Hi , just wondered if anyone knows much about these ? My 4 month old pup banged his paw a few weeks ago and was limping for a few days he  was xrayed to find nothing but put on crate confinement , The xray was sent to a specialist who says it might be his growth plate and if it is there is nothing that can be done . He has to go back in a few months to be Xrayed again just to make sure everything is ok .I am puzzled as to why he has to go back if there is nothing that can be done . Any advice on growth plates or good links would be greatly apprieciated ..thanks

Hi.  You dont say what breed.    If it is one of the giant breeds problems with growth plates are more common.  Whatever breed your dog is I would ask for a referral to someone who understands this particular problem

A husky, but he seeems to be ok now . Just did not understand why he has to go back .

They would possibly want to see him again because, even though there is nothing they can do if the growth plate has been damaged, sometimes the damage can then cause uneven growth in the bone etc because the growth plate is where the bone grows from, and I would think they would just be wanting to check that and make sure everything is normal.

Sounds logical now you describe it in that way .He has now gone and hurt his hind leg now(he is clumsy) so the vet can do the two at the same time ... I am sure he likes the vets more than his home as he seems to love going there , run's in and greets the vets like they were family ....

Bad news for my pup, it is his cruciate ligament on his rear leg , Front paw ok , but needs an op on his rear leg . Don't know how i am going to keep him calm for 12 weeks after it , so if anyone has any idea's or have been through it can you let me know what worked for you ...Thanks

That's an awfully young age to damage a cruciate! Poor lad. :-(

Feeding food in stuffed Kongs is a good one for the keeping calm - makes meals take longer and gives something to think about. If he's used to Kongs and how to get stuff out you can do frozen stuff in Kongs and that will last for longer.

He was knocked over by one of the dogs in the enclosed area , he was fine straight after just jumped up and carried on playing , but two days later he was limping .
He has never had a Kong but will get one .(sure he will love it as if he gets hold of an empty meat paste jar we have to fight to get it off him )
What kind of frozen stuff do you mean , i have only seen the kong fillers in packs , should i freeze some meat for him ?
He goes in over the weekend , he is quite swollen and just laying in his crate just coming out to do his buisness . Poor fellow is just not himself at all , even a carrot does not tempt him out .

If he's not had a Kong before start with stuff that's easier to get out or he might give up. Once he's used to it you can make ii harder for him - pack it more tightly etc - by freezing I just mean shove in whatever you're shoving in - mashed banana, whatever - and stick it in the freezer overnight - so it's more like a lollipop - and more work for him to get all the food out (but don't let it melt on the best carpet :-D ).

http://www.kongcompany.com/worlds_best.html

Some recipes on here - including frozen ones I think.

Poor guy, that is really young. My boy was 7 months when he was injured by a big dog knocking him over. Have a look at this article - mine was too old for this. I don't know if anyone does the procedure here but that vet was very nice and answered my age related questions on cruciate repair.

Swimming was the best thing we did for my dog. We also played things like hiding treats under cups (shell games, memory games), tricks like picking the green from the yellow cup etc. (101 things you can do with plastic cups and injured puppies). I stuffed small toys in socks so he had to work to get them out. Kongs - they can be filled with all sorts of things. Mine don't like the paste but even frozen broth can keep them busy (without making them fat). Bones are good too. I get knuckle bones from the butcher, or a marrow bone (I scoop the marrow out) - they'll keep him busy for hours.

Thanks for that . But won't try the sock thing ,as knowing him i would be back at the vets getting an eaten sock removed from his gut ...lol.., will ask at the vet's if this is what they are doing .... How  long after did you take your dog swimming ?And how was your boy after the op? Has he recovered fully or does he still limp occassionally ? Sorry to batter you with question's just my mind is racing , fretting and all that and reading up on the internet just makes it seem scary ..

Sorry to be a pain in the backside . Do you think what he has been fed on has anything to do with him getting this injury ? He has part raw (chicken wings ,carcases and bones from the butchers )and wainwrights potatoe and salmon . On alternative days . He eat carrots, apples , pretty much anything really ...And garlick also.

Batter away I was worried sick. In fact, it's why I joined CD- I was looking for help and reassurance :) We tried to just rest the leg first so by the time he had his surgery the muscles were really wasted. He hadn't used the leg for almost 5 months. He still wasn't putting weight on it a couple months after surgery. Our surgeon didn't recommend the hydrotherapy so we didn't start it until a couple months after when I started looking for ways to help him. It was like magic. He put his leg down after the first swim. We started slow, only about 2 minutes of swimming and built up. So, I would ask your surgeon how soon you can take him. As for total recovery it was 8 months before he had a good romp without a limp afterwards. He was running before then but if he overdid it he would limp. It seemed like forever and I was starting to worry that he'd never be OK. Then one day he just stopped limping. He still seems a little stiff at times (3 YO now) but he functions very well. I've been giving him gluc/chond tablets since the surgery. I figure it won't hurt. He blasts up steep muddy banks and runs at speed through rough cover so he has a great quality of life. I can tell that leg is a bit weaker than the other one at times but all-in-all he does just fine. Oh yes, he's a 40 Kg golden retriever so not a little dog.

I imagine with your youngster they'll want to try some sort of stabilizer. He's far too young for TPLO.

Thanks ...He did his last weekend , so it will be just a week , so hopefully his muscles will be not too bad .I can see him losing weight though , He is getting worse as each day goes by . He had just started having gluc/chond so will keep him on them too , And look for a hydrotherapy pool near me too . The vet said he will not beable to run well on the rig or if he does he will be struggling .. Such a shame cos he would have loved it .. Will just have to keep him on the horse rein's ...lol... cos he is not going in the enclosed dog walking area again unless he is alone ....
Thanks for that Lori , you have settled my mind a great deal ....