In article ,
wrote:
NO way I could stand to destroy him. I also can't afford the operation, nor
the stress it would cause on the dog.

Well, look. I think people tend to be too quick to advise
to have a dog put down without knowing enough one way or the
other to make an informed decision. However, there's no
question that when you keep a dog alive when he's in a lot
of pain and when there's no hope for improvement, you're
doing the dog no favors whatsoever. You should consider
your veterinarian a partner in your decisions about your
dog's health and you should definitely be discussing this
with him.

Also, dog ownership is expensive and even without congenital
problems there can be extremely high veterinary expenses.
If you don't have a lot of savings, you might want to
consider opening a special savings account that you use only
for emergency veterinary expenses, in which you stick a few
bucks each month. Don't touch it except for emergencies.

I will go the glucosamine/MSM route.

Not cheap, either, and at best palliative. Talk to your vet
about exercise and other things you can do to make your dog
more comfortable.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Make it a Sony-free holiday.