How to Prevent Hip Problems in Dogs

Video Transcript

"Let's talk about how to prevent hip problems in dogs. The first thing to know is that hip problems actually affect a lot of different breeds, especially larger breeds. Always know what you're getting into. If you're getting a dog from a breeder, make sure that breeder is a good quality breeder. If you're getting a stray or a rescue type of animal, you may not know what breed stock that comes from. So, prevention really comes down to a couple things, one especially is weight. Large breeds dogs, especially, if they're overweight and they're very active, over time that is going to wear out those hips. Now, certain hip problems are genetic, like hip dysplasia, and can develop no matter what. But if they do have any type of malformed hips or shallow hip sockets, extra weight and obesity is going to extremely progress those hips, and cause more and more arthritis as they get older. So that's the biggest thing. Talk to your veterinary clinic, as well. There are very good diets these days that have glucosamine and fatty acid supplements in them that can also help decrease the likelihood of arthritis build-up in your pet. Now, dogs do need exercise. They don't need to lay around all the time, but if they're getting too much heavy impact or extreme exercise, that can also lead to hip problems, as well. But the bigger the dog, the more obese and overweight the dog, the more hip problems that they're likely to have."