore. Sometimes when he is walking his tail goes to one side and then he scoots with his hips in the direction of his tail. At night when he sleeps usually one of his hind legs constantly is moving. He has a bubble type cyst on his tail & one on his back. The one on his back feels like an ingrown hair and you can put your fingers around it. Also- I noticed that his backbone between his hips-one of the vertebra feels larger than the others. My vet says that the two cysts shouldn't be causing any problems but I am concerned. Is it hip dysplasia? Could it be something else? He is also on Thyroid medicine and has been for a few years. I would appreciate any help or suggestions you may have.
Sincerely,
Theresa & Hunter

Answer
Hi Theresa,  At 9 1/2 odds are he has hip dysplasia, the vet can do x-rays to confirm that.  With GSD's, you tend to notice that all at once their legs start to give out on them at a certain age.  It tends to happen relatively quickly considering the time.  It happens at different ages for different dogs, but it normally is somewhere between 8 & 14 years of age.  I would definitely get an x-ray of that vertebra to see what is going on with it.  You want to make him as comfortable as possible so if he is having a vertebra problem, you want to treat it as soon as possible.  Hope this helps,

Dawn