Lab+Diseases

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Hip Dysplasia Hip dysplasia is a deformity of the hip joints. Most dogs with dysplasia are born with normal hips but it slowly changes into dysplasia. It's the tissues that develop abnormally that cause this. Hip dysplasia can be in the right hip, left hip, or both. All dogs of all ages can get hip dysplasia. This condition causes pain and discomfort during excersising. If nothing is done the dog may not be able to walk. Hip dysplasia is basically a type of arthritis. It causes them to run with an abnormal gait. They might resist movements that cause them to fully flex their legs. Hip dysplasia can be treated medically and surgically. The medical treatments are weight management, excercise, warmth, and physical therapy. The surgical treatments are all attempts to "fix" the joint. The type of surgery depends on the dog breed, the age and the weight of the dog.

Obesity Would you want your lab to look like this? Obesity is one of the big problems with labrador retrievers. Labs have an extemely hearty appetite. Any amount of dog food you put in front of them they will almost always eat. They normally won't stop until they finish. A pretty good accurate test of seeing if your dog is overweight or too skinny is if you can feel the dogs ribs but not see them they are fine. If a lab, or any dog, is obese it can cause tons of problems. Some problems they can have are high blood pressure, heart disease, respiratory difficulties, back and joint pain, hip dysplasia, heat intolerance and skin problems.

Make sure you don't overfeed your dog. Check the back of the food label, or ask your breeder or vet for the proper amount of food your dog should have. Obesity can cause all sorts of problems. If you have a dog make sure you do your homework and keep your dog from becoming obese.