OK, so I haven't been posting in a while because I broke my lap top's keyboard. Ms. Tasha ran into me full speed while I was drinking a cup of tea and the result is that I can read but not post! This is going to be a long post so bear with me.


Tasha has had a little limp coming and going between her front and rear right limbs for a while now. It comes and goes and is never really bad, she's so active and tough that I figured it must be little tweaks that partially heal and are occasionally reinjured from time to time.

Friday night it was pretty bad, saturday morning it was better, saturday night it was worse, sunday morning she was active and fine.

Sunday night was horrible and we ended up at the Angell emergency room. By that time she was alo limping in her right rear and having a hard time getting in and out of the car. She was obviously in a lot of pain. The poor thing is now in her crate zonked out on tramadol.

She had an orthepedic workup and while the sypmtoms seem consistent with Pano there is no way to tell without xrays. She is not responding during examination with any localized pain they will have to sedate her and xray basically every bone in her body to figure it out.

She is currently on Evo, but I am switching her back to raw asap. It's likely that if it is Pano the Evo could be the culprit. I have a rush order of THK on the way.

I thought she was done growing, but I was wrong. Over the last month or so she has gotten a little taller. She is a 14 month old GSD from West German and Czech lines. I guess it isn't uncommon for them to not really be done until they are 2 or 3, even for females.

(Anybody in the Boston area who wants 50 or so pounds of free Evo let me know. Its a 70/30 mix of the red meat and fish formulas. PM me with your phone number!)

OK, so my questions:

1. Since they are going to have to do so many of them, are the xrays worth it? I really don't like the idea of putting her through sedation and blowing my whole vetrinary budget on xrays if there is nothing that can be done. I trust the vet at Angell, it is one of the best animal hospitals in the country. But they are also locally known for not being shy when getting into your pocket and running lots of tests.

However, if there is a possiblity of all this being caused by something else I want to know. If anybody has had a similar experience and had it turn out to not be Pano please let me know!

2. If we do the xrays should I bring her back to Angell or go to Tufts?

3. If we start out with THK when can I start adding RMBs and other meats into the mix?

Thanks so much!

Is she overweight?

http://leerburg.com/pano.htm

I've read that in GSDs, pano commonly continues to 20 and even 24 months.

"Panosteitis is often diagnosed based on a combination of presenting signs and radiographs (x-rays). The presenting symptoms are listed above.* If a dog is suspected of having panosteitis, then radiographs are indicated to confirm the diagnosis. Individual radiographs of each affected limb should be taken. Often, radiographs of the unaffected limbs are also taken to compare the bone changes. In early forms of the disease, a subtle increase in bone density is observed in the center part of the affected bones. During the middle part of the disease, the bone becomes more patchy or mottled in appearance and the outer surface of the bone may appear roughened. In the late phase, the bone is still slightly mottled, but is beginning to return to a more normal appearance."
from PetEducation.com


*"Presenting symptoms include a history of acute sudden lameness not associated with any trauma. It is usually a large breed male dog between the ages of 6 to 18 months. There are periods of lameness lasting from 2 to 3 weeks and it may shift from leg to leg. The most commonly affected bones are the radius, ulna, humerus, femur, and tibia, though the foot and pelvic bones may also be involved. The dog may show a reluctance to walk or exercise. When the affected bones are squeezed, the dog reacts painfully. Occasionally, affected dogs will have a fever, tonsillitis, or an elevated white blood cell count."
same site

If it is Pano, there isn't really anything that you can do except treat the discomfort (pain) & it just has to run it's course. Many dogs have repeated episodes & some only have a couple, no real rhyme or reason to that part.

On the other hand....New England being a prime place for Lyme, is it possible that it may be Lyme disease? Did they test for that by any chance? That can often present in the same way. Often traveling lameness (in different limbs) sometimes change in temperment(grouchy)& can have fever etc. That can be blood tested, although not always reliable, but is also treatable with Doxy antibiotic. Just another thought.

I can't advise about the x-rays, that is a personal decision that you have to make...but personally due to the dogs age & suddeness of the lameness, I might wait a bit & see what happens ...but that is just me. Not advising anyone to do what I do.

GSDs are still growing & filling out & maturing mentally unitl 2-3 some over 3.

Hope all goes well.

ETA..,.Raw does help dogs grow more evenly with less crazy fast growth spurts, but I don't know that I would blame the EVO. Some lines are more prone to it & usually larger sized & boned dogs seem more predisposed to it, so too more males then females.

Hi Lauren,

I was wondering where you have been! I am sorry Tasha is dealing with this, Roger has also been having episodes that started when he was 5 months old. I reduced his food, added supplements, reduced the amount of bone in his diet, very careful about exercise, and he has seemed fine until this weekend. His weekend has been very much like you described Tasha's. I attribute it to the 3 day weekend and being out all day with me, he's not exactly laid back! I have not taken him to the vet for this as I feel there is nothing they can do, x rays will be ultimate confirmation, and very few general vets are able to properly DX this eyeballing the films anyway! You can not conclude PANO by look and feel, they'll suggest I give him Rimadyl or steroids, and I wouldn't give that to him. He's 7 months now, very large, grew fast, so I am doing what I can and waiting it out. Angel is a great hospital, but I would not waste my money on "maybe" , I'd give it some time, if it continues, orthopedic x rays for us at Tufts!

Hope she feels better!

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On the other hand....New England being a prime place for Lyme, is it possible that it may be Lyme disease? Did they test for that by any chance?

I was going to ask if they ruled out this...I did have Roger tested, neg!

We had exactly the same thing happen with Kasey. He had a little of the pano at earlier ages, and then at 14 months - wham, it hit worse. Our vet had a 'wait and see' attitude with it though. She never did xrays due to the onset and the age he was, and also that it tended to get a little better one day, then go back to worse a few days later, etc. Since there was no pain response during the exam, she didn't want to put him through the whole xray process if it wasn't necessary. I know others who had the same experiences and spent the money for all the xrays and it was always pano. It's a hard decision to make, I know, because there's always that little possibility that it's not pano. Do you have the ability to call your breeder and find out if others in the litter are having the same problem? That's what I did - and she said that unfortunately, out of 10 puppies, 6 of them were having all the same symptoms. Two of the puppies had been xrayed and pano was diagnosed, so the rest of us, along with our vets, figured we were dealing with the same thing.

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Do you have the ability to call your breeder and find out if others in the litter are having the same problem?

I took in three littermates two years ago, 2 males, 1 female. Shortly after I placed them, both males developed symptoms of Pano. I did not have a history on these pups, one family had the x rays done and it was Pano. The female never developed symptoms but it is more common in males.

Some doxycycline (Tammy Moore's idea) is a good one for a dog lame in > 1 leg at one time. Can't hurt, cheaper than the tests for the multiple tick diseases it can cure.