Roy-k Staff asked 5 years ago
English bulldog with very loose hip joints (1.5years)
English bulldog with very loose hip joints: I live in Corning NY and have been sadly watching my English bulldog puppy (1.5) struggle to walk at times and sometimes need to scoot around on her bottom to move about.
It came on pretty suddenly. We enjoyed a year of daily 1 mile long walks… and then I noticed her limping after a kennel stay in early December.
After several visits to our vet and a few days of pain meds, I finally convinced our local vet to do xrays. The xrays looked good but she could feel how loose her hip joints were when she was under anesthesia. She said she could almost completely manipulate them out of the sockets.
We are working towards weight lose and pain management. I still feel her pain is too great to have her walk much each day….Cornell can’t get me in until late March.
Any suggestions on who I can see in this area sooner or more things I can do with her. She is my little love, and I would like to help her feel better sooner than later.
Roy-k Staff answered 5 years ago
Dear Bridget, sorry to hear about your English bulldog puppy misfortune. The story does not add up, hip laxity, subluxation, and even total luxation are not uncommon to English bulldogs, and rarely if ever will affect them clinically. The “scoot around on her bottom” is a major concern and unlikely related. Your vet “loose hip joint” finding is incidental and unrelated. Ask your vet to take spinal radiographs, then send them to a boarded radiologist. Unfortunately, this is more likely neurological due to conditions like Spina Bifida, hemivertebra, vertebral malformation (SEE ATTACHED RADIOGRAPH EXAMPLE), IVDD, myelopathy etc. I suggest you go and see a neurologist, most likely you will need to get an MRI. Good luck and keep me posted