XRAYS for Liza - opinions?
 

Hi all,

As I mentioned in another thread, my 5 month old (55lb) GSD has a limp when running. When she runs she'll limp, and the leg will also point outwards a bit.

The doc could not tell much from the X Rays, so he sent them to a local specialist, and the specialist suspects it's hip dysplasia. Here are the X Rays the doc sent over:

http://i.imgur.com/LJmgS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ZbFkD.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gnaHE.jpg

The limp is on the hind left leg, although the doc said the suspected hip dysplasia is on the right side.

He's suggesting another round of X Rays in 2-3 months, and anti-inflammatory pain killers whenever she will be getting exercise.

Any advice/suggestions would be very welcome. Fingers crossed it's just part bone development as she's growing up.

Did anyone check her knee? Does she ever lift her leg right up as far as she can? Does she cry when she jumps?

The doc felt her entire legs, so I'm assuming the knee was checked.

Not sure about lifting her left as far as she can - will look into this.

She doesn't cry. The only time she ever cried was when I took her for a 10km walk and she started crying about half way in. I've since taken her for many 5km+ walks and she hasn't made a sound.

The knee would need a drawer test and an xray to look for evidence of inflammation. I would make them look for knee injury or pano, which you also need an xray for.

The specialist suspects HD? I'm not seeing anything in those x-rays to suspect that. Those hips look fine to me even with the bad positioning.

At that age, I'd suspect pano first. Did your vet mention anything about that? Could also be anything from a soft tissue/pulled muscle to a knee or back problem.

Any idea how or when the limping started?

I"m with Paul, I think I'd find a different specialist.

From those xrays her hips are looking ok, they aren't excellent, but they don't look bad to me.

I do agree on waiting and do another xrays but I would do them when she hits about 18mths as long as nothing major crops up.

I would wait to see what the specialist says, but IMO the positioning and over exposure on these xrays are going to make reading these VERY difficult.

Is the vet suggesting xrays in 2-3 months just because, or pending the results from the specialist?

Has he looked for Pano? Does the pain always seem to be in that back leg, or has it presented in any other leg before?

I don't know if I would jump to medicating without a diagnosis, and would work more on mental exercise with limited physical exercise until the cause is determined.

Swimming, marker training OB sessions, targeting, searching, and tracking are great ways to drain mental exercise while keeping the stress on joints down.

i am thinking the specialist would want to repeat the x-rays. and then give his impression.

You need a refund for those x-rays. They can't even be read properly. You only really see 1 hip which looks okay to me. I would complain, have them retake it and send it again to the specialist on their own dime.

That's what mine did. He didn't care about the xrays taken at my regular vets. And, to the OP, a vet at my regular office told me Jax needed a hip replacement because her hip "popped out and then popped back in". The ortho laughed at that idea and it was her ACL that was torn. I would make them look for pano or knee injury.