Sharon7
Moderator
In the past I've mentioned Faith has had chronic intermittent lameness on her left hind leg. She has episodes where she seems VERY stiff and she had a fairly severe episode end of June. We had to rest her for 4 days with Carprofen and gabapentin given, which did seem to help.
This all started 2 years ago when she was just 8. After multiple vets examined her, and xrays showed normal pelvis and spine, I was just at a loss. I asked my vet if a chiro, accupuncture, PT or a visit to a specialist ortho doc would be helpful. She said let's start with the ortho, I know an awesome one.
Well, he certainly was. He spent a LOT of time going over all her previous records and xrays. Then did an incredibly thorough physical assessment, both watching her walk and trot, and hands-on. He talked to us the whole way through as to his findings while an assistant took notes for him.
So, much to our surprise, he said Faith has had partial cruciate ligament tears in both knees. Everything has scarred down and is pretty stable and non-painful. She also has (we knew) arthritis in both wrists. And, arthritis in her ankles.
He said the episodes of real pain and stiffness are likely just her tweaking her joints which leads to temporary inflammation and discomfort. She does seem to recover in a couple of days.
She is already on the Carprofen, and green lipped mussels which he recommended. He suggested we switch our joint supplement to Dasuquin, which we did after comparing ingredients to what we'd been using. Adequan is another thing we can add in, doesn't help all dogs, but some respond well.
He also actually does PRP treatments on dogs! This is something people do for their knees. It is Plasma Rich Proteins and involves heavy sedation and injection directly into the joint. This is basically a last ditch effort (and likely VERY expensive, I didn't even ask).
I was actually relieved, I was convinced she had spinal stenosis or a pinched nerve/disk. This scenario is much better for long term management. I still feel Faith has gotten gypped in the genetic lottery. Between the kidney issues (now normal TG), her eyes and this, she's having a lot more issues at age 10 than any of our other pups had.
Anyway, the whole thing (he did not re-do the xrays) was only an office visit charge of $150 and he spent probably an hour with us. I was shocked. I got an email with detailed notes of the visit and recommendations, and it was also sent to her regular vet. I felt so lucky this guy was only a 40 minute drive away and is an awesome resource.
This all started 2 years ago when she was just 8. After multiple vets examined her, and xrays showed normal pelvis and spine, I was just at a loss. I asked my vet if a chiro, accupuncture, PT or a visit to a specialist ortho doc would be helpful. She said let's start with the ortho, I know an awesome one.
Well, he certainly was. He spent a LOT of time going over all her previous records and xrays. Then did an incredibly thorough physical assessment, both watching her walk and trot, and hands-on. He talked to us the whole way through as to his findings while an assistant took notes for him.
So, much to our surprise, he said Faith has had partial cruciate ligament tears in both knees. Everything has scarred down and is pretty stable and non-painful. She also has (we knew) arthritis in both wrists. And, arthritis in her ankles.
He said the episodes of real pain and stiffness are likely just her tweaking her joints which leads to temporary inflammation and discomfort. She does seem to recover in a couple of days.
She is already on the Carprofen, and green lipped mussels which he recommended. He suggested we switch our joint supplement to Dasuquin, which we did after comparing ingredients to what we'd been using. Adequan is another thing we can add in, doesn't help all dogs, but some respond well.
He also actually does PRP treatments on dogs! This is something people do for their knees. It is Plasma Rich Proteins and involves heavy sedation and injection directly into the joint. This is basically a last ditch effort (and likely VERY expensive, I didn't even ask).
I was actually relieved, I was convinced she had spinal stenosis or a pinched nerve/disk. This scenario is much better for long term management. I still feel Faith has gotten gypped in the genetic lottery. Between the kidney issues (now normal TG), her eyes and this, she's having a lot more issues at age 10 than any of our other pups had.
Anyway, the whole thing (he did not re-do the xrays) was only an office visit charge of $150 and he spent probably an hour with us. I was shocked. I got an email with detailed notes of the visit and recommendations, and it was also sent to her regular vet. I felt so lucky this guy was only a 40 minute drive away and is an awesome resource.
