During two of our daily walks, I noticed that Mister Moose has developed a bit of a limp. It’s odd — he’s fine for the beginning of the walk, but after a few minutes (usually a block or so of walking) he starts to gimp. It looks like one of his back legs is the culprit, which doesn’t surprise me.
When Moose had his car accident earlier this year, the veterinarian pointed out that my poor boy has the beginnings of hip dysplasia. Hip dysplasia is a degenerative joint disease in dogs; an abnormality in the hip joint means that tissue and ligaments in the area aren’t holding the ball and socket of the joint in place correctly. It is a disease seen often in large dogs.
The other strike against Moose is his weight. Since we moved, he’s been slimming down. Between the daily walks (which we didn’t take when we had a yard) and the reduced amount of people food in his diet, the weight is slowly but surely coming off. He used to look like a sausage with ears… now he has a defined waist. A good sign, for sure! But the pounds he’s still carrying can make the hip dysplasia progress faster.
We’ll probably head to the vet’s for a checkup. In general, treating hip dysplasia means managing the pain and dealing with things that can make it worse. Moose’s weight loss will have to continue. I’ll probably get a little table to put his food and water on, so he doesn’t have to bend. He has plenty of soft beds to sleep on, but I may up the heat a notch so he isn’t cold — cold can aggravate the joint and make the pain worse.
By the way… I’m sorry for the punny title! It’s a long standing habit to lighten the serious stuff with an attempted funny.