Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone....It's been a while since I've been on here.

I've got a question. My male is now 5 months old and weighs a wopping 51 lbs. He started limping on his right side recently and was kind of falling over and and sometimes yelped and reached for his back end. We took him to our vet, whom I think is great, and they x-rayed his hips and back legs and everything. Good news is his hips looked GREAT, especially for a dog his size at his age and there didn't seem to be anything wronge with any of his bones. When messing with his back right knee however, the vet noticed that there was a lot of "play" in the knee and Caizer went nuts when he was messing with it. They think it is a stretched or torn tendon/ligament ( I cant' remember which) and put him on low activity and told us to watch it. If it doesn't heal on it's own, then he wants to do an MRI on it. Also gave us a supplement to increase cartlidge. My trainer has been breeding GSD's for 30 years and said it sounded to her like he had "Long bone". There's a technical name for it, but my husband couldn't remember it. It's were the marrow grows faster than the bone or something and it causes a lot of pain but usually heals on it's own. She said she has seen it in GSD's before, especially large males, and that I should check with my breeder to see if any of the other dogs in his line had the problem. Have any of you ever heard of "long bone", or experienced the same problem?

Thanks,
Katrina

Here's an updated pic of Cai....My sweet little boy....all he wants to do is give kisses and lay on you. That's going to be fun if he reaches 95 lbs like his daddy. lol

Your trainer is probably thinking of "Pano"..It's more commonly known as "growing pains"..The thing with pano is, it moves from leg to leg..He may limp on one, one day, another the next.

It "could" be pano, but it could also be as your vet suggests a torn ligament or even something else. (Been there done that with knee problems). Pano can show up on an xray as a "cloudy" area, but again, pano typically moves from one leg to the other in larger fast growing dogs (as gsd's can do)..If this pain is staying with one leg, I'd fathom a guess it isn't pano. A torn ligament will not heal on it's own. A slight tear "might".

MRI's are the only definitive way to diagnose or by opening them up when it comes to ligaments. Since I've "been there done that"..Rest is fine, but it won't heal the problem (if it's other than pano)..but I WOULD rest him, I would not put him on any pain meds, this will mask the pain, they run around feeling "fine" but pay for it in the long run.

MRI's are really pricey but other than opening him up (and he's so young ) you won't know for sure.

Good luck with him, hope it's just pano.

I agree completely with the previous post- and "pano" is what came to my mind first also. I have seen it in lge. breed dogs at traing classes. One moresuggestion, though- even though many people are breeding dogs like GSD's to be bigger & bigger it is not necessarily the best things for them. For a dog that appears to be growing into a very lge. dog, if you are feeding puppy food, stop! Yor dog can switch to adult food now (could have evn earlier) and still get all the protien he needs to become the dog he is meant to be in size and stature. Additional protien in puppy foods will encourage long bone growth which your dog obviously (between possible pano and other possible healh problems in his adulthood) doesn't need. Best wishes to you both!
Nancy

Yes, I agree also. I probably will have an MRI ran just to make sure it's not a ligament or something else. I don't want to take any chances with this pup. He is going to be a very large GSD. I was hoping he would take after his mama and not be as large as his dad, but it doesn't look that way. At least both of his parents have great hips with no signs of displasia. Also, I do feed adult food. Never cared for puppy food very much. I'll let everyone know what the MRI turns out. Thanks for all of the advice.

Katrina

>>Yes, I agree also. I probably will have an MRI ran just to make sure it's not a ligament or something else. I don't want to take any chances with this pup. He is going to be a very large GSD. I was hoping he would take after his mama and not be as large as his dad, but it doesn't look that way. At least both of his parents have great hips with no signs of displasia. Also, I do feed adult food. Never cared for puppy food very much. I'll let everyone know what the MRI turns out. Thanks for all of the advice.
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>>Katrina
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I'm glad you're going to follow up with the veterinarian. Panosteitis is bone inflammation, and what the veterinarian found on your dog is in the joint, not the bone. It needs follow-up.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Here are a few websites that address panosteitis:
http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/lpano.htm
http://www.gsdhelpline.com/pano.htm
http://www.doglogic.com/arndtbone.htm
http://www.gsdrh.org/articles/pano.htm
http://www.upei.ca/~cidd/Diseases/musculoskeletal/panosteitis.htm
http://www.golden-retriever.com/possible_orthopedic_problem.htm
http://sigdr.org/puppyfood.htm
http://gdch.tripod.com/pupfeed.htm
http://www.critterchat.net/pano.htm
http://www.justshepherds.com/health.htm

Some experts believe the condition is related to nutrition. Your dog is very handsome!
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~Rascal
striving to be the kind of person my dog thinks i am