Hi,
I really do not know where to start. My Chocolate lab, Sadie, was born on Feb. 19th 2009. My family got her from a reputable breeder. Her name is Karen Thomas and her kennel is called Riverroad Labradors in Libertyville IL. Her parent's names are Dauber and Joy. The picture at the left is of my husband Larry, my daughter Carlie and Sadie. It was taken in November of 2009, just a few weeks prior to her hip dysplasia diagnoses. I am writing this blog to help others who are contemplating go through hip surgery. I only wish I started this in November when it all started-well....better late then never! So I am going to begin at the beginning........
April 11th 2009
We were so happy to bring our 7 1/2 week old puppy home. You see back in February of 2009, we lost our beautiful 10 year old lab, Maddie, to a sudden bacterial infection. It was not diaganosed correctly and she died within three days of discovering her illness. It costs us over $5,000 dollars to try and save her life. We were devasted and wanted desperately to get another dog. We called Karen Thomas, we had gotten Maddie from her and Maddie was a terrific dog, and she told us that Chocolate Lab puppies had just been born. There were only two females in the litter and she would decide which one we would get-the one with the white spot on her chest or the one without. We took home the one with the white spot and named her Sadie. Almost immediately people would comment on how she seemed to walk funny. We were not sure if it was just a puppy thing-and sometimes she walked normal-who knows.
Summer 2009
Sadie had a good summer. She swam in my sister's pool, she played tether ball, she went on four walks a day, she also chewed almost anything -our blinds, walls, wooden tables-you name it. She also met a new friend named Codie. He is a Golden retriever and they had so much fun running around together.
Below is a picture of Codie and Sadie. Toward the end of the summer, Sadie would just lay down on the grass and refuse to move. I thought she was just being stubburn. I also noticed that at some point in the summer, Sadie started limping on her left front leg. After around 2 or 3 days it seemed to have gone away so we did not take her to the Vet. We got Sadie spayed in the middle of the Summer. Our breeder thought we should wait until she had her first cycle before spaying. She said that dogs can get urinary tract infections and might grow too fast and are prone to having ACL tears if you spay them at 6 months. Our Vet. Dr. Clark from Lincolnshire Animal hospital disagreed and gave me information about the benifits of spaying at 6 months. Maddie was spayed at 6 months and she never had a urinary tract infection. She had two ACL tears at 7 and 10 years old-but I think that was more because she was overweight (96 pounds). My goal was to keep Sadie thin-so we would not have that problem. We spayed her at 6 months. In retrospect-maybe we should of waited. She had a urinary tract infection 6 weeks after the spaying and she grew extremely fast between 6 and 9 months. X-rays were done of her hips at the time of her spaying and Dr. Clark told me that her hips were good-but not excellent. He noted that the left hip did not look as tight as the right. It turned out that she grew so fast that after 6 months her hips completely fell out of the socket. By 7 months Sadie was reluctant to climb stairs and was stopping and laying down more often during walks.
We took SAdie to the Vet and 7 1/2 months to have them look at her legs-she still walked funny. We saw one of the woman doctors in the practice and she noted that possibly SAdie had growing pains and prescribed anti-inflammatory pills. She looked at her x-rays from 6 months of age and thought her hips looked OK. She noted that her knee caps seemed a little loose-but no big deal. She said to come back in a week if things were not better.
Below is a picture of Codie and Sadie. Toward the end of the summer, Sadie would just lay down on the grass and refuse to move. I thought she was just being stubburn. I also noticed that at some point in the summer, Sadie started limping on her left front leg. After around 2 or 3 days it seemed to have gone away so we did not take her to the Vet. We got Sadie spayed in the middle of the Summer. Our breeder thought we should wait until she had her first cycle before spaying. She said that dogs can get urinary tract infections and might grow too fast and are prone to having ACL tears if you spay them at 6 months. Our Vet. Dr. Clark from Lincolnshire Animal hospital disagreed and gave me information about the benifits of spaying at 6 months. Maddie was spayed at 6 months and she never had a urinary tract infection. She had two ACL tears at 7 and 10 years old-but I think that was more because she was overweight (96 pounds). My goal was to keep Sadie thin-so we would not have that problem. We spayed her at 6 months. In retrospect-maybe we should of waited. She had a urinary tract infection 6 weeks after the spaying and she grew extremely fast between 6 and 9 months. X-rays were done of her hips at the time of her spaying and Dr. Clark told me that her hips were good-but not excellent. He noted that the left hip did not look as tight as the right. It turned out that she grew so fast that after 6 months her hips completely fell out of the socket. By 7 months Sadie was reluctant to climb stairs and was stopping and laying down more often during walks.We took SAdie to the Vet and 7 1/2 months to have them look at her legs-she still walked funny. We saw one of the woman doctors in the practice and she noted that possibly SAdie had growing pains and prescribed anti-inflammatory pills. She looked at her x-rays from 6 months of age and thought her hips looked OK. She noted that her knee caps seemed a little loose-but no big deal. She said to come back in a week if things were not better.
November 19th 2009
Sadie goes back to the Vet. Dr. Clark takes x-rays and tells me the bad news-Sadie has hip dysplasia! He referred me to Dr. Averill at Animal Emergency and Referral Center in Northbrook, IL.
Please note that the above post should say " April 7th 2010. I have no idea why it says 2007-guess I am not very good at this and I can't seem to change it!
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