Do You Have A Large Breed Puppy That Is Limping? It Could Be Panosteitis.

For those with large breed dogs, or any dog really, this post is for you because when they are puppies their bones and joints are so fragile.  Playing has to be careful and they mostly just sleep.  Then the training comes and for those of us with big dogs know sometimes the stubborn streak kicks in and training time comes to an end.

They are also prone to several health issues.  I'd like to talk about one of these issues...Panosteitis.  It is also referred to as growing pains.  It is a painful thing for animals to go through and each instance can last 2-3 weeks and can switch legs for another 2-3 weeks of pain for the dog.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2084&aid=466

http://www.vetinfo.com/canine-panosteitis-symptoms.html

There is no cure for Panosteitis (Pano) except for time.  The pain can be managed with a variety of medication such as Rimadyl or Meloxicam but know that this treatment is simply managing the symptoms and not treating the cause of the pain. 

While this painful disease usually strikes younger male large breed dogs between 5-18 months, it can happen in any dog so it's important to know your animal as well as you would if he/she were a human baby.  That way you can tell when he/she isn't walking right or is a little wobbly, etc.

While no one knows what exactly causes Pano, it is thought to have a correlation to nutrition; particularly a high protein and high fat concentration.  The breed specific foods out on the market are not known to be helpful in preventing this disease either.

This is an x-ray of a dog with Pano.  It is labled so you can tell the difference between normal bone marrow and the Pano.  It is important for your vet to do an x-ray for this because Pano manifests

within the bone marrow which is easily seen on an xray as you can tell.    Nothing has been found to be a definitive cause of Pano as of yet but one theory is this disease is viral and not bacterial which means antibiotics are ineffective.  This is frustrating for owners watching their dogs in pain and know that the only thing they can do is give them pain medication and an anti-inflammatory.

The majority of dogs will grow out of this without any complications or side effects which is definitely a good thing. 

So what are we big dog lovers supposed to do?  The only real thing we can do is feed them the best food we can (I personally feed my Great Dane Purina One and my vet is happy with that), love them, and make sure we do the best we can.  Sound like the same thing you do for your children?  It's pretty much the same thing.  We can never know it all and never know what to do every time.  However, keeping and eye on them and knowing what is normal and what is not normal is half the battle.

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