How common is hip problem in german shepherd?

Question

typically at what age does german shepherd develop hip problem?
my gsd is 5.5 months old how do i know if he is prone to hip problem or not. I dont have access to his parents and is their a way i can know just by looking at him?

he runs fine really fast and very active jumps a lot...... and is extreemly active

Answer 1

The current ratio of SUBMITTED hip x-rays to the OFA on our American German Shepherds is still 19.4% Hip Dysplasia...not a significant improvement over the 20.7% ratio of SUBMITTED hip x-rays in 1974.

.In 1985, approximately 40% had the problem. Current research shows that it hasn't improved very much,.

http://www.4germanshepherds.com/Dysplasia.htm

Answer 2

Gosh but a lot of not correct information out there! The GSD's 'hips being lower' have nothing at all to do with being prone to hip dysplasia or the high in rear Mastiffs would have no problem with it! haha HD is a situation in the hip joint that can have a number of predisposing factors, genetics pretty much thought to be an important one but there are other factors as well - Berner lover mentioning the damage that can be caused by strenuous exercise is correct and you need to make sure you keep any puppy at a reasonable weight and doing fun exercise but not anything strenuous as these joints are forming -- that means no forced exercises like running/jogging, jumping and stuff like that. Also breed type of the parents can be a factor - just because both parents and their ancestors can have good hips won't guarantee you good hips if you drastically alter breed type with a breeding - such as breeding a large, heavy boned male to a small, fine boned female - - often you will get mama's femur and daddy's pelvis (or visa versa) so you get misalignment and damage prone joints. Adequate quality diet can be a factor but since half starved wolves and stray dogs aren't automatically dysplastic, it doesn't seem to play a big one...



GSDs are indeed prone to HD. Most any breed, any size, even mutts (actually often mutts) can have HD. Most people simply don't OFA their mutts but they are extremely prone to joint disorders. Good GSD breeders have been striving for decades to eliminate the problem with not a great deal of success -- to a degree some success but not what one would expect given the high importance it has been in the breed. One might note that there are closed gene pools in some countries where ONLY HD clear dogs can be bred and they have been doing this for many, many generations and still they have the problem so genetics isn't the only factor by any stretch but it is one to consider since dogs with HD produce dogs with HD.



I have seen puppies at six months of age of various breeds without any femur heads from severe HD. I have seen the best moving dog you can imagine turn two, get his hips xrayed and be severely HD (again, almost entirely missing femur heads). Have seen dogs I would swear were dysplastic - hopping all over and just horrible moving that xrayed not only clear but excellent - go figure.



Having a pup that is able to run, jump and play doesn't at all mean anything regarding its HD status - it is did we wouldn't be plagued with it in any breed/mix. If we had xray vision and could 'see' how fit or healthy a dog was, there would be no issues in dogs, or people for that matter :) No, you can't not know anything by just looking at him and neither can anyone else, even a trained medical professional. The only way is to have radiographs done and evaluated.



If you are concerned you can always have preliminary xrays done and assessed.



add: Oh and as far as not developing hip problems this young, nope -- they can do it way younger - have known GSD puppies xrayed at 12 weeks that were dysplastic.

Answer 3

It's common enough that when you buy a pup, you should ask to see that both parents are Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) hip tested. This testing should not occur until the dog is at least 2 years of age. Even though testing is routinely done for breeding dogs at age 2, symptoms can show up later in life, especially if the dog was not hip tested earlier. It can also show up earlier, especially in dogs with severe hip dyslasia but a definitive test can't be done until 2 years for most dogs because the bone structure is still developing until that time.

Answer 4

You can't tell at this age unless it is VERY bad. You can have his hips tested at 2 years old and certified by the OFA. Try not to let him jump until he is at least one year old. His joints are still developing and jumping can harm his developement. Hip problems are common in all large beed dogs including German Shepherds. When you search for a German Shepherd breeder, you ALWAYS want BOTH paernts to have their hips certified with rankings of Excellent or Very Good..

Answer 5

You can have a preliminary xray done to determine the current condition of your puppies hips, however the actual OFA hip certification cannot be done until your pup reaches the age of 2.



The following web page will give you some information on various medical issues with the GSD.



http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/germanshepherd/germansheparticle2.htm



Hope this helps...in the meantime, don't worry so much and enjoy your puppy!

Answer 6

I don't think that they can develop hip problems this young. If they ever do have hip problems, it would be later when they got to be about 8 years old. But some German Shepherds never develop hip problems.

Answer 7

It very common, but it usually won't show till he's a little older, around 5-7 yrs. The fact that he's very active now doesn't matter much, remember he's still a pup. There's no way of knowing just by looking. You might be able to have the vet do xrays and he could give you an educated guess.

Answer 8

All large breed dogs are prone to hip dysplasia but should not be showing signs at 5 months... maybe 2 or three years.

Answer 9

At his age you can't tell just by looking. A vet might be able to get an idea through an x-ray, but generally knowing the dog's heritage makes it easier. You'll just have to wait and see basically. Keeping the dog at a healthy weight helps as well.



Check out this site it's pretty neat

http://www.upei.ca/cidd/intro.htm

Answer 10

At this age you shouldn't be allowing your dog to do to much exercise as this can cause damage to their joints and create problems with their hips and elbows when they are older..

Also don't allow your dog to jump if you can help it either at this age not until their plates have fused together which is when he stops growing.

You shouldn't be walking your dog for more than 30 mins a day total, any more is too much for a large slow maturing breed like yours.



Please read some books on the breed or contact a local breeder for further advice..

Answer 11

any dog of the bigger breeds have a risk of hip displaysia or arthritis in the hips it is a genetic disease and it can start at time if he is active and running fast he is fine if he stars limping on his back leg and is no longer enthusatic about getting up and moving aroundand starts to slow done he could have hip problems if he jumping around then i wouldn't worry if he start to look in pain or uncomfortable about moving around take him to the vet

Answer 12

Our shepherd got "wandering lameness" at 5 months, he went down, was completely lame, would not eat, was dehydrated.



We had the vet put him on prednisone and i.v. fluids, he got over it eventually, but it was very expensive and I had to research this myself as the vet wanted him to go to a special research hospital several hours away and my husband thought it best to put him down - I wouldn't do either.

Seems there is a type of hip problem that occurs at the time of the biggest growth spurt in shepherds and great danes - and our shepherd had it.

He came around eventually with prednisone, i.v. fluid and concentrated food I hand fed him - would have died otherwise. He lived to be nearly 18 once he got over this.

Our shepherd was a "free" dog from someone we knew - cost us thousands, but obviously his parents were never tested for hip dysplasia or this type of "wandering lameness", hope your dog comes from better genetic stock.



Watch him for limping and get him to a vet if you see signs of it - all you can do since you don't have his pedigree either - he can start having problems during growth spurts as well as later.



If he seems fine, I hope for the best - doesn't have to have a problem, he could be lucky.

We got a second shepherd from Animal Services, she was 30 lbs underweight, but never had any problems once we got her weight up.

Obviously, not all shepherds have hip or growth problems.



Good luck - hope yours is one of the lucky ones.

Answer 13

The Hip Dysplasia Riddle



Hip Dysplasia is a condition of the hip joint where the ball and socket do not fit together properly. This causes changes in the bones that can cause pain and lameness. These changes are premature arthritis in the joint. Joint changes that occur and are diagnosed only later in life will sometimes be called hip dysplasia by the Veterinarian because it is a German Shepherd, but joint changes late in life are simply old age arthritis. Hip Dysplasia shows up early in life.



Hip dysplasia can and does occur in all types of animals (including humans!). German Shepherds do not have a 'corner' on the Dysplasia market. They are currently number 38 on the breed list. Hip Dysplasia is more common in large breeds than in small breeds.



Hip Dysplasia occurs in different levels of severity. Dogs with Dysplasia are graded as Mild, Moderate or Severe depending on the amount of changes to the hip joint. Dogs with Mild Dysplasia will generally go their entire life with no significant outward evidence of the problem. Dogs with Moderate to Severe Dysplasia are likely to show some degree of discomfort, especially when the joint is going through the first 'remodeling' changes, and they are likely to show arthritis pain earlier when they are older. Many Moderate, and even some Severe Dysplasia dogs show no discomfort until late in life. There are surgeries for dogs with Hip Dysplasia ranging from minor to major surgery, but I personally think surgery should only be done if the dog is in pain that can not be easily controlled with pain relievers.



If a dog shows arthirtic changes only in one hip joint, the cause is likely NOT hip dysplasia. If only one hip is affected, and the other is normal, the cause is likely due to trauma when the puppy was in the rapid growth stages. Even running through the house and sliding into a wall can be enough to damage the hip. Once the hip joint is bruised, the body makes more synovial fluid (joint fluid) to try to cushion the bruised tissue. This causes greater separation of the joint surfaces, and this in turn can cause a cycle of ever worsening truma to the hip. The result is early arthritis which may be mis-diagnosed as hip dysplasia.



Some dogs that move badly (walk funny) have great hips, and some dogs that move beautifully have bad hips! Therefore, you can not determine if a dog has hip dysplasia or not unless a correctly positioned hip x-ray is taken. These hip x-rays can be submitted for evaluation, and if found to be free of Dysplasia, they are 'certified' by either the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) in Columbia, Missouri (age requirement is 24 months old), or they may be submitted to the Deutscher Schaeferhund Verein (SV) in Germany (age requirement of 12 months old). There is a 3rd type of hip x-ray done called the PennHip by the University of Pennsylvania that requires the dog be 'put out' under a general anesthesia, and then they use a fulcrum to attempt to dislocate the hips. I feel this is a very bad thing to do to a young dog, and personally do not want this technique used on any of my dogs.



Reputable breeders attempt to reduce the chance of Hip Dysplasia occurring in their dogs by breeding only from hip dysplasia free adult dogs. This does not eliminate all chance of Hip Dysplasia in the resulting offspring, but it does help stack the deck in your favor. The more generations of Hip Dysplasia free dogs in the pedigree, the lower the incidence of Hip Dysplasia. Just because the breeder gives a "Hip Dysplasia Guarantee" does NOT mean your puppy can not get Hip Dysplasia, it just outlines what the breeder is willing to do if your puppy does develop Hip Dysplasia.

Answer 14

You would have to have the Vet check him out, hip problems are very common

Answer 15

yes, they are prove to hip dsyplasia. make sure to take them to the vet to be examed for this. my GS would limp because of an undiagnosed problem she had with this when we first got her. They are unfornately notorious for having Hip and Knee problems because of the way their back legs are shaped.

Answer 16

Common. More than people would like to admit.

Answer 17

hip dysplasia is pretty horrible and can get serious, talk to your vet to see what you can do to help your dog. maybe bretter food like Canidae will also help your doggie out!! =)

Answer 18

Gsd's are more prone to hips issues than other large breed dogs they were bred to have hips lower than the rest of thier body and it make it hard for his hips to support his wieght http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dshow%2Bdog%2Bgerman%2Bshepherd%26sp%3D1%26fr2%3Dsp-top%26y%3DSearch%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dsfp%26x%3Dwrt%26js%3D1%26ni%3D21%26ei%3DUTF-8%26SpellState%3Dn-632342086_q-xgL%2FCCkYj4OVTdnYKN4izgAAAA%40%40&w=320&h=267&imgurl=www.gilmoresdogphotography.co.uk%2Fgallery%2Fimages%2FShow-Dogs-Photos-German-Shepherd-046.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gilmoresdogphotography.co.uk%2Fgallery%2Fshow-dog-photography-pictures-D046.php&size=23.6kB&name=Show-Dogs-Photos-German-Shepherd-046.jpg&p=show%20dog%20german%20shepherd&type=JPG&oid=82377d331a3f590c&no=1&tt=11329 (look at pic)

Answer 19

"rescue member":

I would be astounded if your

"Our shepherd got "wandering lameness" at 5 months, he went down, was completely lame, would not eat, was dehydrated."

had ANY relevance to a question about HD - it sounds to me like Panosteitis, the human version of which is known as "growing pains".

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source/links/Diseases_001198817153/Panosteitis_001198817584/ tells you about Pano.



"rahul a":

Back in the late '60s, before my country had an xray scheme, I produced my first litter. And a couple of pups were collapsing in pain at 3-4 months old. As a result, I went to our veterinary university where they were testing out ways to diagnose HD, then researched & learned a lot! By the way, my bit.ch proved that their physical tests were useless - she was sound (she'd been a placegetter at my country's equivalent of Crufts & Westminster), accepted weight, and happily waltzed with the profs. But xrays showed that she had effectively no hips, despite that she had leaped 7-8 feet vertically from her pen to come inside through an open window while we were shopping, opened the fridge, ate her meat for the next 3 nights, and topped it off with a dozen eggs - and then had the cheek that evening to tell us that she WOULD like her dinner now, please!



The last litter in which I produced a dysplastic was born in 1983 - and it wasn't my idea, it was a "surprise gift" from a pup allowed to run unsupervised with his on-heat dam because he was too small to reach her "target" and anyway he was too young to be fertile. Yeah, right.....



In other words, how common HD is in a particular kennel depends on the intelligence of the kennel's owner, particularly how he/she uses the xray evidence available. Although a veterinary university in Hamburg claimed at the end of March to have identified one the DNA sequences responsible for HD, for a while yet we will have to rely on xray schemes.



Unfortunately for Yanks, the only xray schemes in their country are the two worst. The OFA scheme tells breeders almost nothing until it is too late. I'm not surprised that "Chetco" reports little improvement from using the OFA scheme. And few experts accept the basic premise of PennHIP - yes, all pooches with HD have loose joints, but not all pooches with loose joints have HD.



"Nancy M" is obviously one of the thousands of dog owners who doesn't understand that hip dysplasia and elbow dysplasia are the expression of RECESSIVE alleles, albeit modified by the environmental factors of diet & weight & fitness (or lack of) & type of activity - blame the way OFA is promoted, and blame the lack of information on its useless reports. Especially blame the lack of progeny analyses!

A dog's OWN xray tells you only whether it personally displays the effects of HD (or ED). It tells you nothing about how many of the dysplasia recessives the pooch possesses, each blocked in that dog by its "good" dominant allele. Until DNA matching is available, breeders need to check the hips of the parents & siblings and grandparents of both the new stud & new brood they are considering using - and, if possible, uncles and aunts as well. After the stud has had several litters, a more reliable guide is a progeny analysis.



● The best scheme - the BIF-scoring used in Britain, Australia & New Zealand - reports on 18 aspects of the hips, scoring EACH ASPECT from 0 to 6 (actually, one aspect per hip is scored from 0 to 5), so that breeders can tell whether any aspect is close to being a concern and take appropriate steps; that gives a total scale of 0 to 106, as against OFA's 6 categories. And it publishes a progeny analysis every year. When the scheme was first set up (by GSD people in 1978 but not adopted for all breeds in Britain until 1983, not by my country's NZVA until January 1986), the breed's average was 18-20. In Australia that has come down to 14±, in my country it has come down to 11±.

● The other useful scheme is the German SV's ZW scheme. It uses a computer to every 3 months factor in a host of close relatives' hip results; the ZW produced is like an IQ, but in the opposite direction - 100 is still "average", but the lower the ZW the better.



I hope your pup is from a rescue group. That is a valid reason for having no access to information about the parents. No-one should encourage puppy millers and ignorant BYBs by getting a puppy from them or from their agents, the pet shops.



Basically, now that you HAVE your pup it is too late to worry about HD or ED or Pano, unless you are prepared to return the pup to where you got it and start again, this time the right way.

If your pup is destined to develop a joint dysplasia it WILL develop it. But there are things you can do to minimise the speed & degree that it takes effect - and they are good things to do even if your pup isn't destined to develop a dysplasia.

(1) Keep it light in weight from now on. If your pup has the correct GSD coat, soon after 5 months old you should see every rib outlined by the muscles working over it while the dog gaits or pants, but never more than the edge of the last rib when it is rested - the GSD should be in the same condition as a human who is a champion marathon runner.

(2) Feed raw meat on small bones (skinned rabbits, chunks from lambs or young deer) - meat is the basic diet of carnivores; the gnawing exercises the cheek muscles that control their ears, clean the teeth, help dislodge the deciduous teeth, and help the permanent teeth break through the gums, and any bits that get digested contain the perfect calcium:phosphorus balance. Supplement that with cooked table scraps or dog bix a few times a week.

(3a) Allow the pup freedom to exercise whenever it wants - lying in a crate doesn't develop muscle (nor does it develop intelligence & self-confidence). When a pooch cannot have the run of the house it should be in a roofed escape-proof run outside where it can experience the sounds & smells & movements of the environment or snooze in a raised box or bounce from end to end of the run and go toilet whenever it wants to.

(3b) Avoid high impact exercise; avoid exhausting exercise - exhausting for the pup, not for you.

The condition of the muscles & ligaments is crucial - they have to be tight, to hold the bones in the correct relationship to each other so that the knobs and sockets and balls all work properly.



I'm not sure when agility dogs are allowed to start jumps and scales, but SchutzHund dogs aren't allowed to start the high-physical-stress activities before 15 months old - they are far from mature then, but have enough muscle to start the actvities, albeit at easier levels than "the real thing"..



Ignore "advice" to "prelim" your pup.

Less than 16% of HD is detected by xrays taken at or before 6 months old!

By 12-13 months old 70% gets detected, and only OFA deems that too young to certify; the rest of the world considers that if HD hasn't shown up by 12-13 months it is going to be very mild and not prevent dogs from having a normal life-span (the exception being the ones that REALLY work their joints hard for up to 14 hours a day).

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source/links/Diseases_001198817153/Hip_Dysplasia_001198817326/ tells you about Hip Dysplasia.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source/links/Diseases_001198817153/Elbow_Dysplasia_and_U_A_P__001198817464/ tells you about Elbow Dysplasia.



As he is obviously NOT breeding stock, the only reason for xraying him is to confirm your suspicion that he has HD or ED, if that situation ever arises. Or, if you will be putting an expensive amount of time into training him for a specific task, xray at or after 12 months to see whether his joints look likely to give him 10+ years of working life. Otherwise, if you find out who his parents are and that they have KC registration, you might care to have him officially certificated to add to the knowledge about his parents' genes for dysplasia.



Pooches not needed for showing (conformation) and breeding SHOULD be neutered. But don't listen to the old wives' tales. There is only 1 guaranteed effect of neutering - that pooch can longer produce pups. There ARE, however, a host of POSSIBLE benefits and consequences, depending on the age at which the pooch was neutered. See http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_GSD_Source/links/Neutering_001198315291/ for the most up-to-date research on those side-effects, so that you can choose the age intelligently.



The proper place to ask questions about GSDs is in a couple of the 300+ YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of our breed. Each group's Home Page will have a "mission statement" telling you which aspects they want to talk about, and below that will be a Monthly Activity "calendar" so you can tell whether the group is "dead" or manageably active or so over-active that you couldn't cope with all that traffic.

Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly

"In GSDs" as of 1967