Limping

[bluedog]

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I have an 18 month old whippet who has been limping for the past 3-4 months. The limp came on gradually and I've been resting him for a long time now. I took him to my vet 3-4 times now and they are no help. I found a canine physiotherapist and have been seeing her for 3 months. I took him to another vet and they said it might be OCD. He had x-rays on his shoulders and they didn't find anything. Then I took him to a specialist and he said that Riley appears to have a soft tissue injury in his shoulder (bicep and pectorial muscle) and may have sesamoid disease as well. I'm taking him in for more x-rays on his foot tomorrow. He also suggested some very evasive techniques like scoping his shoulder and possibly cutting the bicep tendon.

Does anyone have any ideas about what is going on? Has anyone heard of sesamoid disease in whippets before? I did some reading and apparently it can happen in greyhounds but I can't find anything out about whippets. Riley limps a lot (right front shoulder) and holds his paw off the ground. I'm going to try hydrotherapy in a couple of days because he is loosing his muscles in his shoulder. This is very distressing (to both of us) and no one seems to be able to figure out what is going on. The x-ray of his shoulder didn't show any arthritis and he is such a young dog.

Any ideas?

 

[wild whippies]

Welcome to K9, I'm sure some folk in the know will offer you some advice and info. I couldn't find anything specific to whippets although after reading a little about it on these links, it seems to be an incident occuring in race dogs and race horses that are exerting speed so it would seem natural for a whippet to susceptible too. Good luck with your dog and keep us all informed :luck: :luck:

Jac

sesamoid disease

Osteochondrosis

 

[Tony Taylor]

OK heres my view FWIW,

Most normal vets knowledge of racing injuries is , to be charitable, incomplete and I would suggest he goes to a greyhound vet. I don't know what physiotherapists you've seen but I'm not a fan of unqualified people making a diagnosis. Im my own personal experience they too have incomplete knowledge at best and are charlatans at worst.

The specialist may be correct. Sesamoid disease is part of the differential diagnosis and radiographs will help confirm this. If its confirmed then i would prefer to give the dog prednisolone for a few weeks and see how he responds. I believe these are more effective than NSAIA and are cheaper.

I would be suprised if your dog was unfortunate enough to have suffered sesamoid disease a shoulder injury to the bicep and pectoral all at the same time. I would suggest it is one thing only that's causing the lameness and treatment should be methodical to exclude the most likely first/or the least invasive treatment first, if no diagnosis can be confirmed.

If it was my dog I'd have both feet radiographed and an expert opinion on the sesamoid disease and treat with prednisolone until a diagnosis is made. Muscle damage so severe as to need invasive surgery and cause lameness as you discribe should be pretty easy to detect.

All IMHO

 

[bluedog]

Thanks for the advice. As you can tell from the number of vet visits I have been making I've been spending a lot of money trying to find out what is going on. I'm beginning to feel like I'm just throwing my money away. I was doing some reading on sesamoid desease Riley might have to undergo an operation to remove the bone (I was reading that this is usually done after 6 weeks and no improvement). I don't completely trust the specialist that I am going to because I feel like he has dollar signs in his eyes. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but he doesn't seem to be suggesting the less expensive options.

 

[wild whippies]

Wherabouts are you?

Wouldn't completely rule out the surgery, the vet link I posted gave good post-op figures but I agree completely on looking at the possibilities of non-invasive treatment first if it's possible, it's certainly what I would want to do first as any surgery has risks.

 

[bluedog]

I'm in Canada. It's amazing the things you can find on the internet when you are looking for specific information (ex. whippets).

 

[wild whippies]

Ah, only asked incase you was in the UK and someone knew of a recommended specialist vet. IMO the second vet does seem knowledgable, maybe you could ask them about other options for treatment and see what they're explanations are if there isn't any choices. If you still feel wary then I'd still go for another opinion, regardless of the financial implication because you must feel like you can trust the vet your using.

Saying that though, some vets are just crap with people but brilliant when it comes to animals!

 

[Nicola]

Poor you...how frustrating. Fred has a similar problem..he limps and holds his front paw off the ground, and has done so for ages now. The vet diagnosed arthritis, but I'm convinced it is linked to a vicious attach he suffered two years ago, where a lurcher bit into tore all the skin around his shoulder. I think he possibly inflicted muscle damage. The vet didn't think this was the case, but I'm really not so sure. I have him on medications and the occasional metacam doses, if he has a bad day. I am seriously considering asking for a referral to a McTimoney practioner to get a second opinion.

Sorry I can't help, but your whippets problems sound identical to Fred's.

 

[05whippet]

Hi, welcome to K9 :cheers:

One of our Whippets does the same thing though not all the time,he works & races

and when he was young hurt his elbow & shoulder,funnily enough it is the right one too :blink: but even to this day & he is now rising 6yrs old he still suffers with it sometimes limping quite badly.

Mind you does'nt stop him catching rabbits (still legal over here in N. I)

Hope you get to the bottom of Riley's problem soon :thumbsup: and he's soon firing on all cylinders again

 

[bluedog]

I got the results back from Riley's x-rays (more shoulder and foot x-rays this time) and there is no new diagnosis. The specailist couldn't find any damage to the sesamoid bone in his foot so there is no diagnosis of sesamoid disease and he has a soft tissue injury (I knew that already). So the recommendation from the vet was more rest - easier said than done with a young whippet - and metacam. If he doesn't get better in a month (ie metacam doesn't work) I have to bring him back for an MRI $$$$$$. I hope it doesn't come to that. What I have spent to date would have almost covered the cost of an MRI.

Riley is pretty out of it right now from the sedative and I hate leaving him there because I know he despises it and rubs his nose on the bars.