Joint pain in younger pyrs

[Nancy Cranston]

Our GP is almost 8 months and we had to take him to the vet today, he was having difficulty walking acting like it "hurt". The vet said it was not abnormal in a large breed and called it growing pains. Has anyone else dealt with this issue? He is now on anti inflammatory pillls and antibiotics. It is very distressing watching him in so much pain when he walks. Any advice would be welcome.

[Karin]

Hi Nancy,

It is possible he has growing pains ....
Sometimes it can be a more serious problem.
Did the Vet take X-rays, because that is the most important thing to diagnoze growing pains (enostosis)
You have to keep a good eye on him.
In case of growing pains it is important he is getting his rest.
For his food it is important, the calcium-posphor ratio is as low as possible.
if you want to feed him dryfood, find some specifically for large breeds.
Personally I feed raw, complete meals, from which the puppies grow up very evenly
In Holland we have a homeopatic "medicin" that can work verry well, it cals Mercurius Vivus D3
Maybe it is available in your area.

[Nancy Cranston]

Thank you for your reply. The vet did not do Xrays yet, he wants to see him again in a few days and said if not better then he will do them. He does eat a large breed puppy chow and I have started measuring the amount he will get.

[Urs]

Hi Nancy,

Welcome to the Community.

Sorry to hear about the hurting of your puppy.

There is a very good article about "Growing Pains" : http://www.furrycritter.com/health/dogs/pdf/Enostosis.pdf
Typically for "Enostosis" or as it is also called "Growing Pains" is that the lameness and limping is "wandering" from one leg to the other.
It occurs in dogs between the ages of 5 to 14 months.
But the pain and limping can also have another cause, OCD of the shoulder or elbow. Which occures mostly at the age between 6 and 10 months. http://www.thepetcenter.com/xra/ocd.html and the lameness ond limping is not "wandering".

As a Great Pyrenees breeder I experienced both in my puppies, Growing Pains and OCD of the shoulder. With OCD it is important to diagnose as soon as possible and to perform surgery to prevent serious damage of the joint. In all five cases from my experience with OCD and Growing Pains the vet thought at first it were "Growing Pains" . But I insisted in further investigation including xrays and 2 where indeed Growing Pains but in 3 cases it was OCD of the shoulder. One puppy was of my own and two others were sold and I assisted their owners. All 3 males, one 7 months old and the other two 8 & 9 moths old. These dogs had surgery asp, and after 2 month all was fine with them . For the dogs with the Growing Pains it took about 3 month with restricted diet and mild painkillers and they were fine too.

I wish you good luck and a fast recovery for your puppy.
Urs

[Nancy Cranston]

Thank you, good article!

[pat ramapuram]

I too have experienced both OCD and panosteitis and handle a little differently First my pups are off of puppy food by the time they are 4 months old They are fed 1/2 raw 1/2 kibble and kept in a lean weight. For aches and pains my pups are kept on glucosamine with other joint additives to help protect their joints during their rapid growth period. Pain all over would lead me to test for Lyme disease first. Wandering lameness is most likely pano and will generally resolve over time but OCD I treat more aggressively with strict rest for at least 4 weeks and loading doses of glucosamine etc. I have had about 80% success in avoiding surgery with this regimen. Good luck and hope the news is good for your babe.

[Tina]

Hi Nancy,
my Great Pyrenees male have had Pano ( Panostities) when he was growing. He has limping on both front legs so we had X-Rays him.
We could see the Pano on the X-rays and we got tabletts for his pain ( Rimadyl ) don`t no the english name. And I have change the food no puppy food to many protein he got Adult ( dry ) food, that helps him a lot. He have had Pano from 8 month until 16 month and he never had have problems again. Sorry for my bad english hope you understand all.

[Nancy Cranston]

Yes I understand and thank you, I am changing him to Adult food as soon as he feels better. The vet will probably xray later this week.

[Joseph Gentzel]

From the age and onset its probably pan osteotis. Generally something not serious and will pass. Keep him quite, give him his medicine. do not let him play or romp as he can injure the inflammed bones. It can come and go and freqauently wanders from leg to leg. Once past it, watch for it to appear againa and again enfore the rest and maybe a small enteric coated aspirin daily. Make sure the aspirin is either buffered or enteric coated as Pyr do not do well with regular aspirin.

Joe

[Nancy Cranston]

does it last there whole life or just till they mature?

[Joseph Gentzel]

Almost all Pyrs grow out of it, but need to be kept quite and comfortable. Some people say to cut down on their food and type of food, I don't subscribe to this at all. They probably will not eat very well anyway while they are hurting. So you are almsot assured that your Pyr will outgrow it. Only the most severe cases or those who are not controled in their stress on their legs have some residual. From your description your Pyr is not likely to be one of these. The condition can come and go though for many months, so when you think its gone do not be sureprised or alarmed to see it again and it wanders from leg to leg, almost always in the front legs.
Joe

[CLYDE]

Our Pyr Clyde has the same thing, they did xrays and said he had "thumb Prints" on his bones said it was panosteitis. A very common disorder in large breed dogs, most common in sheperds. They said he would grow out of it my the time he was 2 or 3 (when his growing stops) said it was very common in dogs who tended to grow at fast rates. They put him on pain killers for about 2 weeks said the lameness could come and go and this was not something to be overly concerned about. He was diagonoised by 3 different vets and they all came to the same conclusion. He has not had any lameness problems lately and yes he is still growing and may I add very rapidly, he is 15 months old and now weighs 147 pounds. The vet said just to make sure he is on a good quality food and not to feed him large breed puppy food as that tends to have stuff in it that promotes growth. A site that explains this condition is http://www.critterchat.net/pano.htm

[Joseph Gentzel]

Hi Clyde
You are likely a bit too heavy for your age (any age really). This is especially true with having the pano also. Most Pyrs should top out about 120 pounds if they are a big male, give or take maybe 10 pounds.
Joe