In all my years with German Shepherds I've never had a experience with this disease.
One of my GSD's has "Pano" and it started in his front paw-- lasted three weeks of pain and limping then went away. Now it is in his rear leg and he is in pain and again limping and prefers to sleep most of the day. He is seventeen months old and is on a raw food diet with supplements vitamin E and salmon oil. Any suggestions ??

When was the paw episode? Recently?

Kasey had pano too. It started when he was about 10 months - 4 of his male litter mates had it also. He did the same thing - started with one of his front legs and lasted about 2 months. He didn't get excited about walks, although he still wanted to play ball! He didn't eat as much as usual or have a ton of energy. Then it switched to the other front leg for a month or so. Then it seemed to go away for a few months and then returned for a second round. I talked to 2 vets about it and did a lot of research and also talked to the breeder who was keeping an eye on the other litter mates. We all pretty much got the same info:

1. Kibble feeders say you should not feed large-breed puppy food.
2. All vets agreed that it is still a good idea to do a daily walk, just not long and fast. And then let them play as they feel like playing. I didn't let Kasey jump up when playing ball or anything though - didn't want to put unnecessary pressure on his bones.
3. Only give baby aspirin if they seem like they are really in pain. No other drugs were prescribed.

I guess it can come and go for up to 2 years or so in some dogs - Kasey was about 18 months when it seemed to go away permanently. Him and all his litter mates are all doing fine now and seem perfectly normal with no intervention on our part - just good nutrition and common sense with activity.

Lori

Hi Connie: Front paw was eight months ago.

Lori : Thanks for the information. I was hoping to find some type of Holistic /vitamin
therapy for my GSD. Everything I researched indicates that time will heal Pano as You indicated again thanks, Tom

 Quote: Tom Lasko

Hi Connie: Front paw was eight months ago.

I asked about the time because of pano being a self-limiting ailment.

Your dog is really at the edge of the usual pano time span. So I wondered if the other episode had been at a much earlier age. (I had never heard of a dog starting pano at 17 months.)

 Quote: Tom Lasko

Everything I researched indicates that time will heal Pano

This was my experience as well. Oscar got it in his femurs when he was about 7 months old, and either it passed quickly, or he's one stoic boy, because the obvious pain lasted only a week or two.

We were prescribed Rimadyl, which we only used for a few days, and that seemed to help quite a bit. I know Rimadyl is not very popular, but I didn't know any better back then, and Oscar actually responds very well to it - we just kept the usage short.

I've heard pano can effect dogs as old as 2, and it would make sense, as some breeds take years to fully stop growing, but statistically 17 months is quite late to be experiencing problems. Just to check, was this recent rear leg pano diagnosed by x-ray?

~Natalya

Hi Natalya: Thanks for Your information and advice. I am happy to report that our "Kirby" is back to His oldself as the Pano left Him as fast as it came on. " Amazing "
limping, lying around, not eating then out of nowhere He is running, playing and eating like nothing ever happened. Hopefully this is my last experience with Pano.
Tom