Hip Dysplasia
The long bone of the dog’s leg is supposed to fit neatly into its socket. In hip dysplasia, it doesn’t. There will be pain and swelling, and the dog can become lame. Conventionally, only an operation is capable of correcting this painful condition.
It is widely believed that HD is hereditary, and that dogs with this condition should not be bred from. A scoring system exists which involves X-rays to determine how good a dog’s hips are before breeding. Some breeds are more prone to hip dysplasia than others.
The long bone of the dog’s leg is supposed to fit neatly into its socket. In hip dysplasia, it doesn’t. There will be pain and swelling, and the dog can become lame. Conventionally, only an operation is capable of correcting this painful condition.
It is widely believed that HD is hereditary, and that dogs with this condition should not be bred from. A scoring system exists which involves X-rays to determine how good a dog’s hips are before breeding. Some breeds are more prone to hip dysplasia than others.
I once met a statistician who had studied hip scores, and who concluded that this condition was not hereditary. But then he liked going against the mainstream view.
Dr Wendell Belfield found that if females dogs with HD were given large doses of vitamin C, and her subsequent litter was also given large doses of vitamin C, the puppies did not have hip dysplasia. He contends that HD is a form of scurvy, which is caused by a deficiency in vitamin C.
I also met a man whose dog was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. The dog was practically a cripple. He changed his dog to a natural diet (raw meat and bones) and gave supplements, and within three months the dog was running with him on the beach.
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