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Our Springer has been diagnosed with a form of elbow dysplasia. She’s three and there is an x-ray abnormality which could be congenital or more likely an injury as the other elbow is normal. She’s been limping and did a round of anti-inflamatories that helped but the limping returned as soon as the medicine stopped.
She goes on walks with no limping and doesn’t hesitate at all to go on one. We were advised to keep her to leash walks with no running with fast turns and stops. The limping only happens when she gets up from sleeping/resting. It’s arthritic in nature snd goes away as the joint warms up.
We had a consultation with a veterinarian orthopedic surgeon last week. I thought for sure he would recommend surgery but surgery is not the answer for the type of dysplasia she has. The current outcome has around a 50% chance of helping. He’s recommending physical therapy first through another large vet practice to see if that helps. If not there are two types of injections that he can do that may help and would be the next step if therapy doesn’t help. He said it will be a matter of different therapies at this point, zigzagging to keep her limp free through the years. Elbow replacements joints are too new yet.
I was hoping for a fix and was disappointed to learn there isn’t a permanent one. The orthopedic vet spent forty-five minutes explaining the condition and the options and his opinions on them. I feel like I have a good understanding of the problem now. I’m pretty disheartened though at this point.
Has any one else dealt with elbow dysplasia in their dog?
I feel your angst...I had a French Bulldog with the same diagnosis. We went thru much the same things you have...all the opinions and options.
Wolfgang was young and in wanting to offer him a long, pain free life, we put him thru surgery with a board certified orthopedic surgeon and I'm sorry to say it failed to help him. He was so miserable, always in pain, on meds, stomach upsets, unable to do much more than lay around. I cried and cried.
We still don't really know what happened but one day he suffered an "event" and within an hour...he was gone. My sweet sweet boy.
I pray your girl can be made comfortable and has lots more time with you.
Our girl doesn’t cry or complain, just the limp which shows she is having pain. She has been the best dog we’ve ever had temperament-wise, it’s sad to see this happening. I’m hoping we can find things, other than drugs, that will work for her. I’m open to alternative therapies and so is the ortho guy, surprisingly.
What does your breeder say? I always talk to my breeder about any health conditions that arise, and she offers suggestions about what she has seen/ done in her lines, as well as other lines.
She hasn’t seen this in her lines and has elbows checked before breeding. The father and mother’s OFA status were good/excellent. She cautions new owners about overworking the joints before the bones are fully formed, such as walking/running for too long, jumping down from cars and sliding/chasing on the tile floors common in homes here.
We have a physical therapy consult this week where they will assess her gait etc., and we will go from there.
We loved and were surprised by the vet we had a consultation with today. She spent over an hour with us and texted a .pdf with her measurements, findings and the options we discussed. She gave her a laser treatment and ultrasound to loosen and lengthen the muscles and showed us how to use a hot/cold massager. She told us the brand of the massager and an omega supplement to get on Amazon along with a book of exercises she recommends.
I was expecting a long series of physical therapy visit$. She said we can likely get ahead of this and manage it at home since we’ve caught this at a younger age. She has lost muscle mass and we need to restore that. Swimming is the best exercise to work those muscles. We live in FL and have a pool. Our dog goes in the house when the grandkids try to get her in the pool, she has zero interest. The vet told us her technique of getting a dog to swim in a pool. If we are unsuccessful we can bring her back and she will teach her.
She would like to see us in a month to re-evaluate and probably every three months to check her progress with us. She did a slight chiropractic adjustment on a few vertebrae from tail to neck explaining when one part of the body is out of balance, other parts follow. Since we’ve caught this early, there wasn’t much to adjust, just a few tweaks. She also does acupuncture if needed. She said the best thing we have done for her is having her at a good body weight, slightly below average.
She got on the floor with our girl and pretty much stayed there with her during the visit. I didn’t know what to expect with the consultation, but I wasn’t expecting this. We are feeling hopeful and good that we can be hands-on to help her. That makes two vets in a row we have seen that surprised us. One a surgeon that didn’t recommend surgery and one specializing in physical therapy telling us how to do it at home. I was expecting treatment to be all about the money. I need to loose the cynicism. There’s some great vets out there.
We loved and were surprised by the vet we had a consultation with today. She spent over an hour with us and texted a .pdf with her measurements, findings and the options we discussed. She gave her a laser treatment and ultrasound to loosen and lengthen the muscles and showed us how to use a hot/cold massager. She told us the brand of the massager and an omega supplement to get on Amazon along with a book of exercises she recommends.
I was expecting a long series of physical therapy visit$. She said we can likely get ahead of this and manage it at home since we’ve caught this at a younger age. She has lost muscle mass and we need to restore that. Swimming is the best exercise to work those muscles. We live in FL and have a pool. Our dog goes in the house when the grandkids try to get her in the pool, she has zero interest. The vet told us her technique of getting a dog to swim in a pool. If we are unsuccessful we can bring her back and she will teach her.
She would like to see us in a month to re-evaluate and probably every three months to check her progress with us. She did a slight chiropractic adjustment on a few vertebrae from tail to neck explaining when one part of the body is out of balance, other parts follow. Since we’ve caught this early, there wasn’t much to adjust, just a few tweaks. She also does acupuncture if needed. She said the best thing we have done for her is having her at a good body weight, slightly below average.
She got on the floor with our girl and pretty much stayed there with her during the visit. I didn’t know what to expect with the consultation, but I wasn’t expecting this. We are feeling hopeful and good that we can be hands-on to help her. That makes two vets in a row we have seen that surprised us. One a surgeon that didn’t recommend surgery and one specializing in physical therapy telling us how to do it at home. I was expecting treatment to be all about the money. I need to loose the cynicism. There’s some great vets out there.
This is great news!
It sounds like you are very knowledgeable and conscientious, but just to be on the safe side, I'll provide a link to one basic article that addresses things to keep in mind when introducing a dog to a pool - both the chlorinated aspect, and the making-sure-the-dog-can-swim aspect (which many dogs don't instinctively know how to do). Good luck!
It sounds like you are very knowledgeable and conscientious, but just to be on the safe side, I'll provide a link to one basic article that addresses things to keep in mind when introducing a dog to a pool - both the chlorinated aspect, and the making-sure-the-dog-can-swim aspect (which many dogs don't instinctively know how to do). Good luck!
Thanks you for the link!
The vet wants her swimming with a life vest on, so no worry there. We rinse the chlorine off in an outside shower and will rinse her off too. The vet gave us techniques for a slow introduction to the pool, there’s no rush. It had been a cooler winter for us and the weather is warming up now, so it’s good timing.
She hasn’t seen this in her lines and has elbows checked before breeding. The father and mother’s OFA status were good/excellent. She cautions new owners about overworking the joints before the bones are fully formed, such as walking/running for too long, jumping down from cars and sliding/chasing on the tile floors common in homes here.
We have a physical therapy consult this week where they will assess her gait etc., and we will go from there.
If elbow dysplasia's inheritance resembles that of hip dysplasia; the OFA certification of the parents (especially if Good and/or Excellent) increases the odds that the pups will have clear elbows but is not a guarantee. The mode of inheritance of hip dysplasia is unknown and, I believe, thought to be polygenic. Continual breeding of OFA (or PennHip) Certified free of dysplasia dogs will help decrease the prevalence of hip dysplasia, at least, over time, in a breed, but it still can occur, and does.
The breeder is giving good advice about not overworking the joints of the growing dog.
My bulldog has elbow dysplasia along with dysplasia in his hips. He’s seven, a little young to have this, but I think it’s his breeding. The vet didn’t give a good prognosis for any type of operation. He wanted to put him on rimadyl and gabapentin, so we did. He also gets joint and calcium supplements, and I feed him senior dog foods that have ingredients to help with mobility.
He has always been very powerful and this regimen of pills and diet has helped a lot. He went from shuffling along to having us both hold him back when he wants to run after the geese. I’m keeping him on the thin side, to take the stress off his joints, but he’s very muscular and extremely strong. He spends part of the day outside in a dog run. The way he’s going, he’ll be around for years to come.
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