So, what do I do with this? ?

[{97702}]

It’s a rhetorical question really I suppose, I just want to moan....

Ace has been lame for 5 1/2 weeks now, he has had 6 sessions of laser treatment and has been on YuMove Advance for 2 weeks so far, he’s been on Instacam all the way through (notably worse without it).

He wasn’t getting any worse - maybe even a tiny improvement - up to last Friday, but he was going absolutely mad due to lack of exercise. With my vets permission took him to the secure dog field with the others, he had a walk ON THE LEAD very slowly around the perimeter while the others pottered about on Friday evening. Left him at home on Saturday when I went to see my mum, came back Saturday afternoon and he was dead lame ? There is no way it was the lead exercise, he has clearly wrenched his leg in some way - I wonder if he and Millie were playing while I was out, although they have only ever played outdoors before. He had his final laser treatment on Monday and has shown no improvement since then - back to the vets this afternoon, but I have no idea what they can actually do.

Here is his X-ray - they diagnosed minor inflammatory changes in his ‘wrist’, no bony changes on the long bones or shoulder, no bone fragments seen (they took 4 plates altogether).

He is now not putting the paw to the ground all the time, which is worse than he was before. No heat, no swelling, no reaction, no signs of corns.... I give up!!!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Would he cope with cage rest for a few weeks?

 

[{97702}]

Would he cope with cage rest for a few weeks?

No, I don’t think so - he is quite a stressy dog and is bad enough not getting walked? Maybe if I sedated him ?

 

[Roxylola]

Could it be higher up? Spine/neck, shoulders, elbows? Theres clearly something wrong but I'd say it's been the enforced rest that's helped more than the laser treatment from what you've said

 

[{97702}]

Could it be higher up? Spine/neck, shoulders, elbows? Theres clearly something wrong but I'd say it's been the enforced rest that's helped more than the laser treatment from what you've said

They xrayed all the way up to and including the shoulder and said nothing seen? To be fair they did say that the laser treatment would have a cumulative effect and it would take at least 6 sessions, but I feel like I’m throwing money down the drain at the moment - I’m at nearly £750 already.

I’ve sent the X-ray to the physio for the greyhound charity where he came from, to hear her thoughts.... at this rate I’ll be taking him back to their vet in Shropshire who is a greyhound expert

 

[Sandstone1]

Maybe something not showing up on xray? May need a CT scan, Is he insured.

 

[Blanche]

Nothing helpful to add but I hope you can get it sorted soon.

 

[{97702}]

Maybe something not showing up on xray? May need a CT scan, Is he insured.

Nope he isn’t - the vets advised that they didn’t feel a CT scan was necessary, I’ll ask again today when I get a second opinion.

 

[jenniehodges2001]

This might be a silly question but I assume they can give all animals nerve blocks, not just horses? So this would possibly be a way of ascertaining where in the leg (if it is the leg) the pain results from.

X-rays don't always show up things, especially when certain bones can be very dense due to their phosphorous and calcium content and the resulting x -ray ends up with a loss of definition and a white area which makes it very hard to interpret.

 

[ihatework]

I don’t have any real experience with dog lameness but if this were a horse I’d be steroid injecting the joint with inflammatory changes. Do they do that with dogs?

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Can you take him somewhere to swim? I have no idea if that would help with finding the cause of the problem, but I'm thinking it would be interesting to know if the leg would tolerate such exercise when it doesn't need to carry up his weight.
If it did tolerate such exercise, he might also be able to cope better with temporarily having to be so inactive when he's out of the water.

I'm a big fan of trying acupuncture, but that's perhaps difficult to do when you don't know what the problem is.
I suppose you're in the same situation as me, wishing you could just do a full body scan on them, a la Star Trek, where the machine always are able to find the problem/problems.

{{{Hugs}}}, and fingers crossed for that your veterinarian have an Eureka moment during the appointment.

 

[AmyMay]

Ok, out there on left field. Are you absolutely sure he doesn’t have corns?

 

[{97702}]

Ha ha I love horse forums, particularly since my mind has been working in EXACTLY the same ways ???

I was wondering about nerve blocking to find out where the pain was, to be honest I have no idea if they do it with dogs but I am going to ask!

Similarly i was also wondering about getting the joint medicated (as I’ve always referred to it in old fashioned layman’s terms!) - again, I shall ask.

I have often said that if I’d had a horse on Bute and box rest for mild lameness for 3-4 weeks (as this started out) I would expect to see some improvement, however minor, after that time - Ace has really shown none. My dog trainer pointed out that Ace was not a horse ??

 

[{97702}]

Can you take him somewhere to swim? I have no idea if that would help with finding the cause of the problem, but I'm thinking it would be interesting to know if the leg would tolerate such exercise when it doesn't need to carry up his weight.
If it did tolerate such exercise, he might also be able to cope better with temporarily having to be so inactive when he's out of the water.

I'm a big fan of trying acupuncture, but that's perhaps difficult to do when you don't know what the problem is.
I suppose you're in the same situation as me, wishing you could just do a full body scan on them, a la Star Trek, where the machine always are able to find the problem/problems.

{{{Hugs}}}, and fingers crossed for that your veterinarian have an Eureka moment during the appointment.

Yep they have hydro therapy at the practice so that’s another option! I’m willing to try anything now....

 

[{97702}]

Ok, out there on left field. Are you absolutely sure he doesn’t have corns?

I have examined repeatedly, I have poked and prodded and squeezed and pushed.... can’t find anything. My own canine/equine physio said she knows of a greyhound that was about to have its joint fused when they found it had a corn, so I’m really mindful of that I must admit!

 

[AmyMay]

According to Noel Fitzpatrick (I know not everyone’s favourite), if you rub toothpaste on the pads the corn should be obvious.... ??‍?

 

[{97702}]

Well I can’t say they aren’t being thorough - he has been in there 1/2 an hour so far for the second consultation. I’m meant to be on my lunch hour, nobody from work knows I’m here!

 

[Flyermc]

According to Noel Fitzpatrick (I know not everyone’s favourite), if you rub toothpaste on the pads the corn should be obvious.... ??‍?

i remember watch that on telly! http://www.thesupervet.com/lola/

 

[gryff]

Ok, out there on left field. Are you absolutely sure he doesn’t have corns?

This was my thought, too.
My Mum's whippet went through test after test, only for it to be a deep seated corn.

 

[{97702}]

Second opinion today - minor discomfort around the cannon bone perhaps, nothing else seen. They tried to get another X-ray without sedation but he wouldn’t cooperate! Rest & Metacam for 4 weeks then re X-ray under sedation.....or a CT scan.....?

 

[{97702}]

According to Noel Fitzpatrick (I know not everyone’s favourite), if you rub toothpaste on the pads the corn should be obvious.... ??‍?

My views on NF are not repeatable, but Ace duly has an Aquafresh scented foot now ? Nope, nothing.....

 

[AmyMay]

My views on NF are not repeatable, but Ace duly has an Aquafresh scented foot now ? Nope, nothing.....

??

 

[MrsMozartleto]

My views on NF are not repeatable, but Ace duly has an Aquafresh scented foot now ? Nope, nothing.....

I feel like I've missed something somehwere...?

Both our Grots have battered a toe each. After much money (thankfully insured at the time!) and three lots of vets, increasing in expertise, it turns out they've broken the little toe bones and there's nowt to be done about it. Both dogs are occassionally wonky, but other than that, they seem to behappy bobbos.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

4 more weeks of rest! I know that somethings simply needs time, and patience, but if he's already rested over 5 weeks, was that really all they could come up with?

P.s. altogether I like NF.

 

[{97702}]

Yep that’s all they could say.... I feel so hopeless about it all. Vet explained it could be a minor stress fracture or something like that which wasn’t 100% clear on the original X-rays? Or it could be ligament or tendon damage, which would need that much rest before it heals properly.

Vet said a CT scan is an option, but if it simply shows something like a stress fracture or ligament/tendon damage..... they will just tell me to rest him!!!! As there is no heat/swelling/pain reaction she thinks it’s not anything sinister still, if it was bone cancer there would be swelling etc by now apparently.

Bloody greyhounds!!!! ???

 

[FinnishLapphund]

One part of me have a lot of patience when it comes to my pets, but the other part have no patience, and wants things fixed promptly.

Did they offer him any calmer to help put up with all the resting?

 

[deb_l222]

I have nothing useful to add, as I was also going to suggest a hidden corn but as you have now aquafreshed the chap, that's a non-starter!!

If he will swim, that might not be a bad thing but I'm not sure greyhounds / lurchers are natural born swimmers. Sorry, nothing else useful to suggest but you have my sympathies. Having them on box rest is a nightmare.

p.s. I have to source some aloe vera cream because my vet thinks that's a good idea for Willow's callous. Not quite a bizarre as toothpaste but not far off

 

[fankino04]

One part of me have a lot of patience when it comes to my pets, but the other part have no patience, and wants things fixed promptly.

Did they offer him any calmer to help put up with all the resting?

I'm like that too, I'm patient if there's a diagnosis and things are progressing in the expected time frame but hugely impatient when there's no answer or things aren't responding as expected and I worry the diagnosis is wrong.

 

[{97702}]

I totally agree with you FL and Fankino - if I know what it is that is being treated (whatever “it” might be) then I can cope? It’s when they keep saying ‘well we don’t really know....’ that I get stressed!

But I’ve tried to give myself a talking to! He isn’t going to die, he is incredibly happy and bouncy in himself, he is thoroughly enjoying life even if he does wish there was more running around - so he will just have to wait a while ? And I will still keep checking for corns, Aquafresh might lie!

I didn’t ask about calmer to be honest FL, I’m still traumatised by a lurcher I got out of rescue many years ago who was dosed up hugely on Tramadol to mask the pain of the bone cancer he had.... it was horrible seeing him existing but not living, my own vets were furious with the rescue charity and PTS the first role they saw him, I just wish I’d taken him away from the charity sooner but they wouldn’t let me ?

 

[{97702}]

I have nothing useful to add, as I was also going to suggest a hidden corn but as you have now aquafreshed the chap, that's a non-starter!!

If he will swim, that might not be a bad thing but I'm not sure greyhounds / lurchers are natural born swimmers. Sorry, nothing else useful to suggest but you have my sympathies. Having them on box rest is a nightmare.

p.s. I have to source some aloe vera cream because my vet thinks that's a good idea for Willow's callous. Not quite a bizarre as toothpaste but not far off

I’m tempted to try him swimming just for the amusement factor (is that really awful? Probably!) - my lurchers have always loved water but the greyhounds all think I’m trying to kill them if I ask them to swim ? Their little stick-like bodies aren’t great at displacing water either

I’m sure I’ve had aloe Vera cream, I think it was for humans? I used it for the horse years ago ?