Could it be Pano? - Page 1

My GSD is 10 months old and has had a left front leg limp since he was 6 months old, he has had X-rays and shoulders and elbows are good left hip is excellent right hip is not, told right hip is moderate for HD, pano was the forst diagnosis but it has always been the same leg in front, went to the dog chiropractor today and he was adjusted the chiropractor said his range of motion in the front left leg is not as much as the right leg, can pano stay on one leg that long? Any info would be appreciated or ideas or anything

Give him Adequan (RX) and if he doesn't get better after that get a CT scan of his elbows .. could be cracks in his humeral ends that won't show up on X-ray.  If he has had any sort of drop or jump from a high place putting a huge load on his elbows the elbows can get damaged with vertical fissures in the bone.  Prime time for this to happen in a GSD is 4-8 months but it can happen anytime.  Very often the elbows can't heal when in constant use and the dog will continue using even though in pain.  The limp is usually worst when they get up from a long nap or sleep.  The change in gait due to the front leg limping can put more stress on his joints and also affect the hips.  Probably need an animal physical therapist as there could also be soft tissue tearing and improper healing of muscles that will restrict range of motion and which can go along with the bone injuries.  I hope the Adequan solves the problem as it is usually effective for me on Pano and joint pains in puppies. 

In my experience Pano can linger quite a while in one leg. If I recall correctly, with my dog, he was limping on the front left, but both front legs were affected and it showed clearly on the x-ray. I took him to an orthopedic vet, and he immediately diagnosed it by palpating/squeezing the leg and the x-ray confirmed it. He had been limping on and off since he was maybe 4 months old? The pano finally resolved when he was about 12-14 months. There is a herbal formula that is supposed to help, but it is rather expensive. I gave him for months a combination of nettle, blue vervain, sarsaparilla and boneset tinctures, Nature's answer, 15 drops (=500mg of herb) each twice a day. If I recall correctly some of these herbs were in the said formula. I also tried homeopathy without much success. Was he vaxed for distemper? There is a link between the distemper virus and pano.

We did a lot of physical therapy, not for the pano itself, but more for the muscles affected from the weight shift from the pain in the front legs. My vet showed me a number of exercises and stretches that I was doing with him daily. When we started, his back was higher than his shoulder blades by 2 inches and now he is completely normal. Swimming didn't help at all, but the stretches definitely did.

http://www.naturalrearing.com/coda/p_specialties.html

HTH.

pano doesn't always "roam" and can affect one limb more severely. xray of the long bones usually shows it. I haven't dealt with it in quite a few years, but prednisone was prescribed then. you might try a round and see if it clears up (usually temporary).

good luck,
Rik

 

Don't rule out OCD either, my dog had 2 sets of x-rays taken and it wasn't until the second ones you could clearly the 'joint mice' in both both shoulders were the culprits, he only ever went lame on his left front leg.

He had arthroscopy ops done on both shoulders and hasn't shown any sign of lameness since.

 

He was tittered and found that he needed a distemper but it was not given until the end of January and he was already limping in December, the vet and his breeder have both looked at the X-rays, the breeder has been great with all this, I just want my boy healthy, he went to chiropractor today and was not a happy boy but he did get adjusted as with all the limping he is out of wack hopefully it helps, how long can pano last? I really hope that is the problem and nothing else, he is a pet, a member of the family, I just want him happy

Pano has long been thought to be genetic by many involved in the sport.
Certain lines seem to be more prone to it.

Plainly put? It sucks! It can seriously hinder the ability to do anything,
even simple socialization, with a pup or young dog. It's not unheard of for dogs
to be affected with pano into the 24 month range. Pano can and does wander 
through a dogs body. We have been lucky and rarely had a case of pano, and 
when we did, it was a mild case that only lasted a couple of days.

People should seriously think over whether or not to breed a dog or bitch that
consistently produces severe pano in their progeny, pano robs an owner of doing
much with a dog for sometimes very lengthy periods of time-months and months
in some cases.

 

My old male had pano confirmed on X-ray at 28!! months old. It was clear it had been going on a long time, but he only limped on it one day after a long, hard run during a "handler lost" SAR exercise training scenario. 2 ortho specialists diagnosed him with a torn ACL, saying he was too old for pano and it happened acutely, or so it seemed. I just didn't think that was right for a variety of reasons and took him to another...sure enough, pano. They were very surprised he hadn't been complaining prior to that because he'd had it long enough to cause muscle atrophy in the affected leg (left) and even slightly affect hip joint conformation on that side from extended subluxation and subtly favoring that leg.  

While it was a nuisance, it didn't really slow him down and rest made no difference, and rest made him a lot angrier and edgier than pano did, so in the end, I just let him do as he pleased and he outgrew it. If he was running, he looked fine. If he was standing still, he'd elevate it slightly or just shift his weight off it. Another breeder was telling me she had some similar lines out of his father, and stopped breeding them because they had crippling pano, for months on end. I have thankfully not experienced that. The litter I had from him was a good sized litter, full of big, heavy-boned pups who are nearly 3 years old now and not has had pano, or if they did, they didn't let on. I would definitely not breed a pair if they had crippling pano more than once. Even if you forget about the poor suffering puppy, the fact is, enough muscle atrophy from being crippled can affect other joints, like hips, since subluxation means you have a loose femoral head banging around in the socket instead of being held tightly and moving cleanly, so you really need to keep them restricted, and it's just a nightmare with certain temperaments anyway.  

I do keep him restricted for the most part, he is always leashed outside most of the time we are on grass, he gets so antsy because he has so much energy that he can't use, always need to keep him mentally entertained, his front left leg definitely has lost muscle from lack of use, funny thing every so often he will run on the leash and he runs fine,  he also eats a raw diet and is supplemented with a glucosamine mix, 
curcumin and fish oil, how can you tell if it is pano if it does not show up on the X-rays? 

Try the Adequan ( prescription med ) .. it treats joint pains and I have had success with it in treating unexplained pains which are most likely growth related.  Adequan is expensive but I was as skeptical as could be but tried it out of desperation and was pleasantly surprised.  It takes about a week for the results to kick in using the normal dosing schedule.  If your vet will give 1 ml per day subq over the affected joint it may show results in 3-4 days.  If the Adequan does not improve the pain after 7 days you probably are dealing with something besides Pano.  There is no way to diagnose Pano except by secondary symptoms.  X-rays from dogs will be fine and they still have Pano like symptoms while dogs which have Pano like bone development will show no pain or symptoms.   If your dog is losing muscle then you need to get to the root cause ASAP.  A CT scan of the troubled leg may be in order as the X-ray will not show everything.  If the elbows have humeral cracks in the bone the dog will get better with crate rest but the limp comes back when use starts becoming normal again.  Link to humeral fractures below .. a partial or incomplete fracture could be what your dog has (ie cracks in the ends of the elbows that don't show up on X-rays).

http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/elbow_fracture.htm