As you probably know by now, I 'm a great believer in nutrition, "YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT". I feel strongly that a good natural diet will prevent many health problems later in your dogs life, eg; skin problems, cancer, arthritis, and most important HIP DYSPLASIA.

Hip dysplasia is actually a form of arthritis of the hipbones, which is often discovered as loose joints shown in an X-ray.

I have raised dogs here at SKANSEN KENNEL for 25 plus years. I have raised several working breeds like the German Shepherd and Rottweilers, as well as the Schnauzers. In all of these years, It have NEVER raised a clinically dysplastic dog . I 'm quite sure the general public would have a difficult time believing this. Statistically, I certainly should have ended up with at least one or two out of the hundreds of dogs that I have raised. The fact is, I never have and have often wondered why I was so lucky, or what factor was present for me that wasn't there for other people .

I have finally come to the conclusion that HIP DYSPLASIA simply is a lack of VITAMIN C in your dogs diet. Almost all dogs in the U. S . are raised on commercial dog food- with no NATURAL VITAMIN C. True, the manufacturers add ascorbic acid, but this chemical form of Vitamin C just isn't good enough. Your dog MUST get Vitamin C in his diet on a daily basis from a natural source, like fresh vegetables or RAW MILK or Vitamin C made from a VEGETABLE SOURCE .

Our puppies get RAW MILK daily (not homogenized or pasteurized milk ) and raw meat, rice and cooked chicken necks. Just that little addition of fresh raw food evidently provides enough Vitamin C to make a difference.

For many years I have recommended Vitamin C to my puppy buyers and they say they religiously give a big dose of Vitamin C daily, and still some dogs get Hip dysplasia. 1 had no explanation for this until recently. I learned from a top nutritionist in the U. S ., Dr. Don Lawson, that 80% of the ascorbic acid ingested is flushed through the kidneys within two hours of taking it. In other words, the body cannot utilize chemical Vitamin C properly. However if your dog is fed a natural diet, with fresh vegetables daily, some raw grated carrots and some cooked vegetables like potatoes, he can utilize the Vitamin C present and build proper COLLAGEN.

What is COLLAGEN? Collagen is the substance that keeps your body together. Without collagen you or your dog would fall apart. COLLAGEN NEEDS VITAMIN C. A severe Vitamin C deficiency can cause scurvy disease which has killed many sailors in the past. Typical signs of scurvy are loss of teeth and joints becoming loose- just like in Hip dysplasia. To prevent scurvy, which is a very painful deficiency just like SEVERE HIP DYSPLASIA, sailors were told to eat lemons or limes daily to prevent the Vitamin C deficiency.

Dogs manufacture some Vitamin C themselves, but obviously some do not manufacture enough . Like Dr. Earl D.V.M ., I strongly believe that a HIGH REQUIREMENT for Vitamin C may be inherited, rather than the disorder itself. This should come as no surprise, as dogs are not allowed to breed by natural selection, but rather at the whim of the breeder.

Since I am now aware that Vitamin C is the important factor in building collagen, I also feel this explains the many knee injuries you see in large breeds today- after all there is a lot of collagen in your kneecap .

I have, of course, raised some dogs that did not clear OFA on the X-ray . In every case, these dogs had some form of virus when they were pups and were given antibiotics for an extended period of time. I am convinced that the antibiotics interfered with the Vitamin C absorption. Had I known what I know today, I could have doubled the Vitamin C dose for these particular dogs .

The remainder of this article is appropriate for people considering surgery for hip repair in their dog and can be viewed at http://www.cyberpet.com/cyberdog/articles/health/vitc.htm