Hip dysplasia

[julieandruth]

Hello! My approx 2-3 year old baby Bumble went to the vet yesterday as she has been limping, bunny-hopping, and showing many signs of pain for some time now, and she got diagnosed with hip dysplasia. She is now on pain meds for the rest of her life, and the vet did say she will most likely go on to develop osteoarthritis due to the hip dysplasia so he recommended me to put her on a pellet-free diet and avoid absolutely anything that could make her gain weight. She is a little bit chunky, and she was definitely even chunkier when I got her from the rescue 3 months ago as they were feeding her unlimited pellets and she didn't have the best diet, even from experience I know that she loves inhaling pellets! I do worry that it'll be difficult to completely hit all of her nutritional requirements without pellets though. I absolutely do not rely their vitamin C intake on pellets as I know it degrades anyway, and they get green bell peppers every single day for the sake of it, but my main concern is about things like vitamin A and D, and other nutrients/vitamins, especially since my pigs are indoor, and I know that veggies which do contain vitamin A are usually high in sugar or starch and thus shouldn't be fed daily. Has anyone had any other deficiency problems that aren't just a vitamin C deficiency? Would getting sunlight through the window be enough for the vitamin D? Do other vitamin deficiencies even cause big problems anyway?

I bought her the Johnsons 4joints liquid glucosamine supplement which my vet hasn't suggested, I was the one who brought it up at the appointment and he said that it wouldn't hurt to try. I know it won't necessarily help with the hip dysplasia itself, but it might strengthen her joints and sort of slow down the process of her developing arthritis, if that makes sense. Does anyone know a proper dosage? I think I have seen 0.4ml being shared around but that feels like a really small amount, especially since 0.4ml would only contain about 16mg of glucosamine hydrochloride, and I know that 1 capsule of cystease (which I've seen recommended), has about 125mg glucosamine. Is there a reason why the 4joints dosage is so much smaller?

 

[Posyrose]

I can't advise on the 4joints but I haven't given pellets to my piggies for years, on the advice of my exotics vets, and they have all been fine. They get a good range of veggies and unlimited hay.

 

[Betsy]

I give my older 2 piggies who are 3 and 4 and weigh around 1000g 0.4ml of 4 joints daily. I started it with Old Gal Thea (she was helped over the Rainbow bridge at 8½ years old) when she was 7½ because she was finding it difficult to walk (and I hadn't heard of it before then). It took 2 weeks to fully get into her system and her walking improved. She even did a few Old Lady popcorns which consisted of her lifting her front legs of floor by a couple of cms.