Management Plan: In managing hip dysplasia, it is important to wait until the animal is at least eleven months old before pursuing surgical intervention. At this point, JocelynŐs growth will be more complete and the condition could be markedly improved. Therefore, the practitioner should pursue a conservative approach to managing this disease until Jocelyn is old enough for more aggressive therapy. The plan should include careful diet and nutritional planning, adequate analgesia to keep Jocelyn comfortable, and restricted activity to minimize further damage to her joints. In JocelynŐs case, it will be important to modify her diet in order to maintain lean muscle mass. This is vital because extra weight will add to the stress placed upon the hip joints. Large breed dogs, such as Rottweilers, tend to grow quickly and put on weight before the long bones have had a chance to fully calcify. Therefore, Jocelyn should be kept on a restricted diet and fed measured amounts twice daily. She should be fed a high quality diet that is especially formulated for large breed dogs. The next step to managing JocelynŐs condition is providing adequate analgesia. Although the owners complained that she did not respond well to the Rimadyl, the veterinarian must realize that they only gave her a few doses of the medication when she seemed really painful. It is possible that the Rimadyl is an adequate drug for her but needs to be given consistently for several weeks for full effect. Other anti-inflammatory drugs such as Etogesic could also be considered. If anti-inflammatory drugs alone are not enough, Jocelyn could also be put on nutraceutical preparations such as Glycoflex or Cosequin to help improve joint health. The veterinarian should stay in relatively close contact with the owners over the next few months to ensure that JocelynŐs pain management is effective and working. JocelynŐs activity should also be monitored. The owners should not allow her to undergo strenuous exercise or engage in rough play. However, the owners should encourage light exercise such as swimming or leash walking to maintain JocelynŐs overall physical fitness. Once Jocelyn reaches eleven months of age, her status should be reevaluated. A routine physical exam should be repeated to evaluate her overall health. Also, radiographs and a thorough orthopedic exam under sedation should be repeated to definitively diagnose that she truly has hip dysplasia. Radiographs will aid in the diagnosis of hip dysplasia but may not be truly helpful in determining the severity of the disease. Therefore, it is important to find out if Jocelyn is still experiencing severe pain. If she is still experiencing lameness and if she is in good overall health, surgical intervention is now indicated. At this point, the veterinarian must determine which method of repair is best. Surgical treatments for this scenario include pectineal myotomy, triple pelvic osteotomy, total hip replacement, or femoral head osteotomy. Financial constraints of the client as well as the level of degeneration of the patientŐs hip may aid in choosing the surgical approach. A routine physical exam should also be repeated prognosis is poor. As hip displasia is a degenerative disease, she will probably experience increasing pain as the deformity of the hip joints continue to increase as she gets older. The deterioration can be monitored and controlled to a degree with proper management of diet and exercise. It may become necessary to reconsider a surgical approach if her pain becomes unmanageable.