Hip Dysplasia is a very common disease in dogs, especially the bigger dogs such as German Shepherds and Rottweilers. Although you should always take your animals to the vet, there are a few different home remedies to help sooth your dogs pain and make the disease a little easier on him. Many dogs live happy healthy lives after a few adjustments and a little effort from their owners.
One of the first things to do is make sure he isn’t overweight. It can be very painful for a dog who is overweight with hip dysplasia. If he has a weight problem try and make sure to cut back on table scraps and snacks and start him or her on leaner dog food.
Regular and persistent exercise can help because it will strengthen your dogs muscles and that in turn will help support your dogs hips and make it easier for him or her to deal with it. Of course you shouldn’t over do it with any activities. Let your pet set the pace and make sure it looks like they are enjoying it, if they are in pain it won’t do them any good. Swimming is great exercise because it let’s them get a good work out and doesn’t do a lot of wear on the joints.
If you can let your dog sleep in the house you should do so. If he sleeps outside in cold damp weather it could make his pain a lot worse, so he should be kept warm. You should find a good comfortable bed for your dog too, make sure it’s something he likes because if it’s uncomfortable for him it won’t help. Another truly wonderful way to ease his pain would be to apply hot water bottle to his achy joints for about twenty minutes at a time twice a day.
You should massage the muscles around the hip joint to provide a lot of relief. Make sure to apply light pressure and it your dog seems to show any discomfort you should apply less pressure or stop if it gets bad enough. You can do it for around 10 minutes at a time. Try and keep him off of slippery floors because a dogs traction isn’t great on them and it could cause further injury. Another great thing is to try and get a set of doggy stairs to help him onto beds, couches, and even in the car. Make sure you can find a set that will hold his weight.
Another great pain reliever would be to try some aspirin it is great for easing this type of pain.
These have all been some really great ways to help relieve the pain of hip dysplasia in dogs. However, you should always make sure that you talk to your vet before trying new things especially with giving your dog medicines, especially if your dog is already on medicine.
