I took both Molly and Emma to my ortho surgeon to have her evaluate their hips. Molly is 14 months and Emma is 11 months.
When the results were in, she put the hips up for Emma and said that these hips are so good that she would be dancing in the streets if this were her newf. That her hips were so good that she would like to call them severely good
.
She then place my Molly's xrays next to Emma's and said "now these are BAD hips". I asked how bad and she said that Molly's hips are as bad as Emma's are good. I asked on a scale of 1 to 10 where would you place these. Her response was if 1 was good, she would call this a 10. She sees total hip replacement in Molly's future. She can plateau where she is now, painfree and able to romp and play til even the age of 6 or 7. But when it falls apart, it will be necessary for her to have the surgery. Molly doesn't bunny hop, she runs with a lovely gait, she's really quite lovely to see in motion. But, I saw the xrays myself. The damage is there. The damage is severe. I was being dishonest with myself when she was younger. Molly, about 4mo. to 9mo. would always ask for help getting up from a laying position. I kept telling myself it was growing pains. It wasn't. She swims on a regular basis and this is why she is doing so well now. We have built muscle to do the work of the hips. I asked the ortho doc how this could be when Molly comes from not just good hips, but excellent hips like Emma's. And her response was that in the giant breed it's a crapshoot. It is in the breed itself and will pop up even from parents with good backgrounds.
Molly is my very very special girl. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be my sweet, loving, beautiful Mollymae. All I can hope for is to be able to keep her on her feet painfree for a long time. I almost wish I didn't know the results. Ignorance can be bliss.
When the results were in, she put the hips up for Emma and said that these hips are so good that she would be dancing in the streets if this were her newf. That her hips were so good that she would like to call them severely good
She then place my Molly's xrays next to Emma's and said "now these are BAD hips". I asked how bad and she said that Molly's hips are as bad as Emma's are good. I asked on a scale of 1 to 10 where would you place these. Her response was if 1 was good, she would call this a 10. She sees total hip replacement in Molly's future. She can plateau where she is now, painfree and able to romp and play til even the age of 6 or 7. But when it falls apart, it will be necessary for her to have the surgery. Molly doesn't bunny hop, she runs with a lovely gait, she's really quite lovely to see in motion. But, I saw the xrays myself. The damage is there. The damage is severe. I was being dishonest with myself when she was younger. Molly, about 4mo. to 9mo. would always ask for help getting up from a laying position. I kept telling myself it was growing pains. It wasn't. She swims on a regular basis and this is why she is doing so well now. We have built muscle to do the work of the hips. I asked the ortho doc how this could be when Molly comes from not just good hips, but excellent hips like Emma's. And her response was that in the giant breed it's a crapshoot. It is in the breed itself and will pop up even from parents with good backgrounds.
Molly is my very very special girl. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be my sweet, loving, beautiful Mollymae. All I can hope for is to be able to keep her on her feet painfree for a long time. I almost wish I didn't know the results. Ignorance can be bliss.
.
