I thought I would update you on Lilly. The more I read your replies and watched her limp after lying down, and strain to climb up on things, but NEVER jump, I decided to make an appointment with the veterinarian to check her out. We went today. Last time he and I discussed this, she was much younger and we both felt she might just still be having "growing pains". He was very concerned about her today when I described how inactive Lilly is and how she limps after lying still for a while, plus the fact that she can't/won't jump. He immediately said, "she is in pain". At 1 1/2 years old, she's too old now for this to be attributed to growing. Anyway, after relaxing her a bit, he x-rayed her hips and she does indeed have mild, but not severe dysplasia. He said he definitely could see why she is feeling some pain. He has put her on 600mg of Etodotac per day for pain. He will check in again on Friday to see if this is helping her. He said she will probably never be an extremely energetic dog and the pain could possibly increase as she gets older. But he feels we can medicate her as necessary. We will take each day and watch how she progresses. She is a wonderful animal and so loving and neither my vet nor I want her to hurt. He said it is not bad enough for surgery and that I probably need to get used to lifting her into the back of that Jeep because she will probably never want to jump. She weighed in at 82 pounds today and he is ok with that as long as she doesn't gain anymore. I think I mentioned before that her mother weighs 85. They are large Golden Retrievers (at least for females).
I'm so sad for Lilly, but at least glad I followed through and maybe now she can be more comfortable. She's going to get one of those cool Orvis beds for Christmas just because she is such a good dog!

PS. I forgot to tell you that the medication is $3.00 per day! I sure do love that dog!

[This message has been edited by lhg0962 (edited November 29, 2000).]