Ankle Swelling

[meganjane]

Ok so here's the long sordid story - the vet is a bit so I thought I'd run it past you guys!!! I promise you there is a point, at the end!

Olly (5.5 yo, lab x kelpie x smithfield) came home from a lovely long bush bashing walk early August and promptly popped up a large swelling on his ankle - round, seemingly right on the ankle bone, rock solid, ankle was roughly twice the size it ought to be. He's about the same size as an adult male lab, but a little leaner.

The vet checked him over, declared him in remarkable health (eyes, teeth, coat, build, the usual) until she got to his ankle and freaked out. She started talking osteo sarcoma and freaked ME out. We xrayed, she declared it inconclusive without a biopsy and sent me home with anti inflammatories, to come back after they'd been used and see where we were at tho she 'wasn't hopeful'. I cried and cried.

I should point out here this dog NEVER licked at the lump, NEVER limped, NEVER presented any signs whatsoever that anything was wrong - he was happy to continue life as he always had. He only went to the vet because I wasn't happy about the bump. If you went off his behaviour, nothing had changed whatsoever. No stiffness, nothing.

Anti inflammatories (which he loved! Lollies!) took the heat out and a little bit of the swelling but not much. So back we went, second xray, sent home with a double course of anti biotics incase it was a bone infection, and a big apology from the vet for scaring me as she "Didn't mean it was osteo sarcoma but just wanted me to know that was an option" (funny that - she never really mentioned ANYTHING else, but mentioned that repeatedly...) I demanded he was seen by the senior vet whilst we were there, who also declared him in perfectly good health other than the swelling.

Turns out with both xrays that the swelling is bone, right up near where the ankle joint is, and a little bit down the side. There are little fractures (not the word she used but I forget?) but they aren't sunburst, which apparently signifies osteo sarcoma? But they're straight, leading into the bone. (I think that was the way it went. Either way she def. said it wasn't the one that cancer usually had) The vet said she wasn't sure what it was, and that without a biopsy we couldn't rule anything out, but at the moment she couldn't rule anything IN, other than the fact he wasn't showing any other signs of the dreaded osteo sarcoma. So I was told to take him home, watch it and try not to worry. Thanks vet! "You're dog might have cancer - go home and try not to worry!"

!!!

(So that was back in August/September - now it's December and this dog of mine still has the lump - hasn't changed - still is fit as a fiddle, eating everything, playing, pooping, shiny coat, the works. I think this means we can rule out osteo sarcoma? I have him on sasha's blend now, as a preventative for the cartlidge issue I know he's going to get as a result of having a big lump pressing into his cartlidge)

MY QUESTION TO YOU GUYS IS... in my research for an answer, I discovered that my dog presents a lot of signs of hip displasia -

• he has the frog sit (always has),
  
• very wiggly in the hips and has a slight 'cowboy' gait (always put that down to lab?),
  
• since he was young he's always run slightly crab-like - he's always swung his hindquarters around slightly so his body isn't dead straight, but EVERY SO SLIGHTLY out, as in you can see his hind feet off to the side slightly from his front feet,
  
• since the ankle thing I noticed if he's running over a large distance he will bunny hop his hind legs every few steps, or swing one leg through without touching it to the ground,
  
• he doesn't jump much - will jump in a car as a once off, or on the furniture if he's super excited (I taught him not to jump on people as a pup so I assumed it was that?) and
  
• when he's climbing on furniture he tends to poke his chest onto it and then climb up one hind leg at a time, dragging himself up (I always put this down to his size, he didn't need to jump).
  

He does, however, have no problems stretching. Oh and he isn't hugely fond of me touching around his hips, but he also hates me kissing him so that may mean nothing!!! His dad is a purebred lab who scored no HD.

Could my doggie have HD? And if he does, could this have caused the bony growth on his ankle, if it put his whole right leg out of whack? I have no experience with HD and put all his little wiggly ways down to the fact he's a mutt, and nothing quite fits.

Sorry for rambling, but I'm never sure what info is relevant and what isn't!!!

[stormie]

When you say 'ankle', where exactly are you meaning?

I'm not sure that HD would lead to changes like that further down the leg - usually most of the changes seen to do with the hip joint due to wear and tear, but even then it's within the joint rather than physical changes seen on the 'outside'.

I'd have a biopsy done.

[Stitch]

Was the vet you went to a specialist osteo vet???

The only thing I have seen like that is in humans and it is serious.

[Staranais]

I'd get a biopsy done too, and/or get the rads sent to be read by a specialist radiologist.

If you're worried about the hips you could get them x-rayed too, but like Stormie I've never heard of a sudden ankle (stifle or hock?) swelling as symptom of HD.

It's good they think it isn't an osteosarcoma.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Staranais

[meganjane]

Ankle.. umm.. well that's what the vet called it. The lowest joint in the hind leg before the foot. I was calling it his knee, and there was much eye rolling when she informed me it was his ankle.

My vet was just a regular vet - I live rurally, in Tassie. I'm not even sure we'd have an osteo vet here, unless there's one in either Launceston or Hobart?

I haven't had a biopsy done as the vet seems to think it wont tell us anything much - she sent us home to go back in a few months for new xrays to see if it was sorting itself out, and maybe scrape back the bone? I assume at this point (four months on) that if it was sarcoma we'd be seeing a drastic change in the dogs health? As I said, he's fit as a fiddle, tho I think he's taken years off MY life in the process.

Bum. I was hoping you guys would say it could be mild HD... that seemed less scary than some other options!!! I thought if the hip was causing him to walk awkwardly, that maybe that could cause wear and tear on joints further down the leg...

[Staranais]

Wonder why she thinks a biopsy won't tell much?

You could possibly get rads sent to a specialist in another town, & get a report sent back.

[stormie]

I'm thinking you're meaning the hock? at 'G' ?

[stormie]

I'm not sure why they don't think a biopsy will show much? It will give them an idea on the type of cells that are growing and possibly why, eg whether it's a response to trauma, infection, cancer, etc etc.

I would want to know exactly what it is, especially seeing there are changes happening to the bone and only a biopsy would be able to tell you.

[meganjane]

You guys will have to excuse me, I'm not a dog biology expert! Yes, Hock... she called it ankle... I was calling it a knee! After the cancer scare, I wasn't sure I could lose much more respect for my vet but now I know she's calling dogs bits strange names, I'm more worried

She indicated to me that the lump was bone, solid. She said they could biopsy if I wanted but that she recommended wait and see what eventuated with time first. Then again I was so worried she might've just been glad to see the back of me and my 'interesting' (her word!) looking dog

[Greytmate]

I would ask for a biopsy.

You don't sit around and wait to see what happens to suspicious lumps in a young dog.