Devastated - arthritis in young dog

Luci07

Luci07

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So I have read the other posts but any other info would be appreciated.

This is a slim and fit 3 1/2 year old staffie boy. He was lame and put on anti inflamatory (first metacalm now Rimadyl as was sick on metacalm 2nd time round). I had him x rayed and hence the verdict of athritic changes in his elbows. To say I was upset is an understatement. The vet thinks this is a form of elbow displasia and most likely would have been caused by poor feeding as a puppy (he was on that **** Bakers when I got him and came straight off it as soon as I had him).

One option is a £2000 keyhole surgery to remove some of the bone growth. Not a permanent solution but will bring comfort. He is not insured but my savings would cover that. Not very keen on surgery if I can find other options first. I asked about injections and she mentioned a Cartrophone (again sp?) which would improve the quality of the cartildedge. She is happy for me to try a bio flow collar on him and feed supplements first.

I have put him onto Cortaflex (canine and does have the glucosamine and chondroitin in it). Also read on the internet about trying to make his diet less acid - any thoughts guys? seeing as meat means acid? so would I help by feeding him "green" human supplements?

Got to keep up exercise and on a lead which is not great because he wont go on a lead now and refuses to go out with my walker. Vet said swimming would be a good idea but did question cost and convenience of trying to do this. He is happy to amble around at the yard and go for short walks from there but not to leave my front door on a lead.

Have to admit to a lot of tears earlier as this seems so unfair on such a young and highly active dog. BTW he is fed on JWB and nature diet meat plus dental chews, solivitex cod liver oil and a general conditioning supplement. I am also aware that he will have to come off the AI's at some point as didn't like the long term usuage of these either. Has anyone tried something like no bute as an alternative?


So guys, anything else to add? Everything I read says arthritis is found in large, old and overweight dogs. He is none of the above.

Many thanks
 
Sorry to hear this :(

While diet can have an impact on dysplasia, the main is hereditary and the secondary causes are dogs being injured or over-exercised in youth before their joints have a chance to form - if it was purely caused by diet then all the x-ray/scoring schemes across the world would just have to shut up shop.

For swimming, try and find someone with a horse pool if you can, that's what we use.

I have been lucky never to have had a dysplastic dog but if it were me I would not do invasive surgery requiring lots of recouperation (especially for a fit and active dog) but rather keep up with mild exercise and supplements for as long as the dog was comfortable and pain free, if not, I would make a decision as and when I needed to.

This will explain why he doesn't want to go for on-lead walks maybe, if he is tweaking himself in that area and he is associating it with the lead.

Best of luck to you both.
 
Thank you very much - he was hooning around the yard this evening (and now) without a care in the world. I will see how we get on with the supplements....
 
As above, there are lots of supliment you can get for arthritis, a client of mine whos staff has arthritis after an accident whislt they where boarding her in kennels (she is 3) has had acupuncture (sp), and it's really doing her good, I would maybe switch to a diet that may help a little more like royal canin, im sure they do a diet aimed at arthritic dogs, which has most of the supliment in it, inc green liped muscle, I myself have a form of hip dysplasia:o im at not exactly old:eek::D
I would also think he has been over exercised when young or maybe his parents suffered this and where no tested, as opposed to diet.
Swimming will be a good start as suggested.
 
My GSD is nearly 10 and has problems with degeneration in her spine. She has been on cartrophen injections for nearly 12 months now and there has been no deterioration in her condition, and she needs no other pain medication so I would think its worth discussing further with your vet.
 
Talk to your vet about Pentosan. I have a 5 year old that has elbow dysplasia (I bred her so can't complain about the breeding LOL) and I ahve got her on Pentosan injections along with an oral glucosamine and she is fantastic on it. My SIL put her 8 year old goldie on it after hearing about my girl and she is thrilled with the new lease of life that Emma has. I was gutted too when Brina was diagnosed but she is doing GREAT now.
 
Thank you all. Your advice is really appreciated. I will ask about the Pentasan and also the catrophone.

Taking him down to Cornwall for a couple of days next week so he will be going swimming..!
 
My gsd was diagnosed with hip dysplasia when he was 8 months old. My vet told me he'd probably need pts within a couple of years and the only thing that could be done for him was to be put on pain killers for the rest of his life. After insisting that there must be something someone could do for him i was refered to a specialist. After a £200 consultation he said that a hip replacement was his best chance and he was confident it was the best thing for my dog. He had his operation a couple of months later and has never looked back since. He was in less pain immediatly afterwards and cocked his leg to pee for the first time ever a day later. He's 8 now and i have to say it was the best thing for him and he recovered very quickly. Obviously an operation is not an option for everyone but it's worth considering if it's a solution for your dogs problem. Plus by the time you add up all the costs of injections, supplements,consultations, hiring pools etc it will probably come to more than a surgical procedure
 
Nadine hope you don't mind me saying but that is awfully young for an HD diagnosis - were the x-rays taken and scored by the BVA? A lot of vets will see a young undeveloped GSD and say 'it's got HD'.
Bearing in mind dogs cannot be accurately scored until 12 months of age your story really concerns me.

A hugely experienced vet told me my dog had HD on sight alone and by the fact he was uncomfortable having his legs pulled about, had him x-rayed with his normal vet, his hips are as good as I have ever seen, in fact he had tweaked his back in an agility accident that would have crippled a lot of other dogs and was carrying his leg carefully and cleared up with a course of anti-inflammatories.
The same woman also told another client that all GSDs get HD eventually (rubbish!!!) whole taking £450 off him....

I am hearing too many tales of GSDs being diagnosed with HD purely because of their breed without the proper tests and rushed for huge surgeries that they don't need at the expense of owners who, through no fault of their own, do not know any better and trust the vets - only the intervention of breeders (who were complained to for selling 'dysplatic' pups which were nothing of the sort) and vets knowledgeable about the breed who scored them correctly revealed that the cause of the issue was not so sinister after all.

If that is not the case and you know his hip score, then I apologise.
 
I understand your concern, murphy had numerous xrays at my own vets before being referred to the specialist at st monans. Mr Ferguson was sent the original xrays, then took more himself and he was appauled by how bad they were, especially for his age. Murphy had been having problems for a while before any xrays were taken. He would get stuck on his back while trying to roll over and scream the place down, back legs would collapse out walking, wouldn't cock his leg to pee etc. The only option was a hip replacement (the worse hip) partly due to him having hardly any muscle on his back end to allow any other surgical proceidure. I don't have all his paperwork to hand (it was a while ago and i can't remember everything that was said) but if you would like to know anything else feel free to pm me. There is also a bit on murphy's hip dysplasia on german-shepherd-rescue-scotland.org.uk who i volunteer for. I found out years later that his breeder was extremely dodgey but i won't go into the in's and out's of that. :(
 
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The breeders initials were SG, the surname might have changed if she has been married since then though. I wish i had looked into her before buying my dog but hindsight is a great thing eh! If i hadn't bought him chances are he wouldn't be alive just now, i'm so glad he was insured. It's such a shame cause he's a brilliant natured dog and so handsome but they all are! :)
 
Hi my newfoundland suddenly developed a limp when she was about 11months old, been fed royal canin since day 1 and both parents + grandparents free of any complaints. She is insured and due to her size vets basically said surgery was only way forward...off to liverpool she went!! had key hole surgery hers is elbow dysplasia but they recon from a puppy injury when they were playing to roughly and bones still weak. She had her surgery and we were told hydro is the way forward also as she did show slight hip dysplasia on scans at liverpool. She is now 31/2 still has hydro weekly which is not cheap as thats not insured after her frist 30 sessions. Her elbow is fine she has no pain not on any metacam/similar. she has glucosamine/chrondrotin supplements, I think the surgery has changed her life. Good luck with your supplements etc but i think you may just be postponing the inevitable. we are aware her knee may well need replacing in a few years time but for now she is doing great.
Good luck
 
Speaking of puppy injuries, I heard a mad story the other day - pup put to sleep at one year old for severe ED, I mean off the scale bad - owners had been walking him 2m a day on the road at twelve weeks old :( :( :(
 
Glad your lad is doing okay Nadine, though have to agree with CC that many vets do look at a lame GSD and say HD without an expert opinion. Dogs also do vary as to how they cope with bad hips, sometimes the really bad ones cause less problems as there is nothing to cause arthritis. I had a bitch who did have a awful hips and I was told would be off her legs at 2, she lived to 13 with never a days unsoundness, although when hip scoring came in I had her done and she scored in the 90s!
 
Lucia07 - have skimmed read the replies but my lab was diagnosed with OCD in his elbow at just 6 months (this was after lots of xrays and consultations). I too was offered the keyhole surgery (again at a huge cost) but wasn't given a very good percentage in results. They also said that his other elbow may become affected.

I declined the surgery and as suggested - he does now have it in both elbows. Actually I think all his joints are now dodgy.

At the time I was told that he probably wouldn't make it past 5 yrs but he is now 6, nearly 7 and has led a full, active, working life. But I know he won't make old bones but I have gone down the route of continuing to do the things that get him really excited, ie riding with me, shooting etc, over prolonging his life.

He has regular cartrophen injections, is on a glusomine and chondroitin supplement (bought via the net) and loves his life - but he is now stiff and doddery.

You have to get his exercise just right - not too much, definitely not too little as overweight just makes the problem worse. No road work, no work in deep boggy areas or the beach (deep sand). My vet told me that swimming wasn't the best thing as they exercise the limbs too much without feeling the pain - but my lad loves swimming, so I take him down the river every now and then.

Its an absolute nightmare, extremely stressful and totally heatbreaking. Mine is heritidary - his sister (the breeder wanted to continue the line) was elbow scored and got the very worst results - luckily she is a decent breeder and had the bitch spayed unfortunately I know of another person who has continued to breed from a bitch that has thrown pups with elbow displaysia.

Good luck with your boy - please feel free to PM me.

I have learned that there appears to be two types - a spur of bone which can successfully be operated on or a degenerative loss of cartiledge (which is what Toby has).

I really feel for you as I know how upset and stressed I was when we found out. :(
 
My 2 have arthritis-diagnosed at 4 and 6. It's gutting. The one snapped both cruciates and had the tibia plateau levelling op on both knees and his brother developed it in his knuckle. I reckon over breeding, despite getting them from a middle of nowhere cattle farm. :(

They're both on heavy dose glucosamine and the knuckle arthritis is being looked after with Trocoxsil (sp?) that is a monthly pain killer-seems to be working a treat looking at him flat out in the woods earlier. The other is not so good, but that's to be expected with pins and metal joints in both hinds.

With careful management, your dog can live a good quality of life, but eplore everything you can and always ask for a referral to a joint specialist. Our usual vet was a bit clueless and his 2nd in charge is vet of choice. Don't be satisfied with glib answers: keep looking for pain killers that work (Rimadyl is good and side effects are obvious so can be used often)

I wish you all the luck, been there, cried the tears. It's so bloody unfair in such young dogs.
 
CaveCanem said:
Speaking of puppy injuries, I heard a mad story the other day - pup put to sleep at one year old for severe ED, I mean off the scale bad - owners had been walking him 2m a day on the road at twelve weeks old :( :( :(
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That's terrible, what on earth would make someone think that was an acceptable amount of excersice for a puppy? The worrying part is that they probably thought they were being good dog owners :(
 
MurphysMinder said:
Glad your lad is doing okay Nadine, though have to agree with CC that many vets do look at a lame GSD and say HD without an expert opinion. Dogs also do vary as to how they cope with bad hips, sometimes the really bad ones cause less problems as there is nothing to cause arthritis. I had a bitch who did have a awful hips and I was told would be off her legs at 2, she lived to 13 with never a days unsoundness, although when hip scoring came in I had her done and she scored in the 90s!
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I totally agree with you both, that is one of the reasons i insisted on being referred to the specialist who is one of the experts in this field. The original local vet would probably have been happy for me to book him in to be pts there and then if i hadn't been such an emotional pregnant woman. I certainly would not have driven my dog over an hour one way to see him and parted with over £200 for the consultation while heavily pregnant if he was not an expert. Unfortunatly i'm sure that many people take the diagnosis of their own vets as gospel without question or a second opinion too often when it comes to conditions of this nature.
 
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