Kryten has Elbow Dysplasia

[Smokeycat]

Have you looked into the supplement recovery sa for dogs? There's a version for horses and reviews on that have been nothing but positive. I have read tons of great reviews for the dog one and they are all great other than the bad ones because they couldn't get their dog to eat it. I have Hector on it right now (thanks for mountainfila) although I am unsure if the supplement is helping heaps or because of rest and meds. Nevertheless, I am grateful he is not showing any signs of pain going up stairs and he gets up like a spring chicken with no hesitation.

That might have been what I had him on while he was in the recovery phase. I didn't see much of an improvement then but I might look into it again. Especially since last I heard Traumeel is no longer being sold in Canada.

 

[Hector]

Hector takes 3 tsp everyday and your boy will need more: 1/2 tsp per 20lbs. It says on amazon to put them on it for a year before you decrease dosage to 1/4 per 20 lbs, but on the container it says....3 months? (can't remember I will have to double check). Hector was on it full strength for a week and he got so much better, but like I said I can't tell if it's the supplement working or the combo of meds, supplement, and rest.

Do you know if he's hurting because he gets sore or...?

 

[Smokeycat]

The best way I can describe it is as if the muscles that stabilize his elbow get overworked and therefore start to hurt.
The worst times are when he has been bouncing around like a rodeo bucking bull or has been playing as a defensive lineman when Jiggers is playing fetch. He was doing both today. He's a big boy (190) and not nearly as agile as Jiggers but tries to keep up anyway. It doesn't surprise me that his leg doesn't like some of those abrupt sharp turns he tries (and typically fails) to make.
He was taking a combination of things back then including Tramadol which caused all sorts of issues so that may be part of why I didn't see any improvements with the herbal supplements tried.

 

[Sadies Mom]

Poor Kryten Have you looked into Infrared healing pads/lights?
http://www.emersonww.com/PetPain.html

 

[Penelope's Mom]

How's Mr. Kryten feeling today?

 

[Smokeycat]

Whenever I can get him moving not to bad but he stiffens up while sleeping and then doesn't want to move. He is also milking it trying for more attention because he limps worse when he knows you can see him (he hasn't figured out that mirrors can look around corners). He wants to play though which meant Jiggers game got shortened to prevent the defense from causing himself further harm.
His symptoms remind me of how I felt after a marathon before I discovered that the way to prevent severe DOMS was to keep moving.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Would he tolerate a heated bed maybe? At least in the winter? You can (or at least used to anyway) get just the pressure activated heating pads (designed for pet beds) to insert into the dog's current bed.

Your description reminds me of my knee when I push to hard. And heat helps.

Are there any liniment type products for canine use that you could massage on?

 

[ruthcatrin]

K&H Pet Bed Warmer

 

[Smokeycat]

If it's like last winter the cold wasn't a problem at all. He only considered it cold when the wind chill was below -40 but never showed a limp. The problem was the wind which sucks given we live in the chinook area.
I haven't looked into any topicals that could work. That's an idea I should look into.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Google is usefull lol, according to Absorbine's site (and the product label) this formula is safe for dogs: Bigeloil Liniment | Horse Muscle Care | Absorbine

 

[Smokeycat]

This is how he is walking 19 months after his surgery. We had been there for about 15 minutes and he had been running around on that rough, muddy ground chasing other dogs.
[video=youtube_share;NkOYV4Zw0tU]http://youtu.be/NkOYV4Zw0tU[/video]

 

[NYDDB]

Nice! His movements seem fluid and normal.

Do you have him on any meds or supplements for arthritis? Does he even have arthritis?

 

[Lisa P]

So sorry to hear this ;(

 

[Smokeycat]

Nice! His movements seem fluid and normal.

Do you have him on any meds or supplements for arthritis? Does he even have arthritis?

The only thing he gets regularly is coconut oil. He had evidence of early stage arthritis back at diagnosis (15 months old) but hopefully we managed to slow or even stall it's progression. The surgery left him with instability due to the removed FCP chip, this means that arthritis is guaranteed in the future. The most important thing in trying to slow down its progress is his weight, the lighter he stays the better. I'll see what he's at this weekend as his birthday is next week. The other is trying to balance letting him have fun while minimizing the risks of breaking free the bone chips in his right elbow.

 

[Smokeycat]

I've recently realized that the most important part of balancing letting him play and run with preventing excess pain afterwards is finding the correct amount of activity during the week so that he has 'trained' enough that his most active day, usually Saturday has a quicker (overnight) recovery.

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[Smokeycat]

After 3 years I think arthritis has reared it's head. For the past month Kryten has had more semi bad days then good days. I say semi bad since moving does seem to improve things but he does have a significant limp at least part time most days. Summer has always made things worse but this time nothing seems to be able to prevent it. He goes in for a check up and possible x-rays next Tuesday. I still don't want to do drugs if I can avoid them so I've started looking into no drug therapies available locally and have been surprised to find that many are available, unfortunately each one is at a different clinic and none are at the one I go to. So coordinating things could be problematic but I work on that after his appointment when I know what is going on.

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[Iulicris88]

Have you tried Adequan shots? I looked into them and they show promising results. Also, Colagen and Hialuronic Acid supplements, combined with high doses of fish oil and vitamin C look to be helpful. Although I also don't like the idea of painkillers, I think that maybe you should give him anti inflammatory pills / shots for a couple of days, to help with pain and inflammation and give the alternative therapy time to work.

 

[Smokeycat]

Adequan is one of the possible treatments that I plan to ask the vet about. Most days there is very minimal swelling. Chances are the weather here is increasing the problem (hot and/or windy) both of which I know exacerbate his symptoms but it seems excessive this year. He doesn't have great reactions to painkillers which is a large portion of why I want to avoid them.

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[Iulicris88]

There are several types of anti inflammatory pills available on the market nowadays. My vet recommends Onsior, which seems to be easier on the stomach. Something natural and with less side effects is Nutriflex RX but you would need a lot of them for his size and it could get pretty expensive.

 

[sjdavenport]

A multimodal approach is definitely the way to go. It's unfortunate that you can't find one clinic that does it all. Mazey gets Adequan injections (they were on backorder for a bit, hopefully it's available again), glucosamine/chondroitin, fatty acids, gabapentin daily, a half dose of an NSAID every other day, laser therapy, and acupuncture. We did laser therapy with her for 6 weeks, I wasn't sure if I saw a big difference, then it was unavailable to us for a month, and I definitely saw the difference then. She was visibly worse without the laser. We restarted it several weeks ago, and we also found an acupuncture and chiropractic vet to come to our house, so we did the first session with her last week. I'm definitely seeing a difference with that. She's been having a great week, pretty pain free. I'm hoping we can back down on the NSAID or maybe even discontinue it (fingers crossed) after more sessions. Let us know what you wind up doing with Kryten and what seems to help.