falconer20

Ok, looks like x-rays are the way to go. As for rest, no walks have been done in the past week so hopefully this is helping. Will check out Monash Vet (nice and close) to see when exam can be done. Hopefully I have not extended or increased any injury by taking the course I have. With the x-rays, are these always done under general? or are some vets clever enough to do them without. Don't want to have to put the dog under unnecessarily.

I have been reading this forum for some time but have decided to join to broaden my involvement and to gain access to the depth of knowledge out in the dog community. As this is my first post, please treat me gently. As the title suggests, I have a 14 month old pure breed Golden Retriever which six weeks ago misjudged some stairs. No immediate injury was evident however after a couple of days, at the end of a half hour walk, he started to limp on the left front. Walks were reduced but the limp was still evident when getting up, but his desire to be involved as much as possible was undiminished. Three weeks ago, at a meet and greet of two new pups to the family, our dog couldn't control himself and the following day he could hardly walk. A trip to the vet was arranged. Upon examination, the vet diagnosed elbow dysplasia and then went on to tell me all the long term issues and what that involves. X-rays were suggested ($550) and anti inflammatories were prescribed. As I walked out of the vets, my head was spinning. How could this be? He's only 14 months. Operations, drugs, arthritis, long term health management, etc all caused a severe headache (me, not the dog). Telling all this to the family was met with the same questions and doubts. Anyway, a nights sleep, some good old internet surfing, and a call to the breeder led us to suspect that elbow dysplasia may have been a worst case diagnosis. If our research is correct, we understand it to be hereditary and the breeder confirmed there was no evidence of it in their records. So we have continued with the tablets and kept the excitement levels to a minimum, but there still appears some evidence of an occasional limp. So where to from here. If after the course of anti inflammatories the limp returns, x-rays will have to be taken to confirm the the problem. I have seen on this forum there are vastly differing costs for x-rays but I was also wondering if these have to be done under general anesthetic? Is there a vet clinic in the Waverley area of Melbourne who might be reasonable in their costs but, more importantly, able to give a good old, down to earth assessment of what might show up on the xray. I am open to any and all comments on this as I want to make sure our dog gets the right treatment for whatever this is. 14 months is too young to be considering long term medical treatment.