My Jilly had a low grade of this but the vets thought it wasn't bad enough to operate. She never got a catch in it or favored it but I did my best to limit her jumping and playing roughly or running for too long at any one session. I never taught her any tricks such as Tibbe does because of it for fear she might do something during the performance of those tricks when she was trying to please by doing the trick. I would not allow her to jump off of the couch or bed or anything like that if I could help it - but she did sometimes when she heard a noise or something and I always panicked when she did. I provided her steps for getting off of high things like couches/beds but I often lifted her down from most places as much as possible to lessen her jumping even on the doggy stairs. I didn't ever have to give her medication for it so don't have any doggy experience with that drug you mentioned(can't remember how to spell it) but it helped me personally when I first got hip problems. It helped a lot.
Am sure sorry to hear sweet Cooper has this but hopefully with careful living, surgery can be avoided.
__________________  Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |