Elbow displasia

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hairycob

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Has anybody got any experience elbow dysplasia? We cam home to a very lame spaniel last night & Vet is concerned it maybe elbow dysplasia. Trying anti inflamatories & crossed fingers in the hope it is a soft tissue injury, but OH has been googling & is really down.
 
Is there any particularly reason why your vet thinks it could be ED? Without an x ray to diagnose it could be any number of things, how old is your spaniel. My young GSD and her mum have both had spells of foreleg lameness recently (both have 0 score elbows), youngsters was a knocked back toe, no idea what it was with her mum, but both came right with anti inflammatories and strict on lead exercise. I would tell your OH not to worry too much unless the vet has x rayed.
 
I wasn't with OH when he saw Vet & he is not the best at conveying the detail but there is no swelling or tenderness anywhere. I'm hoping he was just preparing OH for a possible worst outcome as he can be inclined to panic (hence the time my parents turned up at the hospital expecting me to be in intensive care & I only had a black eye!).
Jasper is 1 on Wednesday & is the love of OHs life. He has 7 days of anti inflammatories to try & hopefully that will do the trick.'
Trying to keep a young cocker, who does wall of death round the kitchen in anticipation of dinner or anything really, resting is proving tricky already.
 
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Hopefully it will just be a tweak. I would try and be very firm with regard exercise, I relented and let Evie off lead too soon, she had been perfectly sound for about 5 days without AIs but took off like a loon immediately and 5 minutes later was limping again. I was then much stricter with her (and myself ) and she was kept absolutely restricted, another week and she was fine and I started letting her off gradually but no running for another week after that. Its hard work but worth it if it sorts them out.
 
Only an x-ray can confirm ED so I wouldn't panic yet. It could be absolutely anything. Neck and back injuries can result in limb lameness.
Do NOT accept a diagnosis of ED without an x-ray and make sure your vet knows the correct position. Get a second opinion if you are unhappy.

Give him a nice raw bone, stuff a Kong, do some training with him. My dog can and will run all day, but brain training, making him think, knackers him.
 
First hand experience and just to echo the others, your dog will need to be x rayed so they can see if it is. My middle Stafford has it. He did the drugs and the injections and they didn't make him sound so we were facing the operation. However last ditch was to try him on JD mobility and he became and stayed sound. Now he doesn't want to do the volume of exercise he did previously so will the do the 30 minutes in the morning with me, will not go out with the dog walker at lunch as that is an hour, will come up to the yard in the evening and do the fields walk and ball chasing with me.
 
If it doesn't clear up in the 7 days I would want an x ray to know what I was dealing with......needn't necessarily be elbows, could be panosteitis or a multitude of other things. Were the parents elbow scored? (Not a total failsafe, but goes some of the way!)

Introduce clicker training..,...great way to exercise the brain and knacker them out when the body isn;t up to it! :)
 
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Thanks everyone. I have done my own googling as well now to counter OHs gloominess. He is a natural pessimist I'm afraid so I just have to keep plugging away at him. Poor Jasper was not impressed when he was left at home instead of coming to Keysoe yesterday, but he is still very lame today so it was for the best.
I think the Vet was just warning him of the possibility but he always panics. If he is no better Friday it is back to Vet & possible referral for scans as well as x-rays. At least being a spaniel there is no problem getting him to eat anything, even tablets disappear quickly.
 
Even if it is ED, it's not a death sentence, it is manageable with correct exercise/muscle building and feeding.

It can be hereditary and if the genetics are not good it can be made worse by high-impact exercise but if the genes are good you would have to be bouncing the dog up and down the stairs every day from eight weeks old to do real damage.

There are dogs with very less than perfect hips and elbows which are still capable of a day's work.
 
Cave Canem - that's what I'm telling him. If Jasper does go for scans etc I shall have to go as well or he will go into a complete funk, only hear the bad bits & not ask the right questions - I know from experience with previous human health/injury issues.
 
Do take a pic of the x-ray plates on the lightbox with your mobile or camera.
I have a set of good plates from my own dog if you want to have a look at them.
Also a pic of a dog who's papers have 'NOT FOR BREEDING!!' stamped all over them, jumping hurdles and posing on a podium!!

Write everything down that you want to ask, I found that really helpful when I was in a tizz about my old dog.
 
My dog was diagnosed with ed 2 1/2 years ago, he was fine on a walk but when we got back and he had had a rest was really lame for a few mins. I'd keep him rested and seem ok but next long walk he'd be the same so he went to the vets who straight away said probably ed.
I was devastated as they were talking about lead only exercise, no free running, no agility, no playing with balls, long term medication, replacement joints etc. they did x rays which showed "nothing visible on X-rays" but they were still saying ed due to symptoms. So he stayed on house rest, even after he seemed better we did another 4 weeks then played by the rules, quit agility, kept on a lead apart from swimming, no ball throwing etc.

My poor dog was miserable and a nightmare to live with so I figured quality over quantity and slowly went back to normal ( apart from agility)
He currently isn't on any medication apart from a joint supplement and has done the dales way 82 miles, the coast to coast, the 3 peaks, bike rides etc and is a much happier dog and hasn't had a repeat lameness in 2 1/2 years so for me it has turned better than I thought. I am careful about doing too much on hard ground and try to stop him leaping over / off stuff but he is a very active dog.

Good luck with yours
 
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