Ortho-vet consult

[Carrie12345]

(I can’t speak to my regular vet until tomorrow.)

I finally did take Sam for a consultation. The specific concern noted was that his ankles are too low. Sometimes. Not consistently. (In around 15 minutes of walkies around the building.)

Verdict (after consultant consulted with more consultants) is - wait, let me be more accurate. THEORY is that he’s growing too quickly. Recommendation is to put him on adult food (he’s 5 months in a few days) and reduce his calorie intake by 25-50%.

😳

The regular vet had me increase his food by 25% around 3 months, and is now happy with his shape. HE acts like he’s starving every moment he isn’t eating 😛

I can’t imagine the vet is going to be on board with this.

On the bright side, there was no additional expensive treatment recommended!

 

[stephanier.1765]

Thank goodness for no expensive treatment! Have you had a chance to ask your regular vet what he thinks about the change in diet?

[KSera]

By “ankles too low” do you mean he carries them at an angle closer to the ground than desirable, rather than more upright? I can’t recall where you got them—did you see both parents and know whether it might be a matter of his genetics? German Shepherds are known for some pretty strong leg angles due to how they’ve been bred recently. 

[Carrie12345]

36 minutes ago, stephanier.1765 said:

Thank goodness for no expensive treatment! Have you had a chance to ask your regular vet what he thinks about the change in diet?

I put a message in this morning. I bet she calls while my HVAC guy is here! 😛 

22 minutes ago, KSera said:

By “ankles too low” do you mean he carries them at an angle closer to the ground than desirable, rather than more upright? I can’t recall where you got them—did you see both parents and know whether it might be a matter of his genetics? German Shepherds are known for some pretty strong leg angles due to how they’ve been bred recently. 

Kind of, yes! They’re not “down low” all the time, just sometimes. So the phrase he’s using, with the disclaimer that it isn’t accurate but as close as he can come up with, is growing pains. 🤷‍♀️ 

I think it makes sense that there could be a genetic component, but this is apparently rare enough that my vet had to reach out to an Ortho specialist who had to reach out to additional colleagues. 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️ And they’re very clear that this is just a theory, not a confident diagnosis.

[Pawz4me]

34 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I put a message in this morning. I bet she calls while my HVAC guy is here! 😛 

Kind of, yes! They’re not “down low” all the time, just sometimes. So the phrase he’s using, with the disclaimer that it isn’t accurate but as close as he can come up with, is growing pains. 🤷‍♀️ 

I think it makes sense that there could be a genetic component, but this is apparently rare enough that my vet had to reach out to an Ortho specialist who had to reach out to additional colleagues. 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️ And they’re very clear that this is just a theory, not a confident diagnosis.

This is probably just a sloppy speech or something lost in translation thing, but AFAIK what's commonly referred to as growing pains in dogs is panosteitis. But it doesn't sound like what you're dealing with, and (again, AFAIK) it isn't rare. But the recommendation to change the diet is a standard thing with pano dogs. So . . maybe he thinks it is early pano and is trying to head it off?

[Carrie12345]

11 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

This is probably just a sloppy speech or something lost in translation thing, but AFAIK what's commonly referred to as growing pains in dogs is panosteitis. But it doesn't sound like what you're dealing with, and (again, AFAIK) it isn't rare. But the recommendation to change the diet is a standard thing with pano dogs. So . . maybe he thinks it is early pano and is trying to head it off?

That’s what I had seen when googling, but there’s no lameness involved. No limping, no nothing.

[Carrie12345]

Now regular vet is consulting with an expert in animal nutrition. 
I’m chuckling over here.  When *I* see doctors, they don’t work this hard for me!

[Spy Car]

2 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Now regular vet is consulting with an expert in animal nutrition. 
I’m chuckling over here.  When *I* see doctors, they don’t work this hard for me!

The sensible move in these situation is to feed a high density (read high protein/high fat) puppy food, while making sure not to over-feed. Restrict over-all calories, if necessary, to slow rapid growth but don't get sucked into feeding a high carb diet.

If one restricts calories, while also cutting the ratio of necessary fat and protein (while boosting nutritionally empty calories from carbohydrates), it does a "double whammy" in reducing the nutrients growing dogs require.

Bill

 

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

Now regular vet is consulting with an expert in animal nutrition. 
I’m chuckling over here.  When *I* see doctors, they don’t work this hard for me!

Which is why I always wish I could see a vet for my own medical stuff, instead of a human doctor.