Case Study

Bonnie Valttilas Hip Dysplacia Journey
We all know the risks of hip dysplacia when we decide to buy a labrador puppy. It is like a ticking time bomb sometimes showing symptoms at an early age and at other times luckily later on in a dog's lifetime. In Bonnie's case it wasn't until she was 9 that she started displaying signs of dysplacia. I have had Bonnie since a pup of 8 weeks in 1990 and since that time she has been wholly reared as a homeopathically treated dog by Jacki Fitzgerald. All vaccinations were prophylactic homeopathic vaccines as were preventative treatments for heartworm and worming. She has never eaten tin or dried dog food only meat, fruits, vegetables, eggs and grains. To this day she has never suffered from any illnesses or skin diseases and everyone always comments on her soft coat which smells like puppy fur, clean and fresh without bathing.

Bonnie's symptoms came on very suddenly just before her ninth birthday with stiffness in her rear left hip on getting up after lying down and not being able to walk very far. She had always been an active dog but never over active, she liked her walks in the park and in the bush. She was never a stick or ball chaser as there were too many any other interesting things to smell on the way, so why chase a stick or a ball? So this stiffness concerned me especially as I was going overseas the next week for 5 weeks. I took her to the vet to get some X-rays done to diagnose what I suspected to be the problem. And there it was, phase 3 hip dysplacia, the most advance phase (in both hips - the left worse than the right), along with osteoarthritis and disc spondolytis. You could see the spurs of calcified substance on her spine on her lower back along with the build up on the hip joints and the way her hips did not fit properly in their sockets. I had to make a decision there and then on what to do as Bonnie was going to be looked after by a friend while I was away and she also had a very active labrador. The vet suggested a shot of Cartrophen before I left and Metacam, a non-steroidal anti inflammatory in her breakfast every morning. So I took this advice for the interim that I was away. The vet said there is nothing that can be done other than to bring down the inflammation to make her comfortable, I knew otherwise. After returning home Jacki started Bonnie on a course of homeopathy over a year firstly to drain out the Cartrophen and Metacam and then to systematically break down the spurs and build ups, relieve the pain and rebuild her cartilage.

So after a little over a year, Bonnie is a new dog. From a time when she was so bad that she was hobbling on 3 legs to now having regained her youth at 10 years, she enjoys her walks again now as she used to and is totally rejuvenated. Obviously her hips will never be normal but she has ease of movement and quality of life. We live in Holland now and she much prefers the colder weather - running circles in the snow and chasing snowballs. Everyday when we walk her and she runs on ahead of us we marvel at her freedom of movement and remember the time when the vet said it will never get better. I'm sure an X-ray now will reveal no calcified spurs…………what would they say to that? Luck?…………Chance?………..I don't think so…………….homeopathy?………….I think so, I know so.