Limping 9-month German Shepherd

[Kynan]

Hi Coupedash, Hope your boy's legs get better soon! My GSD boy was limping at about the same age and i took him to see a doggie chiro which i recommend you do too for a second opinion. Also have you checked the condition of your boy's foot pads? My boy's pads took a while to harden up when we first started to go on longer walks and he got worn patches which caused him to limp and lag behind. Friars Balsalm painted on once a week has toughened them up and no more limping! Such a simple and obvious thing that both the vet and chiro missed. Also my boy is is greatly oversized at 72 cm and weighs 37kg and is 21 months old and lean. At 9 months he weighed 34kg. As others have suggested i think that you should try and get your boy's weight down a few kg at least until he has finished growing.

Eta Kynan was fed RC GSD puppy until 9 months and then we switched to the adult one but i now wish i had done that at 6 months. Last month i switched him over to Artemis Maximal.

Edited August 5, 2009 by Kynan

[Parkeyre]

Try CHicken necks instead of chicken wings. the tips of the wings are VERY FATTY.

I would think that wings will only contribute to his weight, going on the experiences I've had.

I use chiekn WINGS to keep weight ON my girl.

[charli73]

thanks so much Miss Danni! your comments are very helpful, and it's great to chat to someone who's been in the same situation.

so if i do half dry food, half cooked mash pumpkin that might reduce his weight a bit?

at the moment their getting dry food in the morning, and dry food / raw meat at night. we're on Royan Canin for puppies

do you have a GSD? what are you feeding your's?

Zoe eats necks too and loves them, and we never give her meat with dry food, only one or the other.. I read somewhere on DOL that the meat and kibble arent good together because they are too hard to digest at the same time or something so i have never done it.

Zoe is on a mix of RC and Eagle Pack and although she has never had a limp I never excercised her too much as a pup...

All the best with your boy!

[CoupeDash]

thanks guys!

im a bit scared to give them chicken necks though as i feel he'd just swallow them! (gets very excited around food hehe)

wouldnt get stuck?

Kynan - havent heard of Artemis Maximal but i'll look into it and his pads are all good, checked them out too.

Dash stopped limping last night fully so seemed to only last a few days... thanks to no walking and resting up. He cried when his sister went for a walk but came and sat on my lap after a few minutes to sook so he was ok hehe

we're taking him to a guy in Cranbourne, John Clay, on the weekend too 'just to make sure'. he's been recommended as a greyhound trainer who does doggy massage and chiro on the side. so fingers crossed!

your help has been great!

[LizT]

He cried when his sister went for a walk but came and sat on my lap after a few minutes to sook so he was ok hehe

we're taking him to a guy in Cranbourne, John Clay, on the weekend too 'just to make sure'. he's been recommended as a greyhound trainer who does doggy massage and chiro on the side. so fingers crossed!

your help has been great!

"Sat on your lap"!!

You might need the Chiro/massage too! Doesn't he weight 38 kg

[Kynan]

im a bit scared to give them chicken necks though as i feel he'd just swallow them! (gets very excited around food hehe)

wouldnt get stuck?

Kynan - havent heard of Artemis Maximal but i'll look into it

Try turkey necks as they are much bigger My boy loves them.

Artemis Maximal is grain free and doesn't have any nasty preservatives or chemicals and it also has fruit and vegetables. It is very high (42%) in protein so is not recommended for young growing dogs which is why I waited until Kynan was 20 months old before changing to it.

[Jetty]

My puppy had a limp from play to rough. The vet took an xray and it came up clean however he said with crate rest he should improve. and he has he has fully recovered. We kept him in the crate for a week. We have also been using joint guard in his food. The vet was great and just said that sometimes they can hurt there muscle in the joint.

[Miss Danni]

CoupeDash, I have just caught up with this thread, I dont get onto DOL very often.

You should not use a premium food like RC and then add meat to it, that destroys the calcium/phosphorus balance that the food has and that you pay thtough the nose for I agree with changing Dash to an Adult diet, but he still needs to lose weight, I dont care what your vet says, he needs to lose at least 3 kilos, if not more. I have a very substantial adult show GSD male, strong head and bones and very much a boy and at his top, he weighs 37 kilos and he is almost 3. When he is not as well muscled and fit and hard, he weighs in around 35.5 - 36 kilos. I have had GSD's for over 25 years, and have a lot of experience with other people's GSDs from being an obedience instructor, so even without seeing your dog, I know he's overweight and that will directly affect him if he has Pano.

My young girl with Pano is very lean to make sure that she has no extra stress on her joints apart from what genetics hit her with! She is starting to grow out of it finally, it can be a long road.

When I mentioned the pumpkin, yes you are correct, give him half of his dry food ration and replace it with mashed pumpkin. He will still feel full but will get less calories and the pumpkin wont muck up the dry food balance like meat does. Swimming him will also help to get him fit and burn calories.

FYI, I feed Proplan Performance to my dogs and they thrive on it.

My preference for bones for juvenile/adult GSD's is lamb shanks. They have meat on them, are fairly lean and do not splinter when chewed. If the pet shop does not have lamb shanks, I will feed lamb flaps or beef brisket bones. We feed chicken wings occassionally, more as a treat, as they are hardly chewed , and therefore there is no teeth cleaning benefit.

Good luck with Dash at the chiro.

[BigDaz]

Dont be too concerned about the chicken necks, I have two Staffy's that just about swallow them whole, scares the hell out of me but they love them.

This may sound stupid, but are you x-raying the correct leg. I took a video of my girl limping to my speacialist to ensure we were on the same page.

The first xrays I had taken of my girls OCD showed nothing wrong, because of antique x-ray equipment. I was not happy with this so was referred to a place with good x-ray equipment and right away the specialist picked up something on the x-ray and operated.

[CoupeDash]

yeah - having a 38kg dog sit on me is painful! he still thinks he's little though

the pumpkin seems the way to go so we'll try it this week, see what happens... and i'll look into Proplan Performance.

so many different ideas and suggestions on this site, but good to try a few things to see what works best - so thank you!

BigDaz - we thought the same about our x-rays, but he's had all 4 x-rayed now and nothing. plus going by the symptoms people have been talking about with pano, i really do think that that's what it is

he's been resting all week and limp has disappeared, fingers crossed for a while!