Poor Ross is still limping quite badly on his back legs. Last night I manipulated his hips and really squeezed the long bones as hard as I could, there was no reaction. The little guy is so stoic ..I've refreshed myself with most of the stuff online today as I've only had one experience of Panostitis here before and that was Lia in the 90ies .. but this lameness seems to be going on and on with Ross. I know Malcolm Wills wrote in his book the genetics of the GSD that it's self limiting by 24 months but I had kind of hoped it would be over and done with by now.
This morning I decided to put a post up on Facebook to get info from people who have experienced it with their dogs .. OMG .. so many. Some dogs taking to their beds like Lia did and other just keep going like Ross has. I've been reading up to date articles on line too, and that has been very helpful and given my an insight into something else that's been going on. Dogs with pano regularly also suffer with anorexia .. well bloody hell .. coincidentally after eating so well for the last 2 weeks Ross has been fussy with his breakfast since Saturday, it just has to be related. A bout of limping and he goes off his food!
Lots of people are using turmeric, but no one is using fish oil. Still I will continue to use it for now. I'm kicking myself for stopping the Vitamin C about 6 weeks ago as it seems to be strongly recommended and I do wonder if I've aggravated the situation by stopping it. Garlic as an anti-inflammatory will be added to his food and a product called flexi joint is also mentioned to work in conjunction with the turmeric. At less than £10 for 90 pills I'll give it a go. Ross was taken off a high protein puppy food at 5 months old as it's well documented to aggravate or cause the condition. The protein level in his food is 21% which I don't think is excessive but again a diet of raw food or Chappie and biscuit also seems to be favoured. If we have little success with my current plan of action then I'll consider changing his diet.
People have also suggested rest, but I found this paragraph very interesting "Limited activity will help to reduce your dog’s pain. Allowing your pet time to recover, and time for the joints and bones to heal, however, will not reduce the speed of recovery." That kind of leaves me a bit baffled really, in this weather Ross' activity has been reduced to about 30 mins in the morning, and during that time he has been swimming a lot, which is really beneficial. I think if he didn't get his walk he'd be racing around here and wresting with Kaiah so personally I think we should continue as we are, controlling the pain on a day to day basis as the end result will only be the same!Should you wish to read the article click on this link ... Panosteitis
