THE SAGA OF TIKKA AND HER HIP DISPLAYSIA

One day in late October 1998, when Tikka came in from outdoors, she was all of a sudden
extremely lame and putting no weight whatsoever on her right back leg. It was our assumption that she had hurt it, playing with Ben, as sometimes they would play quite rough. It did not appear that anything was broken or dislocated so we opted to wait and see how it was the next day.

The next morning, it was considerably better, so we now felt quite sure that it would be completely better in a few days, which it appeared to be. However, occasionally, over the next few weeks, we would notice that she seemed to have difficulty going up the stairs or after a longer than usual walk, she would favor that leg.

The beginning of December we made an appointment with our veterinarian to have her checked. He felt that she had either a hip or knee problem, perhaps a torn ligament. In a round about way, which I won't go into details about, we ended up at the Atlantic Veterinary College, in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It was here that Tikka was diagnosed with hip displaysia in both hips. Needless to say, we were very upset, however, the doctors at the college reassured us that it was a condition that she would be able to live with and many dogs with the same condition lived long and happy lives. This helped somewhat, however, we were still very concerned as to her pain level and whether she would be able to maintain a normal level of activity.

We returned home with instructions on her care and what to do on her "lame" days, which we were told that she would have if she over-exerted herself. However, we were told that she would very soon learn what her limitations were and that we should not be over-protective of her. They did, however, advise us not to exercise her, if she was showing lameness.

Well, the first order of business, was to get her on a weight loss program. She weighed in at 89.5 pounds, which, we were told was about 10 - 12 pounds overweight. She was then enrolled in the canine version of Weight Watchers. Her food was changed to a calorie controlled brand and she has to weigh-in once per week.

At some time in the past, I had picked up a leaflet on Shark Cartilage in the treatment of hip displaysia. About a month ago, I again came across this pamphlet and at weigh-in I brought the subject up with our veterinatian. He said he did not have any patients on it at the present time, but if we were interested, he would get some information and order in a bottle for us to try. The supplier told him that it does not work for all dogs, but if it was going to work, we should know within 3 weeks.

CHRONOLOGY:

Feb 1/99 - It is three weeks since Tikka began taking Shark Cartilage and things are looking very good. She appears to have more energy and can go on much longer walks with only very slight lameness, which is gone within a few hours. It used to last a couple of days. She is now down to 83.7 pounds.

Feb 8/99 - It is now four weeks since Tikka began with the shark cartilage. This week there has been a big difference. We have been walking about 2 miles everyday and she is no longer showing any signs of lameness following these walks. She is now down to 82.7 lbs.

We began, this past week, supplementing her diet with pieces of fresh shark cartilage and decreasing the amount of powdered cartilage to half, as a cost saving measure. We will be keeping a close watch on her and if we notice any regression, we will go back to a full dosage of the powdered cartilage.

Feb 15/99 - Tikka is now down to 81.9 lbs. We had a couple of days of rain this week and she did show a bit of lameness. I guess the weather affects dogs as well as people.

Feb 22/99 - Tikka weighed in today at 81.4 lbs. Not a big loss but a loss nevertheless.

Mar 6/99 - Tikka is now at 80.2 lbs.

We didn't get her weighed on her regular day, as I have a new baby I am caring for, so it is no longer convenient to take her on Monday. We will be going on Saturday from now on. Tikka has been showing a bit of lameness this past few days, but we have had some bad weather so I am hoping that is the problem. I will discuss it with her veterinarian on saturday.

Mar 20/99 - Tikka is now down to 78.5 lbs. She is doing great.

I discussed her lameness with the doctor and he prescribed Bufferin (yes the people kind) for inflamation. The dose he prescribed was 1- 1 1/2 Extra Strength, once or twice per day, as needed. I gave them to her for about 4 days, and she has not required them since. We have had very good weather this week, and I think that plays a big part in how she feels.

Mar 27/99 - Tikka has had a great week and is now down to 77.5 lbs.She lost a whole pound this week and is looking really beautiful.

April 3/99 - Tikka is down to 76.9 lbs. Not a great loss, but better than nothing.

April 10/99 - Tikka lost another half pound. She is now at 76.4 lbs. She is almost at her goal weight.

The weather has been good this week and we have been getting out for lots of exercise and it is helping Tikka a lot. She was swimming for the first time this year, on Saturday.

April 17/99 - Tikka weighed in at 75.6 lbs. She is almost there.

April 24/99 - She Made it!!! Tikka weighed in today at 74.9 lbs. The technician examined her and said she is perfect. Of course, we always knew that.

We will continue with periodic weigh ins to make sure she doesn't gain again and we will be putting her on a lite variety of food as soon as her calorie controlled food is finished, which should be in about a week.

It is very exciting to watch her steady improvement and very encouraging to find an all natural treatment for this debilitating disease.

Tikka continued to lose a couple more pounds even after switching to a higher calorie food.

It is now August 18 and Tikka is doing great. She is holding her own at about 72 lbs. We just got back from vacation and she has been swimming a lot and getting lots of exercise. She can now run about 2 km and show no signs of lameness or stiffness. We are so pleased with her progress. She is a living example that an overweight dog is not a healthy or happy dog.

It is now September 25 and Tikka is still improving. At last weigh in she was 73 lbs but the vets office was pleased as they feel she is now building muscle in her hips which is needed to protect her hip joints and prevent atrophy. It has been a long time now since she has shown any lameness and she has played and exercised hard this summer. Now that the days are getting cooler, she and Ben expend a lot of energy playing together in the back yard as well as at the camp. She can easily run 3 - 4 kms now with a short rest about half way and she loves it. She has become a much stronger swimmer this summer and has no trouble keeping up with Ben.

We feel we are very fortunate, as what could have been a tragedy in our dogs life and in ours, has turned out better than we ever could have imagined. We are hopeful that the cold of the winter will not undo the progress she has made.

Well, it is February 25/00 and we went for a weigh-in. I guess we have not been as rigid as we should have been and Tikka has gained 2 1/2 lbs. This, I realize is not a major gain, however, it has made us realize that we cannot slack off, as we do not want her to have a weight problem again, after all this hard work. We will be working hard to lose this.

UPDATE: Tikka has been having some real problems with her hips this winter 2001/2002. We have recently begun a new treatment called Hokamix 30. It will take about a month before we will know if it is going to work. I will be posting reports as soon as we know.

Well, it has been some time since I have posted anything about Tikka's condition. The Hokamix didn't do anything for her. That is not to say that it might not help other dogs, but it didn't do anything for her. This passed winter was her hardest one yet, however, by giving her two Bufferin every morning, along with her shark cartilage, she got along pretty well. When the warm weather of summer arrived, we didn't need the Bufferin any more, except if we had a stretch of rain, then one in the morning would take care of her lameness. Tikka is now 8 1/2 years old and considering that she was diagnosed with severe hip displaysia 4 years ago, we feel that she is doing extremely well. She has lost the 2 1/2 pounds that she regained, which is a big help.

It is now January 2003, and Tikka is doing great. The cold does not seem to be bothering her as much this year and she has lots of energy. We haven't had to give her any Bufferin yet this winter.

Now it is January 2004 and Tikka is still doing amazingly well. It is hard to believe that she is going to be 10 years old and has been dealing with this disease for over 5 years.

I will be updating this page regularly with Tikka's progress and if anyone would care to share their experiences with this disease and its treatment, or has any questions which I might be able to answer from our experience, please feel free to e-mail me.