I adopted a husky from his previous owner yesterday. He is 2 years old & his previous owner said that he has been caged from the day they bought him till now.

Actually I have written in Kismet´s diary bout his condition. He is excessively thin, his hind legs are seriously "out of normal dogs´ legs shapes". But from his attitude, from the way he looks at us, he is not giving up his life & he wants live. From the expression when he walks, he doesn´t seem being in pain. His joy shown in his eyes when we bring him for walks. He still willing to eat, but he can only take in a ilttle quantity, then he will have this watery feces.

I would like to ask, except to euthanise him (he is only 2 years old, I don´t want to end his life this way), what can we do to make him better? Ie, should we give him to walk & exercise more? What should we feed him to at least improve his health condition? What medicine should we give him? (we are not taking him to the vet yet because for this condition, we are afraid that the vet will just ask us to put him to sleep. We are thinking to take him to the vet maybe after some time)

I was reading in Kismet´s diary about Roscoe - and I can fully understand that you are still hesitant to go to the vet because of Roscoe´s condition and the vet´s possible reaction.

Nevertheless, I would consult one.

As Roscoe seems to be seriously malnourished, a vet check regarding the appropriate food (puppy food ?) and a blood test is vital I think - and also treatment for enhancing muscle formation. Maybe his ´HD´ is nothing but under-developed muscles (´his hind legs were shaking when he was trying to sit or lay down´)....?
What you said about the will to live in Roscoes eyes, his attempts to manage his handicap as well as possible, the way he welcomed you and the hope in his eyes .....all this makes a decision FOR him quite easy.

Let me tell you that I deeply admire you for what you are doing - I am sure I would do quite the same if
I were you. You are meant to give Roscoe the chance of his life - and if there is a ray of hope that he can regain health - follow it!
With lots of love and good thoughts
Lilia
Keep us posted please!

Henry has hip dysplasia and if he does have HD you need to be careful with exercise--you could be causing him problems and pain unnecessarily..

I will also say that when I got Tut he couldn´t walk. He was 6 months old and had been in a cage since he was 6 weeks old so the muscles never developed. We allowed him to walk when he felt like it and carried him when he didn´t. Eventually the muscles developed and he´s been fine ever since. I wouldn´t push him--just let him build muscle as he feels like it--unless something else is wrong he´ll straighten himself out eventually.

As for the thinness--I would check with a vet to make sure that he doesn´t have worms or some other condition. No vet should push you to euthanize unless the dog is simply unsaveable and even then they need your permission. After that I would try a good quality dog food and possibly give him some yogurt to help restore balance to his system.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I agree with everybody else and I need to ad that I am not a specialist nor a Vet but just out of a gut feeling I would hand feed him between the meals. Give him little pieces of chicken and some vegetables and hard boiled eggs.
That is our "sick" diet and always helps.

Good luck and yes please keep us posted. Roscoes story is hart warming and I personally would really love to see hem get better.

Good luck to you

and lots of love from us

Thanks for all the advices. From his expression when he walks he doesn´t seem pain & from his expression he loves to walk. When I let him off leash he is as excited as I let Kismet off leash, just that he couldn´t run like Kismet does due to his condition.

Luckily he is still willing to eat & he even wanted to climb up the restaurant table when we brought him with us to a restaurant to eat! We pity him so we gave him some pork & chicken & he just swallowed them (as I saw from my angle I sat on the chair beside him.. haha). Maybe that´s a good sign that he is still willing to take food

i suggest that you find a good vet for your dog. there are doctors who are optimistic and would do their best to treat their patient so dont lose hope in finding one. it´s very important that you know someone you can trust especially in times of emergency or if you could no longer treat the problem on your own. i have a dog who also went through tough situations and she would have been gone right now if not for the perseverance of her vet. we may think we have treated our dog the best but it´s still different if your pet is seen by someone who is knowledgeable in treating disease/health prob. good luck

BTW my dogs are regularly taking pet-tabs, its a good vitamin but for my dog who is always sick, whenever she´s recuperating, the vet gives her IV of vitamin B (compex) w/ vitamin C. he said those vitamins will make healing faster.
you will really need to consult the vet to confirm if that is really a dysplasia or merely a deformity secondary to malnutirion. if he is just malnourished then high-protein diet is helpful but if its dysplasia then high protein would aggravate the prob

i second that

Don´t be afraid to take him to a vet. They could recommend you have him put to sleep, but they can´t force you to do something you don´t think is right.

A proper diagnosis would be the best way to know what to do next. When you say his back legs are the wrong shape, can you explain what you mean? (or post a photo?) The reason I ask is that my previous dog Taz had badly deformed back legs. They bent inwards at the knees till his knees touched, then splayed back out again below that. Our vet never knew for sure what caused it but he believed Taz had a problem absorbing calcium, or simply a lack of calcium in his diet during the all important puppy months, so in effect he had a doggy version of rickets.The fact Roscoe´s so underweight makes me wonder if his leg problems are caused by malnutrition. Taz coped very well with occasional pain medication and a daily glucosamine tablet, along with calcium supplements. We were never able to straighten his legs, they could have operated, but in the specialists opinion it wouldn´t benefit him in any way.

Lack of exercise will have made things worse too, because there won´t be any muscle built up in his legs. Something like hydrotherapy could help him a lot since it would put less pressure on his poorly back end, but again you really need to talk to a vet for advice on what would be best.

Because he´s obviously not been fed properly for most, if not all his life he´d be best getting small and regular meals, maybe a special food for sensitive stomachs. It´s better to build him up slowly rather than shock his system with far more food than he´s used to.

I´m so glad you´ve taken him. With the love and care it´s obvious he´s going to get from you he´ll be a different dog in a few months!

Roscoe´s hind legs bent inwards too, the knees don´t touch, but they "cross over" each other!

Another question, is HD really going to hurt a dog, ie giving him pain while he walks? Because Ros´ previous owner told me Ros got HD but from the expression when he walks, he doesn´t seem in pain, he is excited & happy that we let him walk with us! And yes his hind legs shake when he trys to sit or lay down as if his hind legs can´t "stand" the weight of his body. So maybe he is just malnutrition & not really HD?

We are now giving him little quantity of food everytime but feeding him quite frequent, to see will he get better & produce normal feces.

Trembling can be a symptom of pain in a dog. Dogs often look normal on walks because the excitement takes over. However I would not stop him going out, just be careful he does not over exercise himself.

Henry´s HD first presented as shaking, then the muscle atrophied slightly, then he started limping and dragging the foot. He STILL loves to go out and wants to run, I have to limit him to keep him from hurting himself or overdoing it. The only real way to know what your facing is to get the vet to do x-rays.

for HD cases, building the leg muscles is helpful since it gives more support. this can be achieved by exercise like swimming or taking him in walks but dont overexercise and prevent him from jumping. also, joint supplements (glucosamine/chondroitin) are helpful