I took my 2 and a half year old labrardor, Poj, to the vets as she's been limping a while - started very occasionally when she was a pup but I stupidly assumed she'd got a dead leg from lying on it.  Anyway, it used to be just when she woke up for a few minutes in the morning, now it's after every time she lies down - again for a only a few minutes.  She's now been diagnosed with severe OCD and arthritis in her back left hock.  Vet says it's too late to operate.  She needs to take glucosamine, metacam, have injections and have hydrotherapy.  Stupidly I got her insured only a week before taking her to the vets and so she's not insured for this condition.

I'm sick to my stomach with sadness for her, guilt that I should have noticed earlier and worry about the financial implications of it.  I'm heartbroken and don't know what to do.  I'm love to hear from anyone who has had a dog in a similar position about what her long term outlook could be.  I hate to think that she might not enjoy a full life.

I'm so sorry to hear about Poj..............I know your Vet says it's too late to operate, but has he actually referred you to a Specialist to confirm this?

Thanks Jo.  He says he is going to phone the specialist this week, but thinks it's too late himself.  I'll have to wait and see.  He was very very pessimistic about the whole thing :-(

Sorry to hear about your dog.
Just wanted to put forward a positive side. Oscar was diagnosed with hip displasia (amongst other things - he's a sickly dog :-() when he was about 8 months old. Initially he needed Metacam, Cosequin Capsules as well as hydrotherapy twice a week. Since then we haven't had any real touble at all (touch wood) and he's almost 6. It's a balancing act between keeping his muscles strong enough to support his bones and not letting him go too mad and causing damage. I always know when we've overdone things as he's a bit slow and stiff the next day. It's not ideal by any means but it hasn't stopped Oscar enjoying his life and it hasn't stopped us enjoying him.
Have you got a hydrotherapy place near you? It's a bit of a drag fitting in appointments twice a week - especially if you have to travel (and it's expensive!) but it's well worth it. The speed at which they build up their muscles is amazing!
Also, don't feel guilty, you've done your best for your dog. I felt terrible when Oscar was diagnosed, especially when a friend told me it was because I'd walked him too far :-( (the vet disagreed) but it's a waste of time. You got your dog to the vets when you knew something wasn't right - that's all you can do IMO.
Good luck :-)

Hi
My 3 year old newfi has the same problem in his front legs. His left elbow was operated on as this was the worst of the two joints. I had to rest him for 3 months and he was on strong painkillers. I steadily increased his exercise and now he can walk for 40 mins without limping. Now I just give him supplements with his food. He has shark cartilage, devils claw, glucosamine and chondroitin, green lipped mussel extract, omega 3, and cortaflex. He also wears a bioflow collar at all times.
I had the same feelings as you when he was diagnosed (Jan 08), but he has come on in leaps and bounds and at this present time his condition has not reduced his quality of life. Who knows what will happen in the future as his joints degenerate even more, but I will cross that bridge when we come to it.
I also put him on a diet and he dropped 10 kilos, now I just have to make sure he maintains it :) Try not to be stressed by the situation, what will be will be and enjoy your dog and do what is best for them. Good luck :)   

Got an 17month old with OCD Border collie, he started limping at about 9 months and we had the op last christmas time and he is Glucosomine. First thing out vet stated it improves with age and we could wait for it to improve, as its OH dog he made the decision to have the op, glad we did.
I buy the medicine now from Petmeds at about £25-£30 a tub it was £90 from the vet!!! We have been advised against hydrotherepy until Jake is older. Honestly now all the hairs grown back you really would not know he was ever ill. We decided not to do agility with him, it would be too much of a strain. But both of us feel very guilty that it happened, we used a bull chucker and kept him too well exercised, it was too soon and we bear the blame heavily. But, he's swimming in the sea, any river, puddle, walks into and out of work every day (3.5miles each way) and does 12 mile hikes with my OH's scout troop. We just know he will/may have problems later. Jakes is in his r/hand shoulder. The insurance paid up about £2000 for the op, we had xrays, bloods ect. But due to the problem with payment (about 3 months) we have changed to Petplan and have that shoulder uninsured.
I think(check with others or vet) having chrontium with glucosomine  should help. We have metcam in the fridge but we havent used it since Dec. Id say that you can never tell how long is alloted to your dog, so he/she could have been knocked over or sold to a really bad owner. So time will tell, what life they will have, make it good. Jake's fine we just keep him under observation, access medicine on line where its cheaper, same stuff different supplier and don't beat yourself up. I'll be honest we were in tears over Jake but he will be cared for every day. Cost is less than a packet of fags a week in all honesty. Once the condition is stabilised he/she should do well and it will improve with time, good luck and email me if I can help in anyway.

I have 2 older Labs with these conditions. One has OCD/arthritis in the hock and one has arthritis in the shoulder. I have them both on Riaflex Glucosomine/Chondroitin/MSM and Riaflex Devil's Alternative. They are much purer than most of the proprietery brands and don't have filler in them. They are designed for horses so a tub lasts a dog for ages. You can get them on ebay under equestrian and you can also e mail the seller for free advice. She seems to know what she's talking about and gave me very sound advice. I've had my 2 on this regime for just over a week now and I can already see an improvement, though you do need to allow 6 weeks for maximum effect.

When did your labs present with this Saxon?  Mine has exactly the same - OCD and arthritis in back left hock.  How many of the 'horse pills' do you give your dog a day?

The one with just arthritis in the shoulder started when she was about 7 yrs old but the one with OCD and arthritis in the hock was exactly the same as yours, lame on and off as a puppy and developed arthritis at about 2 1/2 to 3 years old. The treatments I mentioned come in powder form, I give them each a teaspoonful of the Glucosomine compound twice daily on their food and 1 scoop of the devils claw. When you order it, if you mention that it's for a dog she will send you a dog sized scoop. A tub of the devil's claw should last you about a year if you're just giving it to one dog and the other stuff at least 6 months.

Thanks so much - it's so good to hear from someone with the same problem in the same age dog.  How is your dog now?  What kind of exercise is she able to do? 

Is Riaflex similar to cortaflex Saxon? I use Cortaflex as a preventative measure for my Bernese - I buy the horse one as its much cheaper than the dog one and is apparently the same, but I've seen riaflex mentioned in a few of my daughters horse magazines and wondered if it was the same?

Hi Emma
My dogs have only been on this treatment for a short time but I have already seen a great improvement. I give them about 20-30 minutes free running excercise twice a day. With this sort of condition I find free running is best as they can just mooch about the fields at their own pace. When I say free running, it's actually more like free walking. It's very important to keep the joints moving and mobile. The temptation is to not excercise your dog because it is lame but that is the worst thing you can do. The excercise must be gentle and letting the dog dictate it's own pace.

Hi Dakkobear,
Riaflex is similar to Cortaflex but better. I think the Cortaflex is just Glucosomine and Chondroitin, Riaflex also has MSM and isn't padded out with fillers. If you type Riaflex into Google you can find out all the information and also e mail the company for extremely knowledgable free advice.

Another question Saxon, and I'm sorry to keep asking - I just want to try and get things better for my girl.  I would like to buy metacam over the internet too (she's supposed to have one dose a day) as it's cheaper.  I know I need a prescription from the vet to do this - do I need to make an appointment to get a prescription?  Will I need a new prescription everytime we run out?  Will the vet get grumpy about this?

The vet is legally obliged to provide you with a prescription if you ask for it. I've never bought prescription medicines on the internet so I'm not sure how you go about proving that you have a prescription. Please don't worry about asking questions, that is the whole point of the forum. You may find if you use the devils claw that you don't need the metacam. There is also an alternative anti-inflammatory painkilling drug called predno-leucotropin, (PLT), which can often be more effective than metacam.

Thanks for the info Saxon, might change over when current tub runs out - fortunately we are only using it to prevent problems not cure at the moment :-).

We used PLT for our Lapphund as he had HD and Arthritis (no symptoms until he was about 8). He started on Metacam but was moved onto PLT. Eventually he had to be PTS as his stomach ulcerated with the painkillers (he was nearly 14 by then) but just to warn you don't overdo the painkillers with a young dog as they do affect the stomach, I would try other methods once you have the pain under control before upping the pain killers. I believe that bioflow magnteic collars have good success rates too.

That's a point worth remembering dakkobear. Presciption painkillers should only be used short term. I use them only short term, for about a week at a time, on a long term lame dog, to assess whether the lameness is pain driven or whether it has become a mechanical lameness. That's also another point worth remembering, if your dog has a long term lameness such as OCD, it isn't always pain that causes a limp, it can also be changes in the mechanics of the joint. If this happens, there isn't much you can do to get the dog moving soundly again.

I was told that Poj should take metacam indefinitely.  I wasn't comfortable about this and reading your posts has made me even less so.  My problem is - how do I know when she is in pain?  She limps on it ocassionally, but only for short times and it's like it's stiff from sleeping and after literally five minutes she's back on it without any problems.  I don't want her to be in pain nor do I want to give her something that could cause her long term damage simply because I can't 'read' if she's in pain or not.  Maybe I should give metacam ony if she's had a long walk?

I have had 'metacam' from Vetmedic, we had the first small bottle from the vet to see if it worked then when that was getting low I rang the vet and got a prescription, you can ask the vet to put a repeat for ? times on it, I rang vetmedic to order the metacam, paid with a card and posted the prescription to them. they posted the metacm out as soon as they got the prescription, then when you get low just ring the firm and order a repeateach time till it runs out, then its back to the vet for another bit of paper. It really is very easy and as you say it works out far cheaper.
Chris

As I am quite elderly, I can tell you that it is quite normal to be a bit stiff and lame when you first start moving, I am also taking devils claw and I am greatly improved on it. I'll put it this way, I wouldn't take painkillers myself on a permanent basis just because it takes me a little while to get fully mobile, so why would I put a dog at that sort of risk. Also, I would be worried that if I had a dog on permanent painkillers, the dog would start to build up an immunity to the effect, and I would have to give stronger and stronger doses in order to get the same amount of relief. For these reasons, if your dog is only experiencing lameness for a few minutes on getting up after rest, I would be inclined to go the natural remedy route.