rugerfly Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 sorry to hijac but where can you swim dogs around western sydney?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 I have seen dogs swimming in the river at the park near the nepean belle. Not sure if it's allowed, but I have seen them there everytime I go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 Just a quick update. Diesel had the 2nd set of x-rays done & the vet said that his growth plate has moved (apparently they can see it on the x-ray clearly this time) & will definately need some kind of treatment. We are still seeing the Chiro on Sunday, so fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Fingers crossed for you - hope all goes well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 If you don't mind me asking, was Mallee's op 100% succefull? Just incase we DO need to go down that track.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 (edited) Mallee was diagnoised with severe arthritis and ED at 4 months old, and was operated on a 4.5 months old. Her ED was bascially a result of the ulna bones in her front legs growing alot quicker than the other bone (god mind blank for the life of me i can't think what the other one is called maybe radial ), but the surgeon did say its most probably genetic as she was not over exercised, not allowed to jump etc. Mallee had heaps of trouble getting up and down really looked like an old dog, after puppy school she would cry and cry it was just terrible. We had a bilateral ulna osteotomy and bilatarel arthiscopes, poor little mite already had bone fragments and stuff floating to the joints. The operation was done by a orto specialist, she was only kept in hospital over night. They cut a small section out of each ulna bone and remove it, which left the ulna bones free floating to settle into the correct comfortable position and refuse. (the ulna bone is only suppose to take about 15 -20% of the dogs weight, hers was taking around 80% as it was longer than the other). She was confined to the house for two weeks (no crating) could walk straight away, and no exercising or no encouraged activity for a month. The op was totally 100% sucessful, she never showed signs of pain afterwards. She has two little scars on each front leg but the hair has covered them quite well. As the bone has to refuse her front legs are a tad bigger or wider than they would have been originally, if you know what i mean. I have all x-rays etc if you want to see them and pics of what she looked like afterwards. We had her front legs re-xrayed after all her ops for HD (she's had it all - bloody vets that can't read x-rays) which was probably around maybe 6 months later and everything had healed perfectly and no more arthritis. She has the strongest front legs and so powerful. They have kept her going through her HD and her recovery period after the HD ops. So yeah i would say that it has been 100% sucessful, and touching wood it stays that way, its been over a year now and no dramas, never presented a limp again, or intollerance to anything or any pain which is a great thing, and for there to be sign after that when only 3 months after the ED ops she had HD ops and relied totally on her front legs in amazing. If thats the road you need to go down, from my experience i would have no dramas in recommending an ulna osteotomy, that being said its a personal choice many people did not agree with operating on such a young dog with athritis already, the first vet we saw (idiot) said to put her out of her misery, but i am glad we didn't even with her getting the HD later on - she is one hell of a dog. Good luck with it all and if i can help you out at all just let me know. Cheers. eta - sorry long post i could have just said yes, sorry!! Edited November 14, 2006 by malleerr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 Thanks for that! It sets my mind at rest alteast, that IF we need to go down that road, it's not going to be as traumatic to Diesel as I was thinking. So far they are saying that there is no arthritis & its purely a growth plate that has become dislodged causing the pain. That being the case, I am hoping Peter Schofield can work some magic, but if not, I just want my boy to stop limping. Only thing that I will be disappointed about, is that I was hoping to show him & imagine that an op will make that unviable (due to scarring). But, my boys wlefare is the most important thing. I cannot believe that a vet would tell you to "put your dog out if her misery". My goodness, the hide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Hopefully for you and Diesel a trip to the bone cruncher will be all that is needed, there is nothing worse then your pups/dogs being in pain. Poor Mallee had it bad right from the start, with our original vet that is. When we had her first x-rayed we had hips shoulders and elbows done as we told the vet we were not sure if it was hips and elbows, but told her the elbows tended to be worse. She told as "i have good new and bad news hips are fine but elbows are shot" only to be told be her 4 months later when Mal went lame again, "oh thats right her right hip did have some HD signs there", as you can imagine i was ready to kill her and had to be held back .....needless to say we changed vets pronto..... I have everyting crossed for you... let us know how it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 25, 2006 Author Share Posted November 25, 2006 Finally got the results of the 2nd x-ray back. Still saying they can't see anything, but the now know its elbow dyslpaysi. Rang the specialist & he said that if we dont get the op by 12 months, Diesel won't be able to walk by the time he is 4 & even if we do proceed, the limp will not be any better, but it will help stop it from getting worse. I have also mposted this in the general forum, hoping that someone can give me some info in this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyking Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 So what did Peter Scholfield have to say when you saw him last week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 25, 2006 Author Share Posted November 25, 2006 So what did Peter Scholfield have to say when you saw him last week? Don't fall off your seat.... He said, definately no sign of OCD so far as he could tell, said it was plain to him that he was limping ON THE OTHER LEG & that he had a ruptured shoulder muscle & if we rest him (which we are) it will be better in 3 weeks. Funnily enough, up til that day our vet was saying, definately no reason to keep him separated from mum & dads dobes & no need for rest! Since then (last sunday), the limp has improved quite a bit (about half as bad, but varies from that to almost not noticable) so I am trying to follow both trains of thought... Obviously this specialist has kept us hanging, trying different treatments for 8 weeks or more (3.5weeks of that we were doing nothing as we were just waiting for his reports via mial!) & now he tells me that if wwe wait until after xmas, it will be doing more damage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Any joint damage needs total rest. DO NOT let him run around or play with outher dogs it needs to heal and it cant do that if he's active. My DDB had to be confined, yes he hated it, but it helped. What utter BS - they cant see anything after 2 x-rays but are so sure they need to open this poor dog up and mutilate him. Unless they see something rest him, chiro him, swim him. Get a second opinion definately sounds like theyre grasping for straws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 He is now resting & booked in to see an ED specialist at Syd Uni. Hopefully they will have more answers. I just googled the name of the diagnosing specialist & he is very highly respected & has letters a mile long after his name, but I still think that I atleast want someone that can explain everything to me, rather than just pushing to operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I think any injury should have total rest, especially on a high energy breed, otherwise it will just add to the injury Def swim him though instead, is fantastic low impact exercise, and stopped Eddie going mental when he has to be confined for weeks and weeks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Is he still limping only after rest, or is it all the time now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 It's really only really noticable after rest. No limp at all if he's running or going for a walk or trotting (not sure what u would call it in a dog lol). As far as the limp goes, now he has been confie=ned to the house for 6days, its a fair bit better, even after a rest. Though last night it was quite pronounced after a snooze, other times he has gotten up with almost no limp over the last week. And we have cut out the anti-inflammitants around that time, because they were not helping. But he's still on the sashas blend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoemonster Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Good to hear, hope they find exactly what it is, it sounds so similar to Eddie's injury Hope it doesn't end up being soemthing more serious for the little (big!!!) guy Def keep the weigh off him, keep him lean, from the pics he could come down a little He's not fat but he has a bit he could lose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 Well, Im going to stop feeding him eukanuba from tonight & maybe put him on a kibble for older dogs (I think eagle pack have one) as well as some BARF. He drops weight really quickly, so I think ti wll get his weight right down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malleerr Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 ILA, when are you going to see the ED Spec, fingers crossed for you that all goes well and you get a result as good as what we got with Mallee and her ED ops. I think i may have asked before but is there any sign of arthritis. ED or any dysplaisa at that, is such a bugger of a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 ILA, when are you going to see the ED Spec, fingers crossed for you that all goes well and you get a result as good as what we got with Mallee and her ED ops. I think i may have asked before but is there any sign of arthritis. ED or any dysplaisa at that, is such a bugger of a thing. OK, what we r being told is, no visible sign or arthritis on x-ray (not sure if it would normally show up) but only 30% don't have it, so it is assumed there IS arthritis (does that make sense???) We r going this wednesday morning to see the ED specialist at syd uni, with the xrays that have already been done, so hopefully I will have an answer then.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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