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Gold Bead Treatment of Hip Dysplasia
I got Tenna when she was nine months. She was born in 1993. After a
few months I began to notice that she would sleep and rest more than Sophie.
After a while I could also hear a noise like popcorn popping when she
got on
her feet. And of course she was limping quite a bit. If you put a
hand on
her hip in those days you could actually feel that the hip wasn't
fixed in the
hipsocket. I had her x-rayed and the radiograph showed that her left
hip had a fairly
severe hip dysplasia.
Luckily my vet had just been attending a class where a vet from
Aalborg in
Denmark had lectured on this new treatment that he had learned in
USA. I went
to the vet in Aalborg, Denmark. Tenna was anaesthetised and x-rayed
from a multiple
angles. Using the x-rays he put in nine pieces of gold (3x3) near both
hipsockets. - I chose to have both her hips treated at once since the gold
wouldn't harm her and if her right hip should develop dysplasia later on
Tenna would be covered.
The size of the gold pieces are approx. 1 mm in diameter and 4-5 mm
long. (1/5" - 1/6")
The surgery took about four hours all in all, from I came to the vets
till I
picked her up again. The effect was staggering. Within three weeks
the sounds from her hip disappeared.
After three months she was completely OK. No sounds, no limping. Much less sleeping.
Tenna passed the rainbow bridge in September 2005. She had a full Airedale life with lots of pranks. She never seemed to have sore hips and ran even more than Sophie. Incusive the typical ADT rush of 0 to 60 MPH in two seconds.
I have noticed that in deep snow (1-2 feet deep) she can have a
slight limp if she has been playing more than an hour or so. At that
time the treatment cost approx. $600 and it is not covered by the insurance.
Since she had the surgery done more and more vets in Denmark have
learned how to do it. Including my own vet.
A funny thing about the implants: Tennas back over the hips is
definitely warmer than the rest of her body. If you put your hand
there you can feel the difference. I had a guest some time ago that
noticed it as well. And he didn't know about the gold implants.
When Tenna was treated I think that the vet calculated 90% full
recovery. I don't know the percents today.
The medical effect is not clear, US vets have measured less electrical currents and this would be why the pain disappears. It is important to notice that the hip is not cured, but the dog does not have a shorter life than other Airedales.
- So in my opinion gold implants should be considered if your ADT has hip dysplasia.