I'm sorry that you have joined the forums under these circumstances. For sure Sampson is a cutie!!
My first Rottweiler Bruno, was diagnosed very young with HD. He was also a HUGE, oversized Rottweiler...which did not help. He was started on Glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM right away...and we also gave him wild salmon oil along with vitamin E. We fed him Adult Large Breed food...and kept him off of puppy food so he would grow slowly and gain weight slowly.
We really watched his amounts of running and playing. We did short and more frequent walks. If he ran and played or went after a squirrel...he payed for it later. Bruno's hips looked worse than your pups. He did fine as he grew with limited exercise...and at about 3 years of age we started Adaquen shots. The vet at the time let me do them at home. This helps to build up cartilage. By about 6 years of age...he was having a real hard time and even pain relief was not helping. We had him euthanized. 😢 This was probably 30 years ago...and there were not that many choices on what to do.
Now days things are better with total hip replacement, or even a cheaper choices FHO...where they take the ball of the hip out and it produces scar tissue..and the dog does fine.
One thing I would recommend is that you do not neuter him till at least 18 months of age. He needs those hormones to develop. The more he develops the better for him.
When you do have him neutered have them do hip x-rays at the same time to see how things look. You may be surprised that they don't look as bad.
The most important thing now is to keep him lean, and growing slow, and steady.
My first Rottweiler Bruno, was diagnosed very young with HD. He was also a HUGE, oversized Rottweiler...which did not help. He was started on Glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM right away...and we also gave him wild salmon oil along with vitamin E. We fed him Adult Large Breed food...and kept him off of puppy food so he would grow slowly and gain weight slowly.
We really watched his amounts of running and playing. We did short and more frequent walks. If he ran and played or went after a squirrel...he payed for it later. Bruno's hips looked worse than your pups. He did fine as he grew with limited exercise...and at about 3 years of age we started Adaquen shots. The vet at the time let me do them at home. This helps to build up cartilage. By about 6 years of age...he was having a real hard time and even pain relief was not helping. We had him euthanized. 😢 This was probably 30 years ago...and there were not that many choices on what to do.
Now days things are better with total hip replacement, or even a cheaper choices FHO...where they take the ball of the hip out and it produces scar tissue..and the dog does fine.
One thing I would recommend is that you do not neuter him till at least 18 months of age. He needs those hormones to develop. The more he develops the better for him.
When you do have him neutered have them do hip x-rays at the same time to see how things look. You may be surprised that they don't look as bad.
The most important thing now is to keep him lean, and growing slow, and steady.
