Severe Bursitis In Shoulder

[Sundrop]

In April/May 2011, our then 6-year-old boy started limping - he has been through a lot of vets, treatments and procedures - after 3 x-rays, no tumors were seen. We had a sonogram done and we were told his right front shoulder bursae is very inflammed, giving him a diagnosis of "severe bursitis." According to the specialty vet (ortho-surgeon) his bicep tendon looked "perfect" and he didn't see anything wrong with the soft tissue, but saw the "very nasty and immediately noticeable" inflammation in his bursae after his first & second sonograms. He has gone through hydro-therapy, laser therapy, electro-pulse therapy, massage therapy and acupuncture. He has also been on 4 different prescription pain meds (varying from anti-inflammatory, general pain and nerve pain meds), and non-prescription pain meds, he has also been on joint supplements (fish oil, glucosamine/chondroitin, MSM, etc.), yucca as well as some very expensive Chinese herbal supplements for joint/tendon pain and all-over body pain. He has had 3 x-rays, 2 sonograms, lots of bloodwork and numerous appointments with 4 different vets, - including an ortho surgeon who gave him an injection of Depo-medrol directly into the bursae.

 

I am concerned because nothing has helped him. Nothing. At one point, he was on 3 prescription pain meds at one time and his limp never improved. I got him off all the drugs because they weren't helping, they were upsetting his stomach, probably overloading his system and they were expensive. I try and limit his movement as much as possible, we live in a split-level house, so lots of stairs - but I keep him gated in upstairs with me (I work from home) all day and I walk with him downstairs to force him to "go slow" and not jump.

 

It breaks my heart to see him in so much pain. He just turned 7 last weekend, and he is in great overall health, but his limp...yikes! I just called and got him a referral to NCSU veterinary hospital, but will likely not be able to get an appointment with them very quickly (we did this for a different dog, different problem, and it took 2 months to get in).

 

Should we try something else? Maybe another injection? Oral steroids? We've exhausted all the rehab options available, as well as all the natural supplements we can find (our vet is holistic & traditional, so we've tried a lot of things through them). The ortho-vet told us not to stop his walks, as his muscles would atrophy, so we still go on short walks without hills, but this boy is in pain. We just don't know what else to do.

 

Help me!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Okay, here's the very silly question: Has anyone checked his feet?

 

He could have bursitis, the experts could all be right, the drugs might have helped with the bursitis, but he still might limp if he has a corn on a toe pad.

 

Just to eliminate this very basic (and common) problem with greyhounds, examine his feet. Squeeze each toe gently at the sides of the pad and see if you get any reaction from him. Corns sometimes reside below the surface of the pad, and there might not be anything to see at this point. A normal pad will "give" when you squeeze it (squeeze gently at the edge of the pad, where it joins the fur); a pad with a corn will be resistant to that soft squeeze, and you usually can feel a stiffer area in the pad, even if you can't see any abnormality.

 

My girl used to cry out when I Dremeled the nails on one front foot. She was new to me, and after she sat patiently for me to Dremel the nails on the other three feet, then let out a yelp on the fourth, I figured she was just a wimp. (I did look over the foot and didn't see anything suspicious--no nail problems or anything like that.)

 

About a month ago, she was limping and I rechecked the foot: there it was, big as life (and twice as ugly, as the saying goes): one honkin' huge corn on a toe on that foot, a corn that was invisible a month earlier, but probably was causing her pain six months ago or more. I've apologized to her for calling her names.

 

Another give-away for corns: Is your boy limping the same way on all surfaces? If he limps more on asphalt than on carpet or grass, that's a sign of a foot problem. I'm not saying the experts were wrong about him having bursitis, and in fact he might have inflamed the bursa by walking funny to compensate for a corn. But a corn problem could explain why meds for his shoulder aren't helping with the limp.

[Sundrop]

Hiya! Thanks for the reply - and sadly, yes, we've checked his feet extensively. He came to use with a toe that stuck straight up in the air - certainly a racing injury (very broken toe!) that healed incorrectly. So, we've always been really careful with his feet because we figured, eventually, he would develop arthritis in that toe. That's the first thing we had the vet check - all the digits, no reaction from him - ankle, no reaction - then she checked all the pads and between the toes and found nothing. We've taken him to two rehab experts and then to the ortho-surgeon who have all checked his gait and all his digits, joints and limbs and found nothing conclusive other than his right front shoulder.

 

He does have cracks on the pads of his feet, but nothing that ever looks inflamed/infected. I will check them again and I'll make sure I squeeze gently to see if he reacts!

 

He does limp more on our asphalt driveway and he makes a bee-line for the grass, could it be that he isn't reacting to the vets pushing, pulling and poking his toes/feet/ankles? He's relatively stoic in the face of pain (other than this persistent limp)...but we've continually asked the vets to check his feet and he gives no indication of anything. We also had his feet x-rayed (the first time, because we didn't know the root of his limp and assumed it was his toe) and we did the laser and electro-pulse therapy on his feet, too. Should we ask for a sonogram on his feet?

[MaryJane]

Corns ... one of the sure signals of a corn is that your greyhound is preferring to walk on grass rather than asphalt. Even if you can't see anything on his pads, you might want to consider getting a boot with cushioning inside and have him use that on walks and see if there is any improvement. You might also want to put something like a foot cream on his pads daily as that sometimes helps to make them more noticeable.

 

As stated previously in the thread, the corn problem could have caused the shoulder issue.

 

If your vet is not familiar with greyhounds, they can easily miss corns.

[mom2four]

Yes, please check his pads. One of our Greys was also limping, X-rays etc were negative. We knew he had corns, were hulling them but he had one that was deeper. It was removed surgically (under sedation) last Friday. He is still hopping around but has stitches in there now. We hope that in the next week he'll be walking normally again. I know what you mean when you say it hurts you to see them limping around.

 

Good luck!!

[KF_in_Georgia]

He may be more stoic with the vet than he is with you. The vet could pretty much twist a leg 360 degrees before either of my dogs would react. Let me Dremel a toenail, and it's ow!-mama's-hurting-me! time.

 

The most common thing to rub on a dog's pads is Bag Balm (you can get it at the drug store). I've also used a plain aloe vera gel. I rub it on all the pads on my corndog, and I use that as an excuse to squeeze the pads a bit. She likes getting her pads rubbed, and squeezing a healthy toe produces no reaction from her. Squeezing one that has a corn produces a stinkeye, a whimper, or a (literally) knee-jerk reaction from her.

 

So check your boy--and don't just focus on one foot. Turns out, Silver has two corns--front right foot and back left foot. The front right is the foot she's always been fussy about. She has an old track injury on her back right; she has always favored that leg, so it's hard for her to show when the back left is a problem. Anyway, if you rub an ointment on all his pads, at the very least you can soften the pads and eliminate some of the cracks and roughness. And you may find the source of his limp.

 

And Therapaw seems to be the preferred foot covering for corndogs. You might be able to get away with covering just one sore foot, but be prepared to cover the "matching" foot on your boy's other side. (For Silver, I'm going to need to get a full set of four. *sigh* She's going to hate me.)

[greyhead]

You might, if you haven't already, check for tick-borne diseases and do a complete thyroid panel. Both of those can cause musculoskeletal aches/pains that won't show up in any kind of radiology. And either may underlie the bursitis, as far as that goes. If the thyroid is off in either direction, too high or low, cracked pads can result. (At our house the Bag Balm didn't help with that, but his pads normalized when the dog's thyroid medicine was cut in half.) You deserve a lot of credit for all the efforts you've made trying to diagnose and treat him. Hope you can get it completely sorted out soon!

[dante2zoe]

My girl was limping for a long time. X-rays were clear, but the vet saw debris floating in her shoulder joint. It could not be removed surgically. He suggested pain medication when she had a flair up. Months later, a corn popped up on that foot. It started as a little speck, I thought she had stepped on something. It has since grown and takes up half the toe pad. I dremel and she wears a Therapaw on that foot. Took some adjustment for her to accept it. It has helped tremendously. I haven't seen a flair up like we had before since I have been treating her.

 

Good luck!

[Guest BiancasMom]

Did they ultrasound his "good" shoulder for comparison? Maybe this inflammation is "Normal" for him? I vote for a corn too. Otherwise maybe a CT is in order to look for something else. I assume they have checked him for neck pain?

 

My grey had shoulder pain too. She was 5 at the time (now almost 7) and it was diagnosed via ultrasound as inflammation of one of her tendons. The vet saw fluid around it. I know this isn't what is wrong with your grey but thought I'd share my experience. We rested her for 6 weeks. No stairs, I lifted her out of the car and no walks. I fenced off a small area in my yard for potty breaks. Then I took another 6 weeks gradually increasing exercise. She then did the same thing to her other shouder a couple months later...I repeated the same protocol and she healed well. I also gave her Rimadyl.

[tbhounds]

Another vote for second look at those pads- I thought of corns right away. Have you wet the pads and taken a super close look? Also, I find that if you squeeze the pad from side to side you'll see a higher pain response if a corn is present.

There is a test that can be done but, it's a bit more intensive.

The foot/toe in question can be blocked. ( numbed )- if after the nerve block is done and the limp stops then you know the pain is originating from the foot.

[brandimom]

You might want to talk to your holistic vet about prolo treatment. Years ago my Brandi had a bone chip floating in her shoulder and could barely limp down the driveway. We did 5 treatments of prolo therapy and she never had another problem. I think the website is www.getprolo.com or google it. Saved her from surgery as the orthopedic vet wanted to do surgery.

 

 

[Guest kydie]

I too vote check for corns,, sometimes they can be tricky to spot, if you are not too familiar with them,, my boy can to me limping,, vet.of coarse, xrayed first,, never having a grey before,, I knew NOTHING about corns,,, it was a corn,, I lerned to hull them out,,, man have I had an education since I got my first grey

[Sundrop]

Hi everyone - thanks for all the replies!

 

We checked his pads again, did the Bag Balm and squeezed, squeezed, squeezed & poked -zero reaction from him. I did it again later in the evening and still nothing. He regularly gets his nails Dremeled and no problems with that, either. We took him to the vet, again, yesterday (for his yearly check-up) and she checked his pads, too and found nothing. Could a corn be hiding out that much? I don't see anything obvious on the pads, though I don't quite know what to look for. He has a little cracking around the edges, which is normal for all of them, nothing severe. I see a tiny bit of "wear" on a couple pads - like the pad is a little thinner in those spots, but that's all I see. I looked up some photos on Google of corns on dogs' paws and I see nothing similar on him - could I be missing something?

 

And yes, we had an ultrasound on both shoulders and his other one was fine/normal. We've also had numerous blood tests/system checks on him and nothing abnormal on anything. We didn't specifically have a tick-panel (I don't think?) - not sure if that is something they check for without asking for it. I will bring up the thyroid/tick question with her, as well. Thanks!

 

I have Googled Prolotherapy and I am going to print it out and take it to the ortho-surgeon he has been seeing, as well as my vet, to get some opinions. Thanks for the tip!

 

Thanks again, everyone!