elbow injury - Page 1

I just took in a working line shepherd from a friend. He is 12 months old and had a slight limp in his gait. I thought it to be pano because he is a big boy, but when I decided to keep him instead of selling him I went and had him checked out. Elbows and Hips look awesome. Vet narrowed problem down to muscle injury around the elbow. 3 weeks crate rest, caprofen, and only leash walk to use bathroom. He is also getting cold laser treatments. Any of you guys dealt with injury like this before? Did the crate rest and etc take care of the problem? Thanks.

Maybe .. more likely pano and x-rays do not show pano with any certainty. There are some elbow injuries that don't show on X-rays .. the pup can get a vertical fracture in the elbow running parallel to the bone which requires a very good CT scan to image. These type injuries are compression injuries caused by accident or falls from heights. Rest the dog but Pano sometimes just does not improve with anything but age. Vets will say that they can see pano on X-rays but that is BS. They can see Pano when the dog has active Pano symptoms but some dogs have thickened bones from Pano and no symptoms and some have Pano with no thickened bones.

I have had a similar experience.  I found that not keeping them in a crate has worked best.  I did keep him in the house and quiet he was  allowed to walk around if he wanted. To help keep him quiet I did not give any pain pills, because when I did he would want to get move around more.  On leash when going out side.

 

From my experience with a variety of soft tissue injuries in young
stock, I'll echo what Western Rider says ^^^

As Bubba notes, it could still be Panosteitis; but statistically its more
likely he has just bashed or pulled the elbow, and has not yet been
rested properly to allow it to sort itself. If it does not improve when
sensibly rested, THEN you should investigate Pano. further, IMO.

Best of luck with keeping an otherwise healthy yearling quiet !!!

Soft tissue injuries hurt like hell when you start using the injured limb and decrease with warming up as anyone with sports injuries will attest. Pano does not get better and maybe gets worse with exercise. Watch the pup from a cold start and see how the injury responds to exercise. If the injury is a partial fracture then it may heal on it's own with strict crate rest. Keeping the pup from using the leg for much more than walking is the key whether in a crate or loose in the house with close supervision.

Yes, I have, but using the newer Class IV Laser (mostly equine-vets have this equipment, with small-animal vets typically only having the Class III Cold Laser) and combining this with a short term Adequan regimen, over a duration determined by the vet. Also pending on the condition of the cartilage and bones, Prednisone injections (not oral pills) and/or bisphosphonate delivered by IV, may also help a young dog, that the vet feels has a good chance at a full recovery from fractures.

Using the class IV laser a few times a week for the duration of the treatment, roughly 90+ days of Adequan injections and regularly icing the injured area until the treatment is done, does not typically require the dog to be confined to daytime crate rest. If it doesn't heal after using this strategy, with something like Pano is ruled out, a second opinion and surgery may be required.

I second what Western Rider said. Rest does wonders for healing things. I also don't give pain meds unless the animal is clearly suffering from the pain. Slight pain, however, is the body's way of saying "hey, stay off of this" or "don't use this", "keep still", etc. The body has its intelligence that I don't want to numb with pain meds.
A friend of mine who breeds GSDs also told me if she has a dog that starts to limp without an obvious reason that she knows of, and the dog is at an age where pano could be a possiblity, she gives one tablet of a NSAID medication. Only one. If it is pano, she has found that the one table will stop the limping. If it is not pano, the limp does not go away. In that case she enforces bedrest or crate for 2-3 weeks.

UPDATE- Thanks for all your replies. We have done all the xrays we could possibly do. There is no sign of pano, OCD, displaysia, etc. He is already walking 50% better with just a weeks rest. Definitely a small tissue injury from being a big crazy pup. Once his rest is over we will be doing some PT to get him 100%...thanks again...