Hello all would welcome opinions on this please.

My Eldest retriever (aged 7yrs) has gone badly lame since beginning of January. He was so bad one day he could hardly walk and took him straight to the vets, when we walked into the surgery the said "oh dear has he been hit by a car?".
Of course he hadnt, he hadnt even been out that morning.

He is holding his left paw up most of the time and is very lame on that leg somedays worse than others. But Ive also noticed now that he is lame on the back leg on the same said, so when he trots nearly slips under that back leg. To me his spine also looks bent and the vertebrae feel raised
He can be ok for a few days but then if say we let him off the lead for 20mins and he has a run round the field which he is happy to do the next day he cant walk!

Ive told the vet all this, she examined him and said its bad arthritis and i have to keep him on metacam for the rest of his life, dont let him get wet and dont let him off the lead! none of which is any fun for a retriever.

Anyway this week he's worse, could hardly walk again on monday this was after i let him with me in the front garden for 5mins and he ran round.
Ive also noticed a swelling on his opposite shoulder.

I took him straight back to the vets and said i REALLY thought it was more than arthritis, so he is booked in on friday for full body x rays. The vet said all his joints feel thickened and clicky.
she said the lump could just be a fatty lump and seems to be under a shoulder blade an dshe couldnt find the ends of it.

I am worried as there is a high rate of bone cancer in this breed. The vet says if it was something sinister this would show up on an xray.

Can arthritis be this bad? He is on double dose of metacam and its not even touching it

How very sad.  I have Retrievers but not much experience of arthritis.  My eldest 12.5 years does get a little stiff in the evenings and I have been giving her Glucosamine on and off for a couple of years now - which does seem to help.  She recently went for her annual check up and they could only find a trace of stiffness in the front ankle joint.  To me it doesn't sound like arthritis but your vet should surely know - I hope the x-rays results give positive signs.  Thinking of you and your boy.

It can be bad at times, sometimes an area of calcification can distort the joint and cause a good deal of pain worse than that caused but the more usual swelling. Hope the x-rays show up what it is and if necessary a change of medication that will stop the pain.

sorry to hear this. yes it can unfortunately be this bad, dogs can be completely crippled by it. the radiographs should help diagnose, and if you arent happy then ask your vets about a refereral to an orthopaedic clinic where there are specialists dealing with this.

Hi everyone

Got back from the vets with boy today, he has had his xrays.

The vet said the main problem area is his shoulder, the one he is limping on the x ray of the good shoulder showed a nice round joint the bad shoulder looks like has a piece missing out of it, vet said it was odd, hasnt been broken or fractured as there would be a piece floating about.
she said her first thought is it may be the cartiledge that has rubbed and worn the bone away, or worse case scenario which vet said is rare is a bone tumour, as it looks like the piece of bone has been eaten away.

I did advise the vet tumours are common in flatcoats but she obviously hasnt had many dealings with the breed and said she doubts it willbe that.

My boy also has a lump on the opposite shoulder which they thought was just a fatty lump they have drawn fluid and sent it away so dont know about that either.

So really not that much further on as I thought it was his shoulder that was the problem, they are referring us to an orthopedic man who can look at the xrays better than them, she seemed to think he would have a good idea just by looking at the xrays.

So what Im asking now is, does anyone have any experience of bone cancers ?  Is this how it would show up on an xray?

Many Thanks

Kim

generally bone tumours show up on xray as mottled areas of bone. a good orthopedic surgeon or oncologist would be able to tell by looking at them. unfortunately bone tumours are common in flatcoats, i work in a second opinion practice with an oncology unit and we do see our fair share of them. i would be looking for the referral quite soon, just to put your mind at ease. is your boy insured, as these referral can be expensive.
good luck and let us know how he gets on, thoughts are with you.

Kim

Have a look at this link http://bonecancerdogs.org/

I got this from Justi.   My boy lost his fight against bone cancer only a month ago.  I know Justi's girl faired better than Archie, and managed to fight it off. living to a ripe old age

Archie had his age against him (he would have been 4 this month), as generally the younger they are, the worst the outcome, and he was only diagnosed the beginning of January. 

Jill

Hi, If it turns out to be arthritis, I have had really good results giving one of my old girls devils claw. I get it from Holland and Barrett in capsule form and pull the capsule apart and sprinkle the powder on her food. I started off by giving her 2 capsules twice a day for 5 days then dropped to one capsule twice a day. She is a similar sized breed to yours. She has a new lease of life. I also give her cabbage every day as it has very good natural anti inflammatory properties. Good Luck.

kim give me a call againt two storys of bone cancer in fcr in know of one was mine the other my aunties.

i be in tonight or allday tommrow as andrew taken pagan on a working gundog day.so i have a pacefull day just with brie,chase gollie and tangle,yessssssssssssssssssssssssss

Hi Saxon

Thanks for that, may try that anyway cant hurt him will give it a go

ostosarcoma shows up on the xrays in 95% of cases with a distinctive star burst pattern, some vets like to do biopsy of the bone, but alot of people who have had this done have regretted it, for the following reasons, the biopsy is painful, it weakens the bone further making fracture more likely, if the tumor is burst it can cause spread, and last of all is expensive and most feel the money would have been better spent towards treatment.  Sadly as archies mum said, my dog had bone cancer though we were much luckier than some, we had a great oncologist, and we actually beat it but this is rare, I belong to a bone cancer dog group of which sadly again their are hundreds and hundreds of dogs with OS, following these dogs through the different treatment options has given us greater insite to what is available treatment wise etc.  First thing is to get a confirmed diagnosis, if it is very likely OS ask for a referal to an oncologist, where as our daily vets are good, there see only a few cases, where the oncologists deal with nothing but cancers and are more up to date with treatment options, and have more knowledge when accessing a dog if amputation is an option.  At present the gold standard of treatment (most successful) is amputation and chemo, chemo is not like chemo in humans, there is little to no side effects in most dogs, however there are different chemos available and it is wise to research these, we chose carboplatin, for us it worked wonderfully, if it does turn out to be OS click on my name and it will take you to the link to my dogs web pages and you can see what we did

Good luck hope it turns out not to be bone cancer, but if it does, don't dispair it is only the start of the journey not the end

justi

I forgot to add, if it is OS please ask for a chest xray to see if it has already spread, with OS next place it normally shows up is the lungs, it is rare for OS to cross a joint but not unheard of so it may show elseware in the body but normally it goes to the lungs.  If it is arthritis joint aid apparently has had some very good results but have not used it myself but have heard others say it has helped their dogs alot
justi

I forgot to add, if it is OS please ask for a chest xray

if you can and they have the facilities, ask for a CT Scan.  The CT rather than the x ray can detect traces of cancer a few mm in size whereas they need to be much larger for the x rays.  i know the RVC has a CT scan as Archie had his there.

Jill