ILuvAmstaffs

My amstaff developed a limp at around 5 months of age that was most noticable upon rising & would slowly get better as he moved about. I took him to the vet.. vet did x-rays & sent them off to the ortho vet whos reports comes back saying its definately not ocd, ed or a sesamoid problem and definately no sign of arthritis. So put it down to growing pains & prescribed a 4week course of cartrophen shots & if no improvement a further 2 shots with follow up x-rays a week or so after the shots finish. There was no improvement with the cartrophen shots, so as I waited for the x-rays I took Diesel to a chiro who said it was the opposite should muscle & definately not a joint problem, rest him & he will be fine in a month. Then I heard back from the orth vet & he says it is ED and must operate ASAP or my dog will not be able to walk by the time he is 4. I took him to Syd Uni for a second opinion & they said from the very first x-rays you could actually see the shard in his joint and the arthritis and that he needed to be operated on as soon as possible as he was a prime candidate for an ulna oestectomy as well as removal of the shard. So he was operated on a few days later. I would be very wary of a vet making a diagnosis based upon what you have said. The ortho that operated on Diesel told me that medium to larg breed pups should be off puppy kibble by the time they are 6months old as the overall calorie content is too high for them & can cause accelarated growth. She did say some of the premium large breed puppy kibbles are ok, but as a general rule advised against it. The theory being that growth should be slowed as much as possible to stop joint issues from developing... personally I would be seeking out the best ortho vet you can find (does WA have a university specialist centre?) and preferably one that does digital x-rays because many joint issues are difficult to see on a normal x-ray & the added clarity of the digital x-rays really helps with things like this. Goodluck with it all & please let us know how you go.

Thanks My vet etc etc told me the puppy food generated growth too quick as it had too much calcium, protein etc for the large breed dogs???? Im totally confused I was told the same by my dogs orthopaedic surgeon. While she DID say that premium large breed puppy kibble is relatively ok, she would still advise that medium to large breeds go on a premium adult food ASAP. The reason being that larger breeds can be prone to joint issues caused by rapid growth (such as ED) & by reducing the overall calorie intake, it will slow the growth rate slightly, though she did say the dog will still reach it's optimum size in the long run.

Just had to say this. Rose of Tralee was my pops favourite song & the song we played at his funeral. Brought back major memories seeing your name.

Was sent this site. It recommend advantix every 2 weeks: http://www.pittwateranimalhospital.com.au/ticks.html

Thats a worry that the Frontline spray does not work. We bought a house in an high paralysis tick area & I was counting on the spray working. Perhaps I should try advantix instead???

Sorry, should have mentioned that Diesel had quite evident arthritis when the operation for elbow dysplasia was done & on the follow up x-rays showed that it had degenerated quite considerably in the 3 month period. The surgeon recommended ongoing 6 monthly courses to help slow the progression of the arthritis.

Interesting to read that some dogs did not have much success with Cartrophen shots. Diesel has his first 4 week course of shots at approx 5months & showed no improvement. As they still had not diagnosed the ED, he then went on a 2nd courses of them 2 weeks after & still no improvement. He was then diagnosed with ED & 1 week later operated on with another course of cartrophen shots 8 weeks after that. Still no improvement. We then put him firstly on blackmores glucosamine & fish oil caps & saw a vast improvement in 1-2 weeks & he's been on joint guard now for around 3 months & it seems to have helped quite remarkably. He will soon be due for another course cartrophen shots (I'm told 6monthly is the go) & I'm not sure if I should go ahead. The shots seem to make him quite depressed & sleepy for the first 2 days & have previously not shown any improvement... but I' not sure if the last one did not show any im provement was mearly because 8 weeks after the op he would ahve still been recovering from the ulna ostectomy

My amstaff has ED & was originally on Sashas blend which didn't seem to offer much improvement to his limp. On the other hand, within weeks of being a Joint Guard there was a noticable improvement. I think they are both quite different in ingredients, Sashas blend is marine based using green lipped muscles & marine cartilage among other things, while Joint Guard contains glucosamine hydrochloride, MSM, Vitamin C etc. I believe that the MSM makes the glucosamine more easily absorbed. I have also been reading online about a product called Flexicose that is a high quality liquid form of glucosamine & is supposed to be very good. It's only available in Australia in the human form which is apparently the exact same thing, though the pet version can be ordered from the US. I will be trialling Diesel on it shortly. Most of all, good luck.

Poor ruby. Goodluck at the vets, I hope it is something easily treated.

He is on the Royal Canin Maxi at the moment, but I was going to move away from that because if it's high cereal content, but will look into the mobility range.

I was thinking a heated pool would be a good idea, so will look into both heating and a ramp before we go ahead. I will see if the joint gaurd helps & if not, I will change to the GLM. I wonder if it's possible to give both? Do you think that 1 cartrophen shot a month would be better tahn a full course of 4 shots every couple of months? If it helps keep him comfortable, I will do the monthly ones, especially seeing as the colder weather seems to be effecting him already.

Sorry I haven't posted more Malleerr, but until these x-rays, his limp had been improving so much. A lot of people don't even notice he has a slight limp until we tell them, so I truely expected a good result from the x-rays. I'm just so emotional over it all. Have been balling my eyes out on & off all weekend. I just wish I had a crystal ball to see what his future will be like. I keep telling myself its just 1 leg & he can keep his weight off it if it's sore, so hopefully his life won't be too effected. I changed him from regular glucosamine & fish oil caps to joint gaurd on the weekend & have also started him on something called Noni juice, which many people swear by as a cure for arthritis. I'm giving him a reduced dose of that one though, as it's very high in potassium & i've started taking it myself just so i can gauge any side effects. lol I was told that you can give cosequin with the joint gaurd, so I need to get some of that for him as well. I will keep you updated on how he is doing with it all.

That sounds like a great idea. I wonder if they have that somewhere in sydney? Will go and google it shortly.

Thanx Shoemonster. When we get our house built, my aim is to have a lap pool put in so he can have somewhere to swim, but that won't even be started for another month or 2...

Some of you may have read my previous posts regarding Diesels limp & subsequent ED diagnosis. He was operated on in December & had the shard of bone removed from his elbow joint as well as an ulna oestectomy. Yesterday I recieved the results of the follow up x-rays & they show that there is still a large gap in the joint & the arthritis has become more pronounced since the op. I'm gutted to say the least. So far, after a few weeks on glucosamine & fish oil, he has shown a huge improvement in his limp & he will be started on Joint Gaurd this weekend. what I am wondering is, does anyone have any tips on long term management of arthrits, especially starting in young active dogs. The vet so far has advised to control his weight, she said not to make him thin, but rather keep him well muscled with his last rib slightly visible & allow only controlled exercise.

Hi Kandi, My 11month old amstaff pup has had an operation for Elbow Dysplasia, so I can relate to what you are going through. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding surgeons etc.

Can you tell us more of the symptoms? Have you ruled out ED or Pano?

Try adding omega 3 oil to his food as well as washing him in a soap free shampoo. I have found a shampoo called Squirt sensitive skin to be the best so far (have tried aloveen, fidos, st anselms etc). Goodluck!

Oooops. I should have read the whole thing As for leaving the pup. I left Diesel with my parents for 2 weeks after only having him for 2 weeks, but the trips was planned b4 the pup came along & we decided that as he was going to be spendiong 3 days a week with my parents anyway (he's 7 months & thats still his routine) that there wasn't an issue.... And there certainly wasn't.

OK i havent read the rest of the thread yet but why would you have gotten a puppy when you know you will be leaving it for more then a month?! Thats just stupid. A dog youve had for years or months i understand but a puppy you have had only 3 weeks?! Now ive seen everything Ummm. The poster said that they had the pup for 10weeks.. thats 2.5 MONTHS....

Don't stress. Your pup will remember. 2 weeks after Diesel came to live with us, we went on holidays to Thailand for 2weeks & had to leave him with my parents. He was sooo excited to see us when we went to pick him up & remebered his routine when we got home. We did, however, take him to visit my parents regularly b4 going away & always made sure his bed went with him everywhere, even when he was at work with me, he had the same bed. That way he always had something familiar with him & knew where he was supposed to sleep. Another thing that may be a good idea, is to leave a well worn t-shirt with him so that he can smell you when he's in the new environment.

My boy had a C4 shot with no side effect & I took him back to the vet to have it upgraded to a C5 shot. He was really quite sick afterwards. Hardly moved for about 3 days afterwards & wasn't eating or drinking. He doesn't board, so next time I will stick with the C4 shot.

Sure thing Showdog. I was merely suggesting that all avenues should be looked into b4 deciding on how to proceed.

Good on the owners for giving this dog a chance. It sounds as thought the dog may also have ED as well as there is arthritis present already. My boy has just had surgery for ED on one leg. They removed the offending fragment that was causing the arthritis & did an ulna oestectomy so that the bones now sit correctly. As for the arthritis, I was told by his surgeon that it's not a huge problem (obviously it would be better if it wasn't there) and it can be managed with cartrophen shots during the cold months if needed & by adding supplements to their meals. The recovery so far has been fantastic. He literally ran out to greet me at the vets & hasn't been slowed down much at all. We are only 2 weeks into the recovery, but so far everything looks very promising. Bear in mind though, that there is no guarantee with any surgery, so you really need to find a vet you can trust & go with whatever treatment they suggest. For me, I wasn't happy with the first specialist, so took him to Syd Uni Vet Clinic & found them to be wonderful. I don't know a hell of a lot about HD and this probably will sound like a strange question, but I saw a man on TV with a dog thats 2 back legs were paralysed & it was getting around fine in a little trolley like thing that acted as it's back legs. I'm wondering if there is anyway that one of these trolleys could be used to help the dog be as mobile as possible IF the HD cannot be treated. Anything is worth looking into before having the dog PTS IMHO. Edited to add: Goodluck with the surgery. And give Sammie a big hug for me!

It is just so good to know that from here on in, he will just get better :D And, yeah, when they get the zoomies, sometimes you just have to turn a blind eye so to speak. The vet said that he can't really damage anything, just make it sore & inflammed which will mean it takes longer to heal. But when I watch him, eventhough he may be zooming, he's keeping the weight off it. So fingers crossed, it will all be good. As for the showing. Yes, I was really hoping that I could show him, but as ED is hereditary I am unable to do that now. Hopefully though, I will be able to get another Amstaff as a show dog when Diesel grows up though. I've already started working on my OH. lool