About Duncan and His History

Let me start from the beginning. Duncan (or Dunk or Dunk Dunk or Dunky Doo) is a silver labrador retriever born on July 11, 2017. He's our pride and joy, our baby. We have had several labs in our lifetime, our last one having been diagnosed with hip dysplasia at age 10 and euthanized due to pain and quality of life at age 11. Before Duncan, we hadn't had a lab puppy in our lives for 11 years, and so we weren't accustomed to unusual behavior and movements indicative of hip dysplasia. We had no comparison because it had been so long and we just thought he was a little clumsy and goofy and that it was just his personality. Boy were we wrong.

During his puppy vaccines Duncan presented with a rapid resting heart rate. He even fell asleep on the exam table and people passing by questioned whether he was sedated or not. We worried about exercise intolerance or that he might have a heart condition. We were preparing ourselves for a visit to the vet school for a cardio consultation.

Duncan came down with an ear infection and had a reaction to catnip and required a visit to the vet. It was at that time that we discovered the real reason for his heart rate and goofy self: he most likely had hip dysplasia and was in a great deal of pain. He was only 6-7 months old at the time. Now, my purpose for writing this blog is that other pet owners like us can see our journey and make informed decisions for themselves about the quality of life with their own dog(s). If you start researching hip dysplasia, like I did, then you'll most likely find a lot of information about older dogs and not a whole lot on puppies. You'll find information on surgery. On medicine and treating the pain. If your dog is older, like my last lab was, you'll start researching when is the right time to let go, when are you being too selfish and what's right for your dog.

Duncan is a puppy. A puppy. We want to do everything that we possibly can for him to make his life as enjoyable and happy as possible. Luckily for us, Duncan doesn't know any different because his hips have been terrible from the beginning and he doesn't realize that he's missing out and a little disabled at the moment. (No worries, he's on pain medication, joint supplements, and consulting with an orthopedic surgeon about a course of action).

I will update this blog as we make progress. The first post will include photographs of his initial xrays, what we found out from our primary veterinarian and his surgeon, and where we're going from here.

I hope this blog helps out anyone who may be in the same sort of circumstances as we are!