Hi, hope to get some mental support and knowledge from you guys and even if you cant help please write something so that the topic is in the active bit where everyone can see
My 6 month old puppy ( 68 pounds ) has had a slight limping on the front legs - couldnt tell which one - for a week, took him to the vets and they put him on metacam for 3 days, he did not improve. Today took xrays of all his legs, first the vet said that she cant see anything abnormal but she needed to show another colleague whoch afterwards she came back saying we can not rule out elbow dysplasia with xrays it needs to be mri but the vet has seen a slight possibility of pano in the left front leg. And she also said that there is a sloght shift to his hips but she wouldnt worry about it as he is a growing puppy. Shes put him on metacam again until next week and said dont run him, only 15 mins of walks every day. If not improved we will do mri scans.
If dysplasia could not be spotted by xrays i dont know why they took them in the first place. Is that true or shall i take the xrays and show elsewhere? Would it help of i posted them to you guys?
And do you think they are right by not worrting about a sloght shift in his hips as he is only 6.5 months?
Got me quite worried and he is SUCH a high drive puppy itll kill him not to play
We paid 500 GBP (700 USD) for the freaking xrays to still not be sure about why my puppy is limping.
Alot of growing to do so x-rays will change until growth has finished.. Pano is a likely source of discomfort for a larger young pup. My girl had it at 9mos..If nothing is seen on x-rays, injury wise, I would hold off on the panic (I understand, especially when the HD /ED words are tossed around) and get some arnica which is easy to give and a good anti-inflammatory aid. I would put him on vitamin C and a joint supplement for my own piece of mind and hopefully ease to his discomfort (usually acts as anti-inflammatory as well)... X rays again at 2 if needed...
Pano is often the mysterious injury.. Limping with no heat or obvious injury, but thankfully they outgrow it.. Hang in there and try not to sweat it.. Hard when you see your baby hurting and then spend a huge amount of $ on x-rays that not diffinitive.
Likely pano. And, yup, that means limited excersize for a while. Then, with my youngest, it will show up in another leg.... Ms. Firecracker didn't like limited excersize much either. As H7 says, hard to tell displasia at this age - because puppies grow and change - their joints aren't fully formed, etc.
If I remember correctly you were a person we couldn't talk out of getting two puppies at once... We forgot to say if one's not visiting the vet, the other will be...
There is a very easy test for pano. Squeeze the long bone of the leg he's limping on. If he groans, it's long bone pain vs joint pain, which is pano. You do need to keep him quiet if you can. You don't want to exercise him when he's in pain. Pano will go away and come back, either in the same leg or different legs. He may eventually get it in all legs. It seems to be more common in the front legs, but can also hit the back legs. If he's on puppy food, you might want to switch him to a slow growth adult dog food.
Thank you. Hes on raw actually. I decreased the bone content and the amount i am giving him.
He does not groan whether i touch the joint or the long bone? He did not seem to be in pain at all either he runs and everything (well not anymore as im restricting him as of today)
Hi, im that person, but ratger than asking you before getting it i already set my mind and heart on the puppies and got attached so getting rid of one of then wasnt an option. I think this serves us right in that aspect. As my other puppy has dental issues and need a 6000 dollars of surgery? Im losing my mind. They are doing fine by the way we are working with trainers and all. In case you wondered. Hope it keeps that way.
Back to the main concern- i have always been worried about hd and ed i think i find all the troubles. hurts me seeing him not enjoying himself.
Is metacam not good? Is arnica a similar thing should i mention to his vet? I read somewhere i shouldnt give vitamin c and anti inflammatory?
What worries me as well that i think surgery and recovery chances are higher if elbow dysplasia is found out when the dog is a puppy still so but many say you need to wait out to find the dysplasia. its coflicting really. Ill post the xrays if i can. They didnt give them to me as they coudlnt print but took a photo of them on the pc.
Asher was misdiagnosed with elbow dysplasia when he was 11 months old, after a few days of mild limping. The vet took x-rays and told me that he needed surgery. A few things happened that made me doubt how experienced the vet was in orthopedics (for instance, it took them over a week to figure out how to give me a copy of the x-ray. That seems like a pretty basic task if you're dealing with x-rays routinely). I took Asher to a vet who was recommended to me by our trainer. The second vet said that Asher hadn't been positioned properly for the first set of x-rays but even so everything appeared normal. He didn't see what the first vet saw at all. I had him redo the x-rays just to be on the safe side and everything ended up being fine, and Asher hasn't limped since.
Anyway, I spent several sleepless nights worrying about what ended up being just a mild (and expensive!) sprain. I guess, if I were you, I'd make sure that your vets were experienced in orthopedics and maybe get a second opinion if you're not confident of the diagnosis. I'm not sure why an MRI would be needed for diagnosis, I would question and/or research that, but I'm not a vet or an expert...maybe it has to do with the age of the puppy...
He does not seem uncomfortable or in pain. Still runs a lot. Running okay but its when hes slowly trotting when the limping is noticable. At the first vet visit, they examined him and he was only getting uncomfortable when touching his right leg. But didnt react or anything badly. Like didnt froan or moan or cry
It takes a trained eye, but pano often can be seen on xray. My boy had a couple of really bad bouts and a couple of mild bouts from about age 11months - just at 24 months. He never cried or moaned either when his leg was squeezed. But he was muzzled during exams so that may be why. He did outgrow it but it wasn't fun during the bouts.
It obviously is not pleasant or ideal for him to have pano but id prefer that really it scares me that its something else and they wont be able to tell until its too late to sort with a surgery.
I thought maybe theres an experienced someone who could have a look at the xrays and maybe give me some advice. I probably will end up getting mri which is way more money and not even sure if that will be 100% results.
God he is pooping all the drug theyve given him to sleep today it smells and looks horrid :,(
Active pano doesn't show up yet on an X-ray unless they've had it for a while. It takes a radiologist to see it. A vet or vet tech might not be able to tell.
OFA rates elbows based on x-rays. so don't know why the vet told you that only an MRI can do that.
when any limping is going on, restrict activity for a couple days. if it comes and goes, most likely pano. if rest does nothing to help, then could be another issue. You can always check with OFA, I can't remember at what age they can do prelims for elbows. Not sure if it's the same age as hips
I can't seem to find an info on ofa in England but two vets and his breeder said that they need to be 12 months old or something in order to get and degrees on their elbow and hips. I think we will wait til Tuesday using metacam. See how he is, vet said take a video of him walking running and trotting and bring when coming. I still think they should be able to tell from X-rays if any problems
Do you know if insurances cover X-rays and stuff like that?. I will look into ours but wondered if you know.
videos don't necessarily show anything. Pups run in all kinds of weird, awkward, clumsy and limping spurts. It's because they are young and getting taller by the second (it seems) and just haven't always figured out quite where their body parts are or how they work.
A specialist (or even a vet that does xrays for evaluation on a regular basis) can easily look at a film and tell you if there is a potential problem with the joint. 12 months is likely when an official rating can be given (it is for the SV).
MRi are much more sensitive images than xrays but you should be able to tell a lot from just an xray.
I went through something similar with my 3.5 yr old this past week. he had a slight limp when really active over the last week. So after i drove myself nuts with his limp (no pain or anything) I got xrays done and the results were inconclusive. They said its a "possibility" of mild elbow dysplasia and also discussed early arthritis....after a 450$ vet bill I was not happy with a POSSIBILITY!!!! After just reading your thread I have decided to get copies of the xrays and get a 2nd opinion (just called the vet)...I had been exercising him pretty hardcore for maybe 5-6 days straight and i finally saw a limp after he was trotting on a rocky surface. I believed it was a sprain/strain, but figured id leave it to the trained eyes.. I didn't think that all of a sudden a limp would show up without pain if it were not a sprain/strain. He had never shown signs of a limp before this so why would dysplasia start now?! Enjoy your happy/loving pup. I am also thinking about insurance now lol of course too late! GOOD LUCK
Hope your dogs problem is just a strain and nothing more important - so is mine hopefully- i was having sleepless nights before the vet and dreading the day we were going to get xrays, the day had come, and i ve still been sleepless adterwards as no certain results. Really sucks. We claimed the cost and sent a form to Petplan hope they pay for it.
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