Hi i have a large over weight Bullmastiff that i took on last year, after xmas he became lame so we took him to the vets and he went on Rymadyl which had not effect. we rested him and his limp never improved.
after 4 months xrays and regular visits to the vet  we were referred to the vet collage, the xrays showed nothing the collage gave him steroid injection into his shoulder and crate rest for six weeks and hydrotherapy also with no effect still limping as before, he went back in for a (sorry cant remember the word) camera into his shoulder and elbow and found that there was a shard of bone in the elbow joint so he was operated on and then has had six weeks cage rest hydrotherapy and slow return to work.

we have now gone up to our insurance limit (£4000) and he still limps same as before i am not sure what to do with him now, we could go for more surgery costing around another £4000 but as they were sure is was his elbow and not his shoulder i am reluctant to spend this much money and still have the same outcome.

he was 60 kg when i got him he now goes at around 53kg but this has been hard to get to and he realy needs to get down under 50kg but without exercise this is near impossible.

what can i do for him now?

What does your vet say on this matter? Is it possible that the limp is going to be a constant thing even with further surgeries? (this is one of the reasons my Mastiff has not had his ED opperated on - in his case there is no guarantee it will elleviate a limp).

How long ago was his opperation? It can take a long time of gradually increasing controlled exercise to build up muscle around the joint which will help support the elbow and take the strain off of it.

Well done for getting him to loose weight, you obviously know that the leaner he is the better for him.

What exercise is he doing now?

im going to have to see my vet again as i am not happy with his lack of progress but the vet collage said if this did not work the next step would be to try his shoulder but they could not see anything on the xrays to indicate a problem with it.
his op was 07/07/08
he is doing 10 mins lead walk twice a day he is lame all the time whether he is walked or not.

i know he must loose more weight but without exercise this has been a struggle to do i feed him as if he were a 20 kg dog so he is practically starved.

he has no sign of ed or arthritis in his joints i really don't understand where his pain is coming from.
if it was soft tissue damage resting for 8 mths should have sorted it and rymadyl would have eased the pain and inflammation.

poor thing :(

I know how hard it is with the weight issue, I have to keep Busters weight down which is hard when his walks are quite short (about 20 mins) and always at a slow pace, he also doesn't eat a lot.

Just a thought, but has he had his wrists xrayed? I say this as when Buster was xrayed to diagnose his limp, he had his elbows, wrists and hips done, just to make sure. Also as he has weak pasterns the vet wanted to check he had no arthritic changes in his wrists which would cause limping.

I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon, it is awful watching them limping about :( :(

How old is your boy? If he is still growing it can delay healing.

Both my Chows had both their elbows operated on at 5 months with one boy having the bone chip off the same as yours.  They too had the 6 weeks cage rest and very gentle return to exercise.  Although the operation was sucessful they both had on and off limping until they were 2 years and had stopped growing.  They are now 4 and a half and have no problems.

They also had monthly injections of Pentisan (sp) which increases the fluid in the joint, my vet said they needed this as the exposed raw bone from the chip and missing cartilage would be sore and need time to scar over.  The vet also found more damage than he was expecting from just looking at the x-ray.

Hope he gets better soon, I'm sure it's very stressful for you both.

he is 4 yrs old and i have known him since a pup his last owner though that bullmastiffs should be big burly (fat imo) and for protection its a shame really as he is the softest boy you could meet, i told her for 3 yrs that he was over weight but she said that's how a mastiff should look. some people never listen i feel that they should be lean and fit not fat.

the vet said his problems were from over weight and over exercise as a pup.

My oldest girl had a limp when she was younger. The Vet couldn't work out why as there was nothing a-miss on the x-rays. It was during the time of the big Foot and Mouth out break so she had to do a lot of pavement pounding walks. She was also overweight as she had been spayed, hydrotherapy reduced the weight and slowly as the weight went so did her limp but it took a LONG TIME. She limps a bit in the evenings now she older with the same leg after she's had a long walk, it doesn't seem to affect her quality of life. We give her cod liver oil and let it be for the moment.

That isnt long for a ED and I am surprised they haven't increased his exercise regime to 10 mins up to 6 times a day. I know a Golden who had a double elbow op at that time and that is her gradually increased exercise regime is just that , to build muscle. Maybe worth an ask.

Are you continuing with the swimming?

How distressing

> That isnt long for a ED and I am surprised they haven't increased his exercise regime to 10 mins up to 6 times a day. I know a Golden who had a double elbow op at that time and that is her gradually increased exercise regime is just that , to build muscle.

The thing with Mastiffs is as they are very heavy dogs 10 mins of walking is a lot more work for the joints and muscles than a Golden, in that 10 mins they have to shift a lot of weight add to that the low-level energy drive and it is quite a lot of work for a damadged elbow of a big dog.

Re-hab/muscle building/manegment of ED will vary greatly between breeds and the individual levels of each dog.

Thank you for that ML, that makes sense.

x

I dont know much about this but would hydrotherapy be too much hard work on his muscles?... i know of someone with an overweight dog who has problems with both front legs and apparently hydrotherapy helps... maybe its too much strain on his leg though

have you considered a chiropractor taking a look at him if he has been through so much .

I know an excellent chriopractor but it obviously depends on the area you are in she is based in the Marken Drayton area.

Or acupuncture?