Wondering if anyone can give some advise. Harvey is our 7 month Great Dane and early last week we noticed him limping. He never injured himself in any way and we checked between his toes and pads to see if there was anything there and there was nothing. We took him to the vets, they gave him a good check over and couldnt find anything obvious. He isnt in any pain when you touch his leg. The vet says its a weight bearing problem and could be an early sign of joint disease. He got some anti inflammatory tablets and we were told to take him back if he wasnt any better. Well today he has been really bad, the tablets are finished, we are resting him as much as possible but he is getting worse. We have made an appointmet for wednesday but I am worried sick. Does anyone have any experience of this.

kat

Hi Kat, so sorry to hear about Harvey, i too have a Dane, his only tiny at the mo tho, I havent no experience with Danes as his my first, but i do hope that he is ok, roll on wednesday when the vet can find out what is up with his leg, I would of thought that still only a baby he is too young to show any signs of joint disease???

Thanks for replying. I thought that he was too young for joint disease but apparently not. I cant begin to tell you how worried I am. To make matters worse I thought I would search the net for info on joint diseases in great danes and it isnt good reading. I have all sorts running through my head.

kat

I can imagine! let me know how he gets on once you have seen the vet, i do hope everything goes well and that his ok

Hi everyone.

Harvey is still quite bad. I phoned the vet again to tell them I didnt want to wait until wednesday as he is now in pain. They didnt have any appointments for this evening ( not even emergencies) so they are seeing him at 9.30 tomorrow. I asked the vet if there was anything I could do for him just now and she said he could half 1 & 1/2 paracetamol in his food. She is going to x-ray him in the morning. He is sleeping just now. Earlier on he was struggling to get up, he was just lying on his bed wagging his tail (poor thing). I lay down beside him and he put is leg over my shoulder. I just cried. Now I am worrying about the anesthetic :(

kat

Hi Kat, i really feel for you, poor boy, thats bad they couldnt fit him in! dam them vets!
Im sure he will be absolutely fine through the anesthetic, they will find out whats wrong with harvey and sort him out! I know its hard but try not to worry, as i said im no expert but i would of thought that if he had any kind of joint disease wouldnt it of taken alot longer than this to develop? keep us posted x

You'll find everything you need to know here: http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles.htm

Any news yet Kat??

Hi

I got Harvey to the vets this morning he got another check over and my vet has referred him to an orthopaedic specialist. He suspects it to be OCD but says it can be very difficult to diagnose, even on an x-ray. He said a specialist would be a better option. So I am waiting on the phone to ring with an appointment. I'll let you know what happens.

Kat

Hi Kat...there is also a much less serious condition called pano they can get,,it can make them very lame.even run a fever but it is a self limiting condition but can go on for weeks or months and can change legs....it can usually be seen on an x-ray as a a dense spot on the bone..hopefull it just that

Ok Kat, good luck xx

Hiya
The orthopaedic specialist phoned me around 6 tonight. He wants to take Harvey in tomorrow morning so we have to be there for 9am. I am glad that they are seeing him so quickly. At least this time tomorrow I will know exactly whats wrong with him. He is on complete rest and he hates it. He wants to play with our dachshunds, so I have seperated everyone out, so there is no chance of that. The wee ones know there is something wrong and its created a really strange atmosphere which feels really odd. Probably because I am used to a mad house and its just so quiet just now. Anyway I'll let you know how he gets on.

kat

Thats good! your probably already on your way, so let us know whats happening later on, hope everything goes ok for you :)

Just to let you know, Harvey is in the vets now. We seen the specialist, he says he can feel muscle wastage on his right shoulder and he will know more when he sees the x-ray. So I am keeping everything crossed that it wont be too bad and it is something that is easily fixed. The vet is going to phone me between 11 - 12, so I'll let you know how he is doing. I am just trying to keep myself occupied just now.

Thanks for listening :)
Kat

Got my fingers crossed for you :)

The vet phoned a little while ago. He confirmed that harvey does have OCD in the right shoulder :(  He took the chance and x-rayed his left shoulder and unfortunately he has it there as well. He is operating on the right one just now and he will have the operation on the left shoulder in 4-6 wks. I have to phone back at 2 to see how things went so I'll let you know tonight. Has anyone had experience of OCD?

Kat

:( so sorry kat, has he got to stay in overnight?

Hi Blues mum

I wont know till I phone at 2. But I hope not, would just love to get him home. I keep staring at the clock wondering if everything is going okay.

kat

Hi any news?

Hi Smurf..they can recover from it and be fine..it looks bad at first and they can get a saroma sometimes at the surgurey site.its important to confine them at first and definetly supplement with glucosimine so the a type of cartlidge can rebulild where they debride it..you shouled definelty inform the breeder here is a quote from OFA ................''''While the exact mode of inheritance is unknown, osteochondrosis is considered to be an inherited disease.  In affected individuals there is a disruption in ossification of the cartilage mold beneath the articular cartilage of the joint.  This results in aseptic necrosis and when the weakened area collapses, the articular cartilage fractures resulting in lameness.

OCD has been reported to occur in the shoulder, elbow, stifle, hock, and spine, and can be unilateral or bilateral.  Most affected dogs that develop clinical signs are less than one year of age.

OCD is seen in many breeds but appears to be more common in the larger body type breeds.  It is also seen more frequently in males than females.   

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Hi Smurf,

Hope all goes well.  I had a relative who's Lab was diagnosed with OCD (just one side) - he'd limped since he was about four months of age :( but wasn't diagnosed until a few months later.   He was successfully operated on - hope it works out the same for your boy.

Good luck, Teri :) 

Hi everyone sorry I didnt reply last night but I never had the chance.
We picked harvey up at 6 and he was great, didnt look too bad at all :)
The op went very well, they removed the cartlidge. He is to have the other op on his left shoulder some time next month. We got pain killers, antibiotics and supplements (these repair the joints) for him. He slept most of yesterday, my hubbie slept beside him last night. Harvey was dreaming really bad, was running in his sleep then the poor thing wee'd himself. So I stuffed some towels underneath him. He woke up around nine and wanted out so I took him in the garden and he wee'd for Britain :D
The vet never put any dreesings over his wound so we were advised to put an old T-shirt on him. Much to the amusement of my neighbours!!

I just want to say thanks to everyone on here especially Blues mum xxx
and thanks to everyone who has given advise on OCD, before this I had never heard of it. The vet did say that it is an inherited condition and advised against breeding, which was fine as we were never intending breeding him anyway and were planning to have him neutered at some point. Well I am away to attend to the wounded talk to you all again

Love
Kat

Glad he's over the op and back home with you. Now the fun ;) starts to make him rest ... ! Good luck!
:)

Thats brilliant news kat! and your very welcome, glad harveys ok, bet he looks cute in his t-shirt lol
He`ll be back to his old self in no time :)