Life Update!

Sorry for the lack of posts on my part. We have been through a lot over here and it is finally calming down. We sold our house, moved to a new place, family issues, and Elliot was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia on April 3rd, 2019.

What is hip dysplasia? It is a common skeletal disease that occurs when a dog's hip joints don't develop how they are supposed to. It can be managed or it could be very painful. Elliot got the painful side of it all. I noticed some symptoms for a few months (since he was 8 months old) about how he walked, jumped, and laid. It all made sense when the vet confirmed that Elliot did, in fact, have this disease. It's not completely impossible to care for but since Elliot's is severe, we are looking at two surgeries to repair . He needs a double femoral head ostectomy (FHO) . This is where they will remove the head and neck from the femur. They do one hip per year and watch him for the entire year after his surgery. A lot of dogs suffer from this and he won't be the last. In 2015, a study revealed that 21% of Golden Retrievers will develop this disease. Sadly, there is no way to prevent this disease because it's almost always inherited. The most recommended advice is to have health papers on purebreds and such. Luckily, there are tons of options to manage this with medication, supplements, and diet.

Wish us luck! This is going to be wild.

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Below is Elliot's GoFundMe information if you are willing to donate. I am, by no means, asking or begging anyone to donate. It's simply to help me put money towards his therapy and medication. Thank you all!