Growing pains - 8 months - Page 1

What can I do to help King with his growing pains? he is limping on his left leg, probably because he is growing fast, he is 8 months and 90lbs, 9 months on the 30th. I had went to the vet, they had gave me pills, I had to stop giving him it, because it was giving him the runs, his stools were watery and had some blood in it and he was laying around and looked sick, he is normal now since I had stopped.

I am going to my cabin on Saturday, I'm bringing him with me, I will be there for about 2 weeks or more, will it get better by then? If not, how can I help? I don't think it will be very much fun for him while he has to lay down, while he can be running around having fun.

You should tell us what the pills were and the diagnosis your vet gave. If this is genuine growing pains (Panosteitis), then a comfortable and quiet place to rest away from excitement is really the most important thing. If the pills were for pain then I would not use them unless the dog is in extreme discomfort. A little pain is ok and will keep the dog from aggravating it's afflicted limb. In my experience the dogs just need quality rest and peace, and recover in a few days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panosteitis

Panosteitis. Or Pano or inflamation of a long bone.  In my opinion is cased be dog growing too fast. That could be genetic  or environmentally induced or most likely both. This  in my opinion is often caused but modern super foods which have too much nutrition and dog on it grows too fast. I compare it to the trees in nursery where the trees are artificially fertilized to be made to grow fast because bigger tree brings more money. But the wood is soft and tree will bend. For support of nursery trees they are tied to a stake. However in the nature the very same kind of  trees do not need no stake.  That is because they grow at proper pace and wood has time to mature. 

 In my opinion that is what happens to the dog's bones  when you feed  by nutrition super loaded artificial dog foods. Bones are growing too fast and are thus soft. That causes them to bend slightly when the dog puts the weight on it. This then causes inflammation of this long bone. The dog in pain will favorite such leg. leg will heal and limping stops. but it is then transferred to different leg which was supporting the excess load by soft bone. And that is why pain travels from one leg to another or comes and goes. 

Best way to eliminate that is to feed variety of meat, chicken gristle, cooked pigs and cicken feet and cooked pigs ears. Cooked medat up to at least 8 mo  and after then you may ( but do not need to) switch to raw meat. 

 Prager Hans

Have you ruled out Lyme Disease? Are ticks a problem in your area?

Prager, I like your theory. If you feed the food you describe however (cooked meat) how do you ensure that the pup is getting sufficient calcium.minerals, is that provided by the chicken feet?

Pano has nothing to do with  Soft bones...that would be rickets, a much more serious problem.  Pano became common after vaccinations were the protocall and is suspected to be caused by a virus. It is an "inflammation" of the marrow, not soft bones.

I have used the analogy of a pine tree grows faster than an oak, so which wood is harder, when suggesting growing a pup slower than fast. That has nothing to do with soft bones, but an overall strength of the dog......connective tissues, musculature.

There are theories and there are facts:

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/panosteitis-in-dogs/1051

to the OP, if your pup is very lame and uncomfortable, please contact you vet, tell them about the digestive issue with the first medicine and hey can give you a different one to try. Pano can cause very severe discomfort and pain.

good luck 

Many anti-inflammatory medications (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) irritate the stomach and bowels and can have serious side-effects. Metacam is one of the common ones used in Ontario for pain. I had to take Ranger off it when he got loose stools with some streaks of blood in them.

I have to ask if there is maybe some truth to what Prager said. 90 lbs. sounds like too heavy a weight for a dog that's not even a year old yet! Is he overweight? THEN PUT HIM ON A DIET to ease the stress on his bones and joints!

Regardless of theory or fact, pano is not usually serious and people can claim junky dog food helps it resolve, others use steroids and analgesics, but pano is like a cold....No matter what you do, it will only resolve when it is resolved.....I've had dogs years ago that were diagnosed by exray wit  pano and in one dog it was gone in two days with no meds, ( I chose not to use the steroids prescribed by my vet) while the other dog had it in all four limbs over a period of a month, when it resolved , again, spontaneously. 

On the other hand, a friend with sl had has had a bitch wit  pano that lasted till the dog was two years old...but they used the steroids and analgesics. I think those meds prolong the pano and the dog uses the affected leg when on meds, causing more inflammation. Rest is best, imo

SS, a pup being overweight is not likely to cause "soft bones" , and being overweight will just be more stress on an already painful leg with pano....the bitch I mentioned in above post was asl and was never fat in her entire life...far from it and she had the most severe pano I've ever seen in a dog. It's likely the overweight pup would have pano regardless of its weight. I would be more concerned wit h joint stress in such an overweight pup than it causing pano. Pain affects skinny pups and fat pups....it's nondiscriminating. At 90 pounds for a very young dog, I would get the excess weight off for overall health reasons.