front right paw limping with crying - Page 1

i woke up this past thursday to a lame gsd. hes about 10 months old now and we just did a visit to the vet for his back right leg. he was limping. The vet could not see any immidiate signs of hip dysplacia, but she said that the way he swings his hips to move his legs is an early sign later in life he will develope itso, i guess im wondering whys he limping now he does not want to use his front right paw and alot of crying. checked his pads and nails. can gsd get pano in the actual paws? or am i missinterpretting the not wanting to use the leg at all for the paw? iv been giving him a cheeseball with 3 coated low dose asprins and a glucosamine tablet. i was also feeding him a knock of brand of dog food but then switched to costcos puppy brand. now im going to just get the puppy blue buffalo since iv read pano can be cleared up with a good diet. he has not wanted to eat and iv been having this problem for several months trying to get him a brand of food he wil eat. he prefers the cats food which is a big nono. i dont know what else to try. any suggestions? please dont beat me up either, im new to the german shepherd breed and am learning quickly that they can become very unhealthy and have alot of problems. so suggestions are more then welcome and nice critiquing thanks.

Please have your vet check for tick borne diseases, especially for Lyme Disease. Do it asap because to wait and not treat can lead to more serious problems in the future.

Hi: No one here will beat you up for asking for help. Everyone here truly just wants to help you. There are some know it alls that get sarcastic, but you can just ignore them.  That is the great thing about a forum.

My dog Maya is simply one hot mess.  Not only am I dealing with a serious digestive disorder, she also had Pano in her front legs.My husband kept checking her paws to see if there was anything in them, but never anything.When I first took her to the vet and he saw her limping he felt it was most likely Pano. He told me to find a large breed grain free puppy food and keep her on that until she was 18 months old. I also heeded the advice of a breeder I know who always gives her pups a vitamin D and vitamin C pill to help combat Pano.  Pano is a growth disease and some dogs just get it.  Please know, however, it does eventually go away.My vet gave me a prescription of Metacam and I would only give it to her if it was really bad on a certain day or two. Other than that I gave her 1/2 of a buffered aspirin ( 325 mg aspirin with stomach guard ) daily but you should check with your vet for the correct dosing.

The vet I saw is a true believer in large breed puppy food.  There are others that are not. Maybe the jury is still out on that, I don't know. But a large breed puppy grows so fast that apparently it is the calcium levels that can have a detrimental effect on the bone growth. So, these large breed puppy foods have carefully measured amounts of calcium and other minerals that can affect a) bone density and b) bone growth. Maybe since your pup is experiencing signs of Pano it might be an idea to try a good quality large breed puppy food.  This is just my opinion, maybe you could run these suggestions by your vet.  Hope your puppy is feeling better soon.

The best possibility is pano.  Cheapest too!  I have heard that pano is caused by too much Protein in the diet.  Not calcium.  I Give a diet with less than 23 % Protein.  Since I have had pano in a 2 year old dog (who had pano earlier), I continue the low protein until they are 2 1/2 years of age.  Not a problem.  I happen to feed Iams.  The large breed dog food has 22.5 % protein so it is good.  Do Not Feed puppy food to any GDS puppy (or adult)  The protein level is 28 % in Iams (last I looked).  Probably great for small breeds.  But not for GSDs.  Pano's symptoms are a limp.  The pup may gallop around and have fun.  But then favor, or limp on one, two, and I have heard of three legs at once.  The walk or trot is where you will see it.  Then when the pup stops he will hold the paw (leg) slightly off the ground. not putting weight on the leg.  Perhaps a toe touching the ground for balance.  They lay around a lot also.  I prefer to put the pup in a small run for the duration of the limping, (have runs about 5 x 20), which lasts about 3 weeks.  Then another leg after a while.  With the low protein diet I do not get pano.  Give a regular (26% percent) dog food and oops pano again.  After 2 1/2 years of age no trouble. 
      I saw a pup who cried and limped when walking or trotting.  When this pup stood all 4 legs were firm.  He had ununited ankoneal process (sic).  So check how your pup walks, trots and stands.  We don't have lyme disease here in So Calif, so I don't know the symptoms of that.  Good Luck.  Alice

My brother's 8 week Bernese Mtn Dog puppy was thought to have pano by his vet, they did xrays, all sorts of testing until finally tick diseases (Lyme is just our most common villain) were checked weeks later, and that is what it was..... what you described sounds so familiar to me, as how they described it. It is easy to tell just by giving them doxycycline...because it will get better quickly, if that is what it is. I just mention it because their vet did not think of testing for tick diseases right off the bat and it is the easiest, cheapest thing to do... especially if it is correct. 

i will say that if it is Pano, i would do a lower protien adult food, plus i also give Ester C 1000mg aday. i had a dog have pano from 7 months to 2 years and  lower proten does not get rid of the problem, but i think it helps, but the Ester C  really did do the job, in about a week it was gone and i just kept him on the Ester C till he was  2 years- till i know he was out of the Pano, poor guy you really feel sorry for them.
i swear by the ester C and if i ever have another one that is what i do, it works and one of the few things that does.
it could be Pano , but it could be  something else you puppy has.  good luck-

My boy had pano, he has a pretty high pain threshold, & so didn't yipe or whimper, but he would limp, & try to run & lift the affected leg after the first stride. First his front legs, then the back legs. He would flinch if you palpated the affected leg at the growth plate. We were feeding a large breed puppy chow at the time. We switched to Orijen (high protien!) after our vet checked for everything else, including tick-borne illness, & voila!, no more pano! I loved the way my dogs looked on the Orijen, but then my boy OFA'd +HD in his right hip at 3 years old. Go figure. Personally, I think they out grow it, I don't know if diet contributes to it or not. Human kids can have growing pains, too, it's essentially the same thing. Growth plates in the long bones are out of whack (grow at different rates & kinda grind on each other) becoming inflamed & painful. Went through it with my grandson, too. Males are more prone than females in people, & only my male dog had it.....so possibly in dogs,too. Good luck. jackie harris

If it continues, check it out by x-rays to see if it is OCD [Osteochondritis dissecans] it can affect various joints in the body and could account for lameness in your dog's hind leg too.

My pup [Border Collie] had really bad intermittant lameness, first thought to be pano but after x-rays it showed he had OCD in both shoulders... he had keyhole surgery done when he was 11 months old and he is as right as rain now, just had his 2nd birthday.

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