Gold Implants for Dogs with Hip Dysplasia

Pain Of Dysplasia In Dogs Relieved With Gold Treatment, Study Shows is a Science Daily article containing the following remark:

Many animals and people experience chronic joint pain. In dogs, a common source of joint pain is hip dysplasia, a developmental defect of the hip joint. Implantation of gold into the soft tissues around the hip joints of dogs with dysplasia can relieve pain and lessen stiffness for several years.

Since the 1970's it has been believed by some that implanting small grains of pure gold around painful joints in dogs could ameliorate pain. Recently Gry Tove Jæger wrote a Ph. D. thesis titled The effect of gold bead implantation in a dog model with chronic joint arthritis - a method of pain control. She presented it to the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, on May 29, 2009. Her paper was focused on an investigation of whether it was possible to reduce pain and improve joint function by implanting gold grains around painful dog joints.

An experiment involving two groups of dogs supplied the data for the paper. The dogs in the experiment experienced hip dysplasia and pain and loss of function associated with it. Only one of the two groups received gold implants. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups six months after the treatment. The dogs with the gold implants suffered less loss of function and less pain. Further assessments were made a year and a half later. Two years after the gold implants the implanted dogs appeared to be better off. There were few serious side effects.

Guilty or Innocent?

The Biology News Net article What really prompts the dog's 'guilty look' points to a study indicating that the attribution of guilty looks to one's pet dog is likely to have its causal source in the pet owner's tendency to read something into a dog's expression that can be completely unrelated to whether or not a dog committed an offense. Alexandra Horowitz, an Assistant Professor from Barnard College, investigated the matter. Results of the study were published in Elsevier's Behavioural Processes.

This sentence from the linked article seems to sum things up. "Thus the dog's guilty look is a response to the owner's behavior, and not necessarily indicative of any appreciation of its own misdeeds." Indeed. It looks like a case of a dog reacting but not to what the human owner thinks it is reacting to. Making analogies between human and animal behavior can lead to this type of error.

Tips on Trimming Nails

The website Professor's House features an article titled Dog Grooming Made Easy. A section is devoted to trimming nails. Some of the important points in my view are:

• Nails should be trimmed about once per month.


• Scissors or clippers are used but they are specially made ones for dog nail trimming.


• Dogs are made comfortable with paw handling with encouraging pats and treats.


• Examine the nails. Cutting should occur behind where the nail curvature begins.


• Err on the side of under trimming.


• Find the quick if you can and avoid reaching it. But if accidentally reached be prepared to clot bleeding with cotton balls and through other means as necessary.