Chronic Hip Disease in Canines

Canine Hip Dysplasia is a very common degenerative disease among dogs. Some people commonly mistake it as a form of arthritis, but this is not so. Dogs who have hip dysplasia develop arthritis because of the disease, but it is not arthritis in itself. This disease is commonly found in medium to large-sized dogs who have a rapid rate of growth. This causes severe pain to the animal and may affect the degree of their mobility. Hip dysplasia is an incurable disease and even though you check it in its early stages, the best that you can do is to lessen the pain that your dog experiences or to get some corrective surgery, which involves a lot of risks.

Hip dysplasia occurs when the hip joint is formed abnormally. This will cause some looseness in the joints that will give him several problems as a result. The common results are immobility and severe pain. Those who suffer from a severe form of dysplasia are notable to move their hinds at all. Dysplasia occurs in several degrees, from the slightest form to the complete dislocation of the hip socket.

The leading cause of hip dysplasia in dogs is through genetics or heredity. If one or both of the parents have genes that cause hip dysplasia, then there is a great chance for their offspring to acquire this disease, too. These genetic conditions are called "heritability factoring." This determines the likelihood that your dog will acquire the disease through his parent's genes. Traits which are definitely determined by heredity, such as gender and color of the eyes, have a heritability factor of 1, meaning that this condition is caused by genetic factors. Other conditions that are not acquired by heredity have a 0 heritability factor. Research by scientists has shown that canine hip dysplasia has a heritability factor ranging from .25 to .85. This means that this disease has a 25 to 85% chance of being inherited by the offspring. Other causes may include, injuries in the hips during the puppies early weeks, but heredity is the major cause in most incidents of canine hip dysplasia. Canine hip dysplasia has no cure.

You can only apply some medication to treat the symptoms of the disease to help alleviate the pain. If you would like to treat it definitely, you may consider having your dog undergo surgery. To avoid getting hip dysplasia in puppies, you must choose carefully the genetic background of their parents. If you see any signs of CHD in them, you should not use them as breeding animals. To ensure that breeding dogs do not have this disease, they must be undergo X-ray examinations first while still young to see if they have any signs of the disease. Sometimes, even healthy-looking dogs who d not display the least sign of CHD, can actually have the disease.

It's vital that dog owners understand this disease and know what the possible treatments are for canines suffering from it.

Learn how Flexicose can be used to treat hip disease and canine arthritis on Steve's site.