Captain Calamity's Latest Vet Visit

CorvusCorax

CorvusCorax

Deary me...
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Hi all,

Good news and bad news from B - his hips are as good as my mother has ever seen (and we have had 0:0 scored animals in the past) and while we will not be submitting them to the BVA - not breeding and we can see for ourselves - the vet has x-rayed hundreds of GSDs for breeding and show and agrees he has great hips and almost certainly HD clear.

BUT he has tweaked part of his lower back (probably to do with the fall from the A-frame, although it may have been present before and this made it worse) hence the stiffness, looooong stretches frequently, funny behaviour regarding the car and total obsession with having his croup scratched - he is being very careful with his back legs.
This will be remedied with anti-inflammatories and exercise ON THE GROUND - no leaping up for balls and tugs or twisting in any way. I had already stopped him jumping but vet said it should be fine once he is mended.
Haven't really posted about this much as I really did fear the worst, thank goodness it is something easily solvable.

His skin
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is badly infected (atopic) and we have been given antibiotics and steroid gel.
At this stage he thinks a fire-fighting operation is best and we can work out the cause later.
Tree pollen is now ruled out because of the weather and his diet has been reduced to a very low protein fish-based feed, but (here we go again) it could be anything.

He has a very low heart rate and very low tear production so vet wants to query a thyroid problem, but does not want to do so until a month or so's time, as the dog has enough to deal with right now.

Vet is not concerned about his weight, says he is just a lean dog.

I am delighted about his hips as I just couldn't bear to see him suffer that way, and while I hate heavily medicating him, I hope that, like in the summer, this tablet blitz will see off the infection once and for all, just want him back to his old happy self
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Also - to those doing agility with big, weight-bearing dogs - I do not want to be a scare-mongerer, but please if you can make sure they are sound, make sure they are capable, take it slowly and please be careful!!!

Sorry for the essay and thanks for reading x
 
Poor old B. Hope the meds clear his poorly skin up quickly.
At least you have some answers now on some of his issues and a plan to move forward. The good hips must be such a relief.
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Allergies really are a pig to get to the bottom of
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I'll keep my fingers crossed for you both that this new diet will do the trick and you won't need any further testing.
 
So am I, and Leah! Leah feels sorry for B because she's not allowed to jump now either, since she's an old lady getting a bit stiff in her back legs. Allergies really are the most annoying thing, I hope you get to the bottom of it eventually!
 
Good news on the hips, but poor B with his aches and itches. A friends bitches fell off the scale and damaged her back, caused her no end of problems so I agree with you about being careful, but tbh Ihave always thought the A frame a lot safer so hope you are not beating yourself up in anyway about this, Bodo is a big active dog and they do sometimes damage themselves. I hope the revised medication helps with the itching, fingers crossed you get it sorted.
 
Thanks MM. We don't have a scale, so he's never had a chance to hurl himself off it
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I was feeling a bit guilty but I know these things happen and I couldn't help him acting like a loony that day, but it was one of the most horrible things to watch.

A friend's dog had a near identical injury because of this trend now for helpers to lift and 'flip' the dogs in the air during the long attack - apparently lots of judges are cracking down on it because dogs are getting dropped so often
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My sister's cat suffers allergies...I sympathise. She is at the end of her tether over it all...lost about what to do next as she's reached the end of the line for suggestions from the vet now.

Good news about B's hips. What a relief. Hope the medication works and his skin issues are remedied.

Good luck with regards to the thyroid testing.
 
Good news on the Hips!! Skin infections are a night mare, Daisy has terrible allergies, she has the RC Blue whiting and Tapioca diet and it does seem to work well, its very strong smelling though, i was also reccomended to give her evening primrose oil every day and again since i have added one capsule a day to her diet we have seen another change.
If you wanted to try some of the diet as a taste test i can send you a sample of Daisy's?? it really does smell......
 
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A friend's dog had a near identical injury because of this trend now for helpers to lift and 'flip' the dogs in the air during the long attack - apparently lots of judges are cracking down on it because dogs are getting dropped so often
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Hun, I am casting no nastursiums here but having seen pictures of both you and Bodo, if you can flip him into the air I for one will be extremely impressed
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That's interesting K, I shall look that up, and thankyou for the kind offer
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My head is spinning at the moment and I am sure his is too so I shall keep him on this for now but I will definitely look into the evening primrose oil, thanks x
 
[ QUOTE ]
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A friend's dog had a near identical injury because of this trend now for helpers to lift and 'flip' the dogs in the air during the long attack - apparently lots of judges are cracking down on it because dogs are getting dropped so often
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[/ QUOTE ]

Hun, I am casting no nastursiums here but having seen pictures of both you and Bodo, if you can flip him into the air I for one will be extremely impressed
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Nah, it's not the handlers that do it, it is those big bad fellas waving a stick and wearing a padded suit
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I've done a bit of short work, just the 'hold and bark' and my arm was aching for days
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D'oh, I had visions of a synchronised GSD acrobatic display team
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This is not the first time GSD handling has disappointed me... got your roller skates sorted yet?
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As an allergy sufferer myself (blasted tree pollen; dratted kitty cats), I sympathise greatly with B. It sounds like your vet is being ever so thorough, but would you consider going to an allergist to have a full panel performed?
 
That will probably be the next step Prose and the vet is in agreement, we just want to get this particular infection cleared up ASAP, as he is uncomfortable at the moment, and then obviously he will have a lot of medication in his system so won't give a true reading.
We kinda have to start all over as we were so convinced it was tree pollen (because when he went to kennels in April it cleared up and had been pretty much fine since then.
 
Glad to hear about his HD x-rays.
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I'm sad to hear about his lower back and that his skin is badly infected
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. Fingers crossed both problems will be solved, hopefully sooner rather than later.


{{{Hugs}}}.

P.S. (Not only meant for you but also for anybody else who might read this) Though you're not breeding him, in all breeds it is good if as many HD results as possible are registered. Since HD have a polygene inheritance, let us say that somebody is considering using a relative to Bodo in breeding, then whether his HD results is registered or not might become important.
The more relatives with good HD results, which includes not only those dogs whose name is on the pedigree certificate without also all their litter siblings and their possible offspring, the better chance that the polygenes in that dog is good, from a HD perspective.

I know that environmental aspects also can be involved in HD but to keep it "simple" I thought I would stick to just the genes.


P.P.S. Have you considered trying acupuncture for his back?
 
Yes, Finny, that is something we are looking at, and also massage.

All his siblings are scored (although I doubt they are being bred from either) as were his mother and father. I have his sister's hip and elbow plates and they also look very good.
Once we have all this over with I hope to submit hips/elbows through the German scheme (which is a requirement of our club) so they will read differently than the UK system, letters rather than numbers. But because we are not breeding him, and because it takes ages and is quite expensive, is why we have not done it before now
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I understand about it not being a priority when you have no plans of breeding him and I'm glad to hear that you consider registering the result somewhere. By the way, SKK uses letters and not numbers too.


Even happier that you're looking into acupuncture, I'm a firm believer in it.
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Again fingers crossed for Bodo, can't cross them too many times.
 
I've never had a dog that was suseptable to hip problems so don't really understand the hip thing. I do know that its a common disorder in GSD's isn't it? Is it the lower the score the better so 0.0 is really good???? (I hope so or its muppet moment again) So that score is good?
Hope you manage to get a grip on the allergies. Our old JRT had a few. Right ball ache bathing the little sod! COuldn't get him outa the river/sea but take him upstairs and he threw a fit!
 
Yep, 0:0 (left hip:right hip) is the best possible score under the British BVA scheme, no HD, the worst total score before it goes off the scale is in the early 100s.
We've had GSDs in the family for 40 years and we have never had one with a total score higher than 12 since the scoring system was introduced, my mum was one of the first breeders here to sign up.
(So they are not all inbred cripples, despite what the BBC will tell you
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)

I just feared the worst when I saw him stretching so much, but to be logical about it, if he had bad hips, he would hardly have been able to make some of the shapes he has been making, he looks like a yoga pro
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Although like I say when they are officially submitted they will be sent to Germany, where they have a different system.

I use a shower scrunchie with B
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