Re: Hip Dysplasia and diet

["Bill & Patti Oftedal" <boftedal@alaska.net>]

Gina that's a great information!
where can I order the book from?

Thanks
Patti.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>
To: brierpups@fast.cs.utah.edu <brierpups@fast.cs.utah.edu>
Cc: Elen Parr <harriers@oregonsbest.com>
Date: Sunday, December 10, 2000 9:07 PM
Subject: Hip Dysplasia and diet


>HI All,
>
>I am on a Book Reading Group and this month Dr. Billinghurst is the guest
>author.  So I am sharing this with you:
>
>Copyright Ian Billinghurst.
>
>Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, Osteochondritis. These diseases continue to
>mount their attacks on young dogs, particularly the larger breeds, despite
>mass radiography and culling. What are we doing wrong? Why do these
problems
>appear and reappear in supposedly disease free lines? Our failure to
>eliminate Hip and Elbow Dysplasia compels us to ask . "Are our efforts
>entirely misdirected?" Should we be looking elsewhere for a solution?
>Are we barking up the wrong tree?
>
>The answer is yes, most definitely. Most dogs that develop Hip and Elbow
>Dysplasia, [or other juvenile skeletal diseases] are suffering from
>completely avoidable problems. Most of the blame for these problems should
>be laid at the door of incorrect nutrition and poor exercise regimes,
rather
>than 'bad' genes. Let me explain.
>
>Unfortunately, what we vets DO NOT KNOW about Hip and Elbow Dysplasia,
>far outweighs what we do know! Fortunately, there ARE answers. They are
>found in the history of these diseases. Understanding that history allows
>the basic causes of Hip and Elbow Dysplasia to leap out at us, making
>solutions crystal clear. Ironically, those causes and those solutions have
>stared us in the face for decades.
>
>It is accepted "truth" that bad genes cause Hip and Elbow Dysplasia. We
>assume that schemes to remove those genes shall produce dogs that will not
>develop these diseases. Unfortunately, all attempts to remove these genes
>have proved impossible. Yet nobody has asked - "exactly which genes are we
>trying to eliminate?" Those genes have never been identified because nobody
>is looking for them. And if we don't know which genes we are looking for,
>what chance do we have of getting rid of them? And even if we could get rid
>of them, would their elimination remove traits we actually wanted to keep?
>DIET and EXERCISE play a vital role in bone development. In all the Hip
>and Elbow Dysplasia schemes, nobody is asking what and how much did each
dog
>eat and how was each dog exercised while its bones were developing? Diet
and
>exercise are ignored as we assume they play no role in bone health. As we
>assume that all radiographic abnormalities are caused only, by faulty
>genes. We ignore basic biology and genetics which tell us this cannot be.
>The role of diet and exercise in bone production is crucial. Diet and
>exercise interact with genes, producing either sound or unsound bones
>and joints. For any dog with skeletal disease, we must ask "what was the
>relative contribution of genes, poor diet and inappropriate exercise?" If
>diet and exercise were the major contributors, logic would dictate that
>these must be the first areas we should look to when seeking a solution.
>There is a more fundamental question. How long have these problems plagued
>our dogs? Tens, hundreds or thousands of years? Are these diseases a new
>phenomenon? The surprising answer is that these bone and joint
abnormalities
>are a product of the twentieth century. The story begins with the sudden
>appearance of Hip Dysplasia in the 1930's when it was considered a rare
>disease, unknown before that time!
>
>By 1965, Hip and Elbow Dysplasia had been identified in 55 breeds of dogs
>worldwide. They were now common problems. In just thirty years, the dog
>world had experienced the sudden appearance and rapid spread of these and a
>multitude of other skeletal problems, including shoulder, elbow, hock and
>stifle dysplasia, all having gone from rare or non-existent, to exceedingly
>common.
>
>By 1950 it was standard "truth" that the causes of Hip and Elbow Dysplasia
>were genetic. That "truth" has never been questioned despite all Hip and
>Elbow Dysplasia elimination schemes [which rely on that "truth"], having
>failed utterly! Both these problems remain, as serious and as prevalent and
>as seemingly impossible to eliminate as ever.
>
>If these diseases did not exist before the 1930's, where did they come
from?
>What caused them to appear and spread rapidly? Why are they now so common?
>Basic biology dictates that a mass of bone wrecking genes, can not
>suddenly appear in the dog population and spread like wild-fire - in two or
>three decades - through most breeds of dogs, specifically targeting the
>larger breeds. Those genes must always have been present, but not causing
>any problems until the 1930's, when some environmental change occurred
which
>allowed these genes to express themselves.
>We vets are not willing to face this possibility because we have developed,
>[in conjunction with breeders], an enormous emotional and professional
>investment in believing that the bone and joint problems in our young dogs
>are caused by genes - alone - and can therefore ONLY be eliminated by
>breeding.
>
>We have produced a gargantuan juggernaut of an elimination scheme which
>depends on mass radiography, highly questionable interpretations of same,
>and wholesale culling to eliminate the genes which produce Hip and Elbow
>Dysplasia. Unfortunately, this machine is making very little headway after
>many decades of rolling roughshod over countless canine corpses which lie
>strewn in its wake.
>
>This begs the question. Does the failure of these schemes rule out genes as
>the basic cause of these bone and joint problems? Not at all. Our fifty
>years of futility clearly points to a major environmental change which
>occured in the 1930's. This change allowed the genes which cause these
>problems to express themselves. But what was that environmental change?
>Fortunately, we do not have to look very far to discover the answer.
>During the 1930's, the diet our dogs evolved to eat was drastically
>changed. Until that time, most people fed their dogs an evolutionary type
>diet of raw foods, whole foods and not a lot of grain. In the 1930's this
>was replaced with masses of cooked grain plus meat and bone meal and
>calcium supplements. The new diet lacked the raw whole animals - including
>bones and organ meat - fish, birds and plants, feces and soil, dogs had
>eaten for millions of years.
>
>This change occurred during the depression of the 1930's. Dog owners were
>looking for cheap alternatives to the fresh food they normally fed their
>dogs. Astute businessmen of the day realising the enormous money-making
>potential in the pet food market, obliged by changing the labels on
>commercially produced pig, calf and poultry feeds and throwing in some
extra
>calcium.
>
>For the first time in millions of years of canine evolution, our dogs were
>deprived of fresh whole raw foods and forced to eat a diet based on masses
>of cooked grain, meat meal and bone meal together with artificial calcium
>rather than raw bones. That massive dietary change occurred in conjunction
>with a more aggressive approach to exercise.
>These changes, and most especially the dietary change, proved to be the
>ideal set of conditions to allow certain genes to express themselves in the
>form of skeletal disease.
>
>Modern commercial dog foods have changed very little. However, there is now
>an enormous body of evidence that this catastrophic change in food [and
>exercise] wreaked havoc on our dogs' bones and joints, particularly the
>larger and giant breeds, whose genetic makeup renders them particularly
>susceptible to these changes.
>
>The new starchy diet, [designed to support the rapid growth and fattening
>of livestock], produced accelerated growth rates and obesity in our pups.
>Their rapidly increasing weight outstripped the ability of their soft
>young bones to support them. High starch resulted in damaging hormonal
>changes which wreaked further havoc on bone growth. Nutritional excesses
and
>deficiencies, together with a total loss of protective nutrients found only
>in fresh whole raw foods added further insult to bone growth. Excessive
>artificial calcium added further problems. Throw in excessive exercise to
>traumatise and re-shape these soft badly growing bones, and we have the
>perfect conditions for skeletal disease in young dogs.
>
>These problems were particularly noted in the larger, faster growing, more
>poorly muscled, more obese, and poorly engineered breeds.
>As you can see, the causes behind Hip and Elbow Dysplasia are much more
than
>genetic! But what about the genes? If genes are the basis of the problem,
>why has the attempted removal of these genes failed to fix the problem? The
>answer is, simple. We have not fixed the problem because the genes have not
>been removed.
>
>Despite years of not breeding from dogs which demonstrated faulty skeletal
>structure [according to radiographic evidence], and only breeding from dogs
>with [relatively] sound bones and joints, [according to radiographic
>evidence], the genes which cause those problems still remain. Why? because
>nobody has asked- "which genes are we trying to eliminate?"
>The genes we must eliminate are very well known. They appear in most
>articles dealing with Hip and Elbow Dysplasia but nobody has recognised
them
>as such.
>
>The genes which pre-dispose for skeletal problems in our young dogs are the
>genes which code for large size, fast growth rate, small muscles, great
>obesity, and finally genes that code for poor engineering.
>Could it be that simple? Yes it could. That simple and that dificult. The
>major difficulty is that these genes also happen to code for the very
>distinctive characteristics of each and every breed.
>The genes we want to eliminate to solve the bone and joint problems are
>the exact same genes we want to keep! To retain our breeds in their
>recognisable form, most of the genes which pre-dispose to skeletal disease
>are the genes we must not remove!
>
>This makes any attempt using a genetic solution, an exercise in futility.
>To solve the problem of bone and joint disease in our young dogs, We have
to
>re-visist the basic underlying factors which caused these problems to
>appear in the 1930's. These are the factors we must eliminate.
>The key to eliminating skeletal disease in our dogs is found in diet and
>exercise which [happily] are the two factors over which each breeder and
>dog owner can have maximum control.
>
>We must return our dogs to their evolutionary diet and their evolutionary
>exercise regime. Of greatest importance is to find modern foods that are
>equivalent in nutritional terms to the evolutionary diet. This is simple.
>An evolutionary diet is based on 50 to 60 percent raw meaty bones, 20 to 30
>percent raw crushed vegetables and fruit, ten percent offal, no artificial
>calcium, together with simple additives such as kelp, flax meal, cod liver
>oil and yoghurt. This diet is not to be fed in enormous amounts. Pups are
>grown slowly, as nature intended. Enough is fed to ensure that the pups
grow
>at about 60 to 70 percent of their maximum growth rate.
>
>Exercise along evolutionary lines is vital. Bones require normal stresses
>for normal growth. Neither too much nor too little.
>The only "bone healthy" exercise for juvenile dogs is PLAY. Plenty of play,
>not rough play, but play where the puppy stops as soon as it becomes tired.
>Until the bones are mature, that is the only exercise that should be
>allowed - as Nature/God/Evolution intended.
>
>Raised this way, no matter what genes they have inherited, the vast
majority
>of pups will grow sound and healthy with little or no trace of Hip and
Elbow
>Dysplasia. However, a few pups will still develop skeletal problems. These
>pups have directly acting genes. Genes that express themselves no matter
>what the diet or the exercise. Now is the time to kill or cull the animal
>that carries them.
>
>Should we still radiograph our dogs ? Yes! By combining a radiographic
>programme with sound management, we will maximise the chance of raising
>sound pups, and eliminate any genes directly responsible for causing
>skeletal problems, while keeping most of our predisposing genes, so as to
>maintain our breed characteristics.
>
>In a nutshell, pups, must be grown slowly, kept slim, without artificial
>calcium supplements, on an evolutionary type diet, high in raw meaty bones.
>Until the pup's bones are mature, the only exercise that should be allowed
>is play with age and size matched peers. This will produce normal stresses
>allowing normal growth.
>
>These are simple but powerful tools. They have kept dogs' skeletons sound
>for millions of years. Employing them will eliminate most Juvenile Bone
>Disease, no matter what "nasty" genes are present.
>
>Are you barking up the wrong tree when it comes to producing sound
skeletons
>in young dogs? Think carefully before dismissing the ideas in this article.
>To not use those simple but profoundly effective tools, can make breeding
>and rearing dogs a difficult and painful exercise, and very costly from a
>monetary, an emotional and a genetic loss point of view.
>
>For more detailed information about feeding and exercising young dogs
>according to evolutionary principles, may I suggest you read my book "Grow
>Your Pups With Bones."
>
>
>
>
>