Hi, was wondering if anyone else has had problems with there lhaso's front legs. Our one started limping at 6 months old. Took him to vets and after xrays and being reffered to specialist his front legs have buckled like a banana and his growth plates have not fully formed. Looks like serious surgery is on the cards for one leg.

This sounds like premature closure of the growth plates, which sadly my current Basset suffered from (ulna, both sides - at least his 'turn out' is equal!!).   He presented lame at around 6 -8 months (I forget) and we all went down various roads from Pano (not) to Wobblers (not) until finally he was x-rayed, front to back.   His hips and elbows were fine, but what did show up was this prem.closure which Bassets do suffer with - not helped imho by the high protein food he'd been reared on before coming to us at 4 months.    We talked about surgery, but as he was still growing, and it may well have needed doing more than once, we opted to leave it - with pain meds. for the lameness and careful exercise and feeding!!

He has too much turn out now, but has of late been having a few episodes of unexplained lameness.   If this happens again he will be x-rayed as I fear he could be developing arthritis which the vet who saw him initially suggested might happen (he's coming up to 5 now).    The odd thing is when this happened, there was no unusual exercise going on, and in both cases, the limp vanished as fast as it appeared (overnight after crate rest).   Next time, if there is one, I'm going to have him scanned for his microchip because I'm suspicious it might have moved!!

My message is not to rush into surgery - but you must obviously be advised by your vet, provided you can trust this isn't just about income!!