LauraJane Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 My 7.5 month old staffy pup has been diagnosed with early signs of arthritis. I'm heartbroken. My vet was very careful not to call it elbow dysplasia.. just arthritis she said. Both elbows (left more than right) with a bit of 'beaking' and the right hip femur (sp?) is not quite round, kinda lumpy looking. Bit of background. I first noticed a wobble in his front leg whilst sitting when he was 10 weeks (the night we got him), it was like he wasn't locking in his 'ankle'. I asked the vet on our first trip. Nothing to worry bout i was told. I wasn't convinced. Every vet i've seen since (i've seen alot, a different one every time) they told me not to worry, its just laziness/nervousness etc. Then i noticed he was stiff after a long nap and limped for a couple of steps after getting up... then the limp would go. So i changed vet and asked the new vet. She checked his leg and heard a click, so we got xrays done the next day. He's on a 4 week course of catrophen injections, joint guard, celery seeds, and fish oil. Now, my new vet is fantastic, but i get the feeling that we have more options, but because of our location (no chiros, physio's, specialists etc) she has based the treatment plan on what we can do and not what can be done (if that makes sense) I thought i'd ask DOLER's if anyone had idea's of what else i can do, or of any specialist in WA that i could contact? I feel like i'm not doing enough, i want to give him the best chance of a long pain free life. Sorry bout the long post Thankyou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) What sort of exercise has your pup had since you got him? Did the vet indicate a possible cause for the arthritis? Some actions you can take for the life of your pup are to keep him lean and avoid highly stressful exercise like ball throwing. Edited February 5, 2009 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 We were taking him to the beach or park daily. He did his own thing off lead. Then say 10 minutes on lead trainng, sit, down, stay, left, right etc. Bout half an hour all up. Once a week we would skip the walk and go to obediance training for an hour. Never a huge amount of excercise. More playing tug, training etc. She didn't give me any indication as to the cause. I asked what i did wrong, and she said "these things happen" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Thanks Poodlefan, Yeah he only decided his ball was fun about 2 days before his xrays, since then he's been banned. He carry's it round the park - but no throwing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I use a holistic vet for my 16 month old rottie who has both HD/ED. All 4 legs affected. He went from the euth needle at about 9 months of age to pain free bouncing Take a look at holistic vets in Perth - http://www.claremiddle.com/index.htm http://www.naturalvet.org/ these are two that are registered with the AVA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Thanks Nekhbet, i will give them a call straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 just as a side note I have used one in Geelong. Be realistic about it as well it wont cure, it will manage. My rottweiler is thin, crooked legged and only surgery will reshape his poor legs BUT saying that I made the decision not to put a 46kg dog through months and months of painful surgeries when this did what we wanted - give him quality of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDaz Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Who diagnosed the arthritis, was it the vet taking x-rays or a specialist? The reason I ask is we went through a similar thing with one of my Staffy's. From about 3-4 months I could swear she was limping, but it was hard to tell. Had her x-rayed at the vets and they could see nothing wrong, so took her home and kept an eye on her. This went on for months from the first time we noticed something until we finally got a diagnosis. When she was about 6-7 months I had had enough and asked what more could be done. I was told I could go to a specialist to have further xrays done, which I chose to do. The specialist was excellent, had modern xray machines and right away noticed she had OCD, fragmented coronoid process (or something close to that), basically a Bone or calcium growth in the front right knee. She was operated on to remove the problem growth, but because we left it too long she also now has arthritis as a result of the initial problem. She is so much better at the moment, with monthly Pentosan injections and Joint Guard daily. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to point out that my local vet did not pick it up and we went to a specialist before it was properly diagnosed. Here is the operation if you want to have a look, you can see them getting i there with tweezer type things and getting the fragment out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FB Rescue_Adoption Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Who diagnosed the arthritis, was it the vet taking x-rays or a specialist?The reason I ask is we went through a similar thing with one of my Staffy's. From about 3-4 months I could swear she was limping, but it was hard to tell. Had her x-rayed at the vets and they could see nothing wrong, so took her home and kept an eye on her. This went on for months from the first time we noticed something until we finally got a diagnosis. When she was about 6-7 months I had had enough and asked what more could be done. I was told I could go to a specialist to have further xrays done, which I chose to do. The specialist was excellent, had modern xray machines and right away noticed she had OCD, fragmented coronoid process (or something close to that), basically a Bone or calcium growth in the front right knee. She was operated on to remove the problem growth, but because we left it too long she also now has arthritis as a result of the initial problem. She is so much better at the moment, with monthly Pentosan injections and Joint Guard daily. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to point out that my local vet did not pick it up and we went to a specialist before it was properly diagnosed. Here is the operation if you want to have a look, you can see them getting i there with tweezer type things and getting the fragment out. It's really timely that I happened to come across this post! (one of the reasons I love this forum so much!).. I'm just about to take max to the vet to sort out an ongoing 'limp' he's had for 2 weeks now. It only happens at night or when he's been (lightly) walked. He's 5 and half months. I was going to ask the Vet for X-rays to start with but now I'll make sure I investigate it further if the vet can't seem to find anything from looking at the X rays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Maybe have a look into the treatment by Regeneus - LINK. It's about $6k and so far only done in Sydney, but might be worth looking into and having your vets speak to them about whether he's a candidate. Otherwise I'd suggest a referral to a specialist to see if you can get to the bottom of what is causing it and potential treatments. Goodluck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Thanks Guys. Bigdaz I will see a specialist. I did think the arthritis may have been a secondary thing caused by something else. I will look into it further. Stella1 - Goodluck with Max's xrays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly_Louise Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 I think first step is to determine what the real cause of the arthritis is. If it means getting a referral to a specialist - then so be it, but if you feel something is not right then keep being persistant. My experience taught me that if joint problems aren't caught fast, they deteriorate very, very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Could it be OCD? http://www.thepetcenter.com/xra/ocd.html http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=464 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 7, 2009 Author Share Posted February 7, 2009 Puggy Puggy - OCD sure does sound about right. I insisted my vet give me a referral. We are booked in next Thursday in Perth at Murdoch Uni. I'm in for a bit of a drive. Thanks for everyones help. Wish us luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FB Rescue_Adoption Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Best of luck LauraJane! I hope all goes well and you find a treatment plan that works :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FB Rescue_Adoption Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Could it be OCD?http://www.thepetcenter.com/xra/ocd.html http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1569&aid=464 Great info on these links! have bookmarked this site for future ref! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 Update - sorry long post. After an early morning (3:30am) and spending the better part of Thursday on the road. We saw the surgeon at Murdoch Uni Vet. We manipulated and checked every joint, couldn't find any signs of pain. He checked the xrays and couldn't see anything alarming, mind you he did comment on the poor quality of the xrays. We decided to do xrays (10 all up) joint taps and full blood work to rule out nasty's. Poor little puppy.. being all poked and prodded.. not that i think he minded.. he got so much attention, kisses and cuddles!!! Decky's xrays were booked for Thursday arvo, but due to an emergency they were postponed till the Friday morning. So he spent the afternoon getting checked over by the Rick Reed (Professor, Orthopedic and osteoarthritis specialist). The xrays, joint taps etc ruled out everything. He has no arthritis. They have diagnosed his wobble to be "carpal laxity" - but very mild. Basically his extensor muscles are weaker than his contractor muscles in his forelegs only. The only time its recognisable is when his legs are relaxed. He has special excercises to do, but the vet thinks it will get better with age. He said his diet etc is fine and to continue on with what we are doing. Anyone have experiance with this? It's seems like a rare disease. I've done a few internet searches but only found limited info. Can not thank the vets and surgeons at Murdoch enough though, they were fantastic... very friendly, professional.. they took time out of there day to explain / show videos / text books. I would have been in there with the surgeon for about 4 hours all up and i only got charged 1 consult fee (plus the tests). :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBen Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Have you notified your breeder of the problem...?? Are any of the other puppies affected? It's frightening, when you notice something wrong with your puppies legs... Glad you have it under control... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraJane Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 yeah i have kept the breeder informed the whole way through. Waiting for her reply from todays email with the update. I'm just happy it's something he'll grow out of and it's not going to get any worse. The vet said he's not in any pain. It's not affecting his quality of life at all. He's just a shakin' dog! I will keep an eye on it though. But i'm a worrier so i do that anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 It's really timely that I happened to come across this post! (one of the reasons I love this forum so much!).. I'm just about to take max to the vet to sort out an ongoing 'limp' he's had for 2 weeks now. It only happens at night or when he's been (lightly) walked. He's 5 and half months. I was going to ask the Vet for X-rays to start with but now I'll make sure I investigate it further if the vet can't seem to find anything from looking at the X rays. I also went through a similar thing with my amstaff who we later found out had ED. This is the last thread leading up to & after his diagnosis: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...29&hl=elbow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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