Question About Activity In Greys With Osteo Who Still Have Leg

[Tracey]

For those of you who have or had a dog with osteo, I have a question. Since we're in the diagnostic phase with Cosmo right now, if she does have osteo I know there's a risk of her breaking her leg unless or until it's amputated. So in the meantime, my question is what is it ok to let her do and what should she not be doing anymore?

 

We have a two story house and I'm trying to limit her going up and down the stairs as much as possible.

 

I'm trying to keep her from running in the yard but wonder if she should be leash pottied.

 

Also she gets so excited when she does see a leash she starts spinning in circles. I guess I can just try and sneak up on her with the leash to avoid the spinning.

 

Can she go on walks? I think she'll be heartbroken if she sees the leash come out and never gets to go anywhere.

 

Should we insist on lifting her into and out of the car, even though she wants to do it on her own? Given that the lesion is in the front of her shoulder, do we risk hurting her by putting our arms around her to pick her up?

 

Any feedback you can give me from your own experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I think jumping would be your biggest risk. Stairs would be ok if they are slowly walked. LIft in and out of the car. If you want to go a step further, it would be leash walking only; no runnng. Morgan's front leg broke (from osteo) when he landed at the base of the stairs. But I think at that point, it was weak enough any number of activities would have caused it.

 

For lifting, I would put your arm behind the front legs.

[TheFullHouse]

I think there's always a risk of a break Tracey. Sometimes it doesn't take much pressure at all for the leg to break.

[Guest MnMDogs]

After Matty was diagnosed, she still was able to walk until the 3rd day. I still took her on walks, because like Cosmo, she loved her walks more than anything!

 

But after I found out, I let her tell me where to walk. It was weird, but she took me on the shortest walk we'd ever been on together. It was a way we had never gone, but she just seemed to want to walk around the block rather than her usual.

 

I would do my best to keep her from running, and try not to let her jump in and out of the car.

 

Unfortunately, Judy is right.

 

ETA - It's really hard to try to balance letting them do all the things they love to do to be happy vs. what we need to do to keep them safe

Edited June 5, 2009 by MnMDogs

[iluvgreys]

Yes, there's always the risk of a break. Would implement all of your thoughts... leash walking for potty breaks, limited stairs, lifting down from the car (that's where the most pressure occurs), and taking her out on short walks so she still gets the pleasure of walking and the mental stimulation. I had a small yard, so didn't worry much about any of mine running/spinning. They just limped outside, did business and returned. Hoping you have much more quality time with your precious girlie.

[pabozem]

I've been there with two of mine. It's how I found out they had cancer in their legs, and believe me, you don't want to witness them breaking a leg. I let both my babies go to the bridge when I got their diagnosis at the vets. Both of these girls were older, one being 12 1/2 and I didn't see them handling amputation very well. I know not everyone shares my belief, but I prefer to let mine go before they are in such intense pain. It's the hardest gift of love you can give. My prayers go out to you and your pup.

[Jiffer]

IMO, let her be a dog while she still can. Take her for walks as long as she can handle it, let her play, let her enjoy life.

Life's too short to prevent her from living.

[Guest Energy11]

Max was fine, BUT we did not let him run or jump. His leg never broke, ....

The cancer just progressed, and he was hopping on three legs when we decided to send him to The Bridge. Good Luck with this, and you ARE in our prayers!

[Guest RynnAndLyra]

Sterling was limping for quite awhile before he was diagnosed. We still went on walks - but he pretty much limped the whole way. By the time he was diagnosed - he was not using the leg at all and was doing the stairs on three legs. Luckily he didn't fracture the leg - but he very well could have - he was crazy to go on walks too.

[RobinM]

As others have said, the leg is exceptionally fragile and in great risk of breaking.

 

Polli's story was that 6 weeks after we adopted her she started to limp, badly. We took her in and she had a set of x-rays done without anethesia. They were clear. 5 days later the limp was so bad she looked like Igor of young Frankenstein. It was realy bad so we did more x-rays under a general anethesia.

 

Still, nothing showed up. the films were sent to Cornell. They saw nothing.

 

Her limp mysteriously went away over the course of about 10 weeks from start to end and in over the course of a year, she would periodically have her gait off, but we knew she was OK.

 

Almost a year to the time she started limping she started limping again, not as bad, but she was limping. We minimized walkies, we kept her on grass vs. asphalt and we gave dermaxx for imflammation, but I was not rushing to take her in because we had already had her filmed. She limped on and off for about 2 weeks and I was thinking about taking her in- but she tripped lightly on the steps and let out a SCREAM (NOT her m.o.)- we rushed her to the vet where a fracture was seen.

We had the leg removed 12 hours later and the rest of course is history.

 

Some dogs never fracture, some do.

[Bluesky]

Thank you for asking this question and for the responses thus far.

 

I can empathize with you as my Cali has just been diagnosed and will spend the weekend with us until I can make a decision on what course of action to take.

 

I'll be thinking of you and hoping for the best.

[Tracey]

Thank you for asking this question and for the responses thus far.

 

I can empathize with you as my Cali has just been diagnosed and will spend the weekend with us until I can make a decision on what course of action to take.

 

I'll be thinking of you and hoping for the best.

 

I'm so sorry you have gotten this diagnosis for Cali. Unfortunately, I understand how you feel. Sending good thoughts and prayers to you both.

[Guest greytlady]

I've got an 8 yr old girl that was diagnosed several weeks ago. It is between her elbow and her shoulder. She limps and favors the leg, but bounces when the cookies come out and at dinner. She loves laying in the sun and we will control her pain as best we can till she tells me she's had enough. She's not much of a runner, preferring to just potter around and I don't have steps.

[fourofem]

When I decided not to amputate with Lewis, I knew it was risky. Unlike your girl, his was in the left rear. Until his ramp was built, I was a nervous wreck...he couldn't make a move w/out me being right beside him. Not sure when it happened but I decided to let him live out his time like he did before the bad news. Sometimes when he took off across the yard after the others, I would close my eyes waiting for the scream. Luckily, that never happened. I kept him as comfortable as I could with a combination of Tramadol and Meloxicam and spoiled him rotten. We had three good months together.

[Jackandgrey]

IMO, let her be a dog while she still can. Take her for walks as long as she can handle it, let her play, let her enjoy life.

Life's too short to prevent her from living.

 

When Jack was diagnosed I was at first terrified about a break. In the end I decided I would let him do activities as tolerated within reason. His osteo was a rear leg which allowed him to protect it more easily than a front leg. But we walked as usual for many months. And then they gradually shortened until the last three weeks I would put on his collare and leash and take him to the front yard and let him walk around because yes he was so excited to go. Although a couple of those days he more or less pulled me down the street to his little park. I tried to limit his running but he did run a little. He went upstairs to bed every night until the last two nights. I let his level of tolerance dictate what we did over his 6 months post diagnosis. Just be vigilant and realize there is some risk involved but that there has to be some point to their being alive.

[Guest wmlcml6]

The biggest limitation we put on Annie was that we wouldn't let her fly off the 5 front steps anymore. Most of the time she held her front leg off the ground when it hurt so I wasn't too worried about her running on it and making the situation worse. Just in case, we did leash her in the beginning. Then she had no desire to run so it wasn't an issue.

 

We lifted her so that her body was against us -- "bad" leg out, if that makes sense. It was her left front shoulder, so I would stand on her right side, and lift her rear with my left arm, and have my right arm between her front legs (so it would be in front of the right leg and then left leg had no pressure on it during the lift). Before she got sick, if I ever had to lift her it was the opposite direction because her rear end seemed heavier and I'm stronger with my right arm.

 

I know I've already told you this, Tracey, but I hate that you are having to go through this, and I'm still praying it's just an evil infection that can be treated. {{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}