Lewis was seen by John Ferguson, a specialist in developmental orthopaedic problems yesterday. Mr Ferguson thought he had OCD of the shoulders rather than Wobblers, and pointed out a couple of things that I found interesting.

Although Lewis' hind movement looks shaky and stilted, his hindquarters and thighs are much better muscled than his shoulders. Mr Ferguson thought the hind movement is abnormal because Lewis is having pain in his shoulders, and so is keeping his hind legs as well under his body as he can to relieve the strain on his forelimbs.

Mr Ferguson was able to reproduce the delayed hind proprioceptive reflexes that made my own vet think the problem was wobblers, but as soon as he destabilised Lewis by getting him to look round at me, the reflexes immediately became brisk. Apparently the way Lewis has been standing 'over his legs' in order to save his shoulders is a very stable position on four legs - or three - as long as he stays completely still. Therefore he doesn't mind having a hind foot placed upside down, and will leave it in that position because the nice vet seems to want it that way. But if he moves at all, even to turn his head around, he becomes unstable and corrects the hind foot instantly.

As we live more than 100 miles away, Lewis was kept in over night and apparently made himself so popular with the vet nurse on duty that he spent the night with her in the on-call flat above the hospital rather than in a kennel with the 'ordinary' - ie non-wolfhound :-) - dogs. No doubt he thought that no more than his due .

He had X-Rays, contrast radiography and arthroscopy today, and he does indeed have grade 3 OCD of both humeral heads, the right being worse. His neck is completely normal, as are his elbows.

He is having surgery to his right shoulder on Thursday, and all being well we will get him home on Friday. He may need surgery to his left shoulder in 6 - 8 weeks, but Mr Ferguson says that once one shoulder is corrected, that often relieves the strain on the other enough to allow it to heal without intervention.

So Lewis' show career is over before it begins, but I couldn't care less :D. I'm just grateful that he has something that can be treated successfully, and that he has a very good prognosis.

Thanks again to those who replied to my cry for help when I thought it was Wobblers.

Sharon

Fingers crossed for thursday Sharon. Let us know how he goes, won't you :-)

Hi Sharon,

Although I am sorry to hear that Lewis has OCD I am relieved for both your sakes that it is not wobblers.

What is it about wolfhounds (or the ones I hear about anyway) - a girl in my obedience class has one and he seems to have allergies to just about everything and another had the liver shunt problem.

Good luck with the operation

Christine

Hi Leigh & Christine,

Thanks for the good wishes! I'll keep you updated on how he goes.

Christine, I don't think wolfhounds are particularly unhealthy, so maybe you have just been unlucky in the ones you've met. I don't know any IWs with severe allergies, but there is a fairly recently recognised problem with PSS in wolfhounds and deerhounds. Many breeders test the whole litter for PSS at 6 weeks. Most will have affected pups put to sleep, will not breed again from the parents and sell siblings to people who will not breed from them, so hopefully the PSS will be nipped in the bud as a breed problem. IWs are liable to developmental bone/joint problems (though rarely HD), but that isn't surprising given the rate of growth. The really big wolfhound and deerhound killers are dilated cardiomyopathy, osteosarcoma and bloat, and imo if we could really get a handle on DCM and osteosarcoma in either breed, we might go some way to improving the longevity. In the US epilepsy is a big IW problem, as is hypothyroidism, but both are probably less common in the UK and Ireland. If you are interested, have a look at the the SDCA deerhound mortility and morbidity study. Betty Murphy's Longevity Study on UK & Irish IWs seems to be down at present, but I can e-mail a copy if you'd like.

All the best, Sharon

Hi Sharon,

DCM also seems to be the biggest killer of Dobes (males anyway - it comes 2nd to cancer in the bitches). I agree that if this problem could be "fixed" in dogs and humans many of us would live much longer. I will take a look at the web page you gave

Good luck for today

Christine

Hi Christine,

Is there is a heart testing scheme for dobes like the one for IWs? I'm more than half convinced that if we scoured pedigrees for breeding stock for exceptionally long lived ancestors relatively free of DCM, we might make a dent in the incidence. I'm dubious about the idea of waiting for a genetic marker because I've been around in medicine long enough to see fashions come and go. When I qualified, more research in immunology was going to fix everything, including the vacuum cleaner. Well big strides were made, but the cure-all wasn't forthcoming. So I suspect that genetics will supply many answers, but by no means all. To my mind a reasonable (and cheap!) alternative that might work would be a constantly updated breed database, showing the age at, and cause of, death. With the internet such a database would be far from impossible. The Irish Wolfhound pedigrees site is a wonderful resource, and a great achievement. Even if you can't find dog X, there is a very good chance that you will find his sibling, and be able to trace his pedigree that way. All that's needed is for owners & breeders to add mortility/morbidity information. But somehow I can't see that happeniing :-(.

Lewis had his op. today, and as of 8pm was doing fine. He had a big flap, firmly attached in four places and no 'joint mice'. I have to check by 'phone in the morning, but unless there is a problem overnight, I'll be collecting him at lunch time today (Friday). Needless to say we intend to spend the weekend coddling him :-)