Helpful Tips to Ease Your Dog’s Hip Dysplasia

Your pet’s hind legs are so sore and stiff he is barely able to chase anything or run when you call him. Hip Dysplasia maybe the cause. This disease is pretty rare in cats but very common in dogs. Dysplasia is inherited and occurs when the hip joint doesn’t fit together as tight as it should. Eventually this condition causes pain and can lead to arthritis. However dysplasia isn’t the end of the road for your dog, there are a number of helpful tips to follow to help ease your dog’s hip dysplasia. The first helpful tip to ease your dog’s dysplasia is to lighten up on their diet. If your dog is overweight this adds more pressure to an already weak hip. Switch him to a high fiber, low-fat diet, and cut out on the snacks and human food. Just like people with arthritic conditions, regular exercise will also help ease your dog’s dysplasia by strengthening his leg muscles. Take him for a 20-minute walk twice a day but don’t walk him for too long. Let him make the decision on how long he will take his daily walks.

Another great exercise is swimming. It helps the muscles and doesn’t require a lot of wear and tear on the joints. Not only that, some dogs love to swim he’ll forget all about his hip dysplasia. Next, make sure you keep your dog warm. A great helpful tip is to not let him get wet too often or stay in cold weather for long periods. Achy joints become worse when cold and wet. You can also apply some warm relief to help ease your dog’s hip dysplasia. Put a hot water bottle on his hips for about 10 to 15 minutes twice a day to ease the pain. Massaging works great too. You can massage the muscles around the hip joint to ease the pain and relax the spasms. Use gentle pressure and move your fingers in a circular motion for 10 minutes. If your dog shows sign of pain, ease up a little on the pressure. You can also make sure his bedding is comfortable and cozy.

If you can afford to install or make one, a ramp will help your dog tremendously with his hip dysplasia. Instead of climbing stairs a ramp will definitely help to ease the pain of climbing and jumping. Another tip is to cover slippery floors. Although my dog doesn’t have hip dysplasia, she hates slippery floors. She anticipates sliding across the floor and often does when she thinks she will. For a dog with hip dysplasia, sliding on slippery floors is no fun and can be very painful. Put down some rugs or carpet in certain areas to help ease the pain and fear of sliding on slippery floors. Lastly, you can always try using medication to help ease your dog’s hip dysplasia. Aspirin is the best medicine, never give dogs Ibuprofen or any sort of antihistamines. Give your dog about one quarter of buffered aspirin per 10 pounds twice a day to help ease the pain of hip dysplasia.
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