clearnace info Casino litter (Annie)

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

Hi All,

Well we have some sad news to share.  Annie, Brier's Queen of Hearts 
(Casino litter) has been diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia. On December 
20, 2001,  Ruth and John had her x-rayed at spay, hips and elbows, elbows 
are clear.  Annie had not presented with any symptoms or had she displayed 
any discomfort, though one can clearly see the malformation of her hips and 
the lack of stability on the x-rays.

My heart goes out to Ruth and John, and is as well a bit broken here 
too.  But setting my personal emotion aside as best as I can I want to go 
over some of this with you.

Annie will be seen by a specialist as soon as possible with in the next few 
weeks and from there we will be able to share more.  Just what the 
recommendations will be I can not speculate, as this is very new territory 
for me as I have personally never have been faced with severe HD, actually 
I have never been faced with HD at all as an owner.  As a breeder one mild 
case one hip, was reported just recently (Sprite to Runner, a Gidget 
brother) and one severe case several years ago (Peaches to Moxie a Meg 
sister).  Ruth and John have not ever dealt with HD either, so we will be 
leaning right along side each other and it is with their permission I share 
this with all of you.  Understandably emotions are high and both John and 
Ruth will benefit from the support that comes from extended doggie 
family.  Ruth is not on the list right now as she was one of the @home 
customers, she will email me in a day or two with her new address so I can 
get that to Leigh to put her back on the list.

Annie's vet consulted with a surgeon who made recommendations, from there 
Ruth and I took Annie and her films to Aloha Dog and Cat this afternoon, 
and had Dr. Doug take a look, the x-ray technique was good.  Doug did not 
need to shoot additional films.  But what Doug did do was to spend a good 
amount of time with Ruth and I going over possibilities and educating us 
both on options, sometimes these things are not black and white, most often 
they are not.  Judy was also able to join us and give her input, share her 
personal experiences with severe HD in her Welsh Springer (Torrey) who 
lived a good life with out much intervention and only being medically 
managed, beginning at the advanced age 11+ she lived to be 14.  But this 
dog was a much smaller breed.  At any rate, I am sure that Ruth went away 
with much more information and a feeling of less despair.

Though this is devastating emotionally and no doubt will be an expense one 
would rather forgo in the long run having this information now will help 
John and Ruth make decisions for Annie's future, her care, how to manage 
her. What to expect to see as she grows and gets older.  Annie will need to 
be kept very lean and well exercised but not over exercised.  She may not 
express discomfort until well past maturity if left untreated, but 
untreated in this case is probably not going to be an acceptable 
option.  Now days we do have better veterinary care available and vets who 
are specialists. It may very well come to Annie requiring surgery but the 
question there is which surgery and at what age. Again I can not begin to 
speculate or give an opinion beyond I know Ruth and John will make educated 
choices and I feel that they are on track with the recommendations made to 
them to the appropriate specialists.

With that said, we took Reo along today too and had her hips looked at, we 
will wait to do elbows until she is 1 year of age in keeping with what GDC 
has advised.  Reo's hips are as good as they come, would probably pull an 
excellent rating.  It's bitter sweet to share this information with you 
all.  As a breeder in my heart while I want every dog I produce to be 
healthy if that is not going to be the case, I would have preferred it be 
one of mine.  That aside guilt and emotion, I did want to share that Reo 
looks good, as a comfort to the rest of you.  Sharing this kind of 
information is not easy to share or to read, I know, but I am committed to 
sharing this so that each of you can make choices and learn from what 
examples we are able to share as we learn.

It's well after midnight and I have a big day tomorrow with puppy open 
house for Judy's brood who are here with us so I will close out with 
this:  Hug'em, love'em and make sure they know we love them too, all of them.

Gina