Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / January 2005

Hi again all,

Well, after a few weeks of nothing unusual, 11-month-old Saskia (Great Dane)
suddenly yelped this morning, while just looking out the window and shifting
position for a better view of the cat, and held that same foot up, with her
tail tucked and the most saddening expression on her face.... Poor girl! As
always she came to me for a lean and an elbow massage, then seemed fine but
a little subdued.

As you'll recall, she had a thorough series of x-rays a few weeks ago, which
were sent on to an orthopedist, and nothing was found. We were cautioned
that if the problem cropped back up we should go to an orthopedist.

I called the vet at our old place (haven't been to one out here yet), and
she's on vacation! The receptionist said the fill-in vet, who was very
helpful once before about the skin issue, will look through Saskia's charts
and see if he feels comfortable writing a referral to an orthopedist without
the regular vet's say-so, otherwise the regular vet will be back in a week.

Meanwhile I'll be resting poor Saskers. At this rate it looks like she may
have to rest until she's a sleepy grownup and no longer WANTS to charge
about like a goofball!

Possible triggers? Hmmmm... we have slippery wooden floors but we did at the
old place too and she only slipped occasionally here for the first couple of
days, although all bets are off if someone rings the doorbell (still working
on training an automatic sit-stay for that one). She's been fine for weeks
now, including after trips to the dog area at the park and longish walks,
and after the two times she's been left alone (and un-crated). Yesterday
Danny went to a movie at the same time Saskia and Walter and I went for a
walk, and she bounced up and down at the end of the lead, trying to pull and
lunge to go with Danny but stopped by the Halti, for a few minutes, then did
it again this morning when we encountered a friendly Akita that was more
interested in doing her morning rounds than in playing with Saskia. Could
these have done it?

Could it be some sort of repetitive strain injury from her dog-field days,
which were daily trips until six weeks or so ago? If so I know how those
feel and how they can come and go, and the way hers acts--cropping up
suddenly and briefly from seemingly innocuous behaviors--reminds me a lot of
my shoulder. Could something have become strained while she was getting her
spay/pexi? She'd have been strapped down spread-eagled on a table, of
course.

What sorts of things should I ask the orthopedist when we can go?

I hate to make her rest all the time, as it's counter-productive--she gets
very wound up on walks, and lunges and bounces, when she's having a lot of
enforced rest, and she plays wildly indoors on the slick floors, tossing
Nylabones and rope toys and squeakers willy-nilly and leaping on and off
furniture. Is she allowed to walk sedately until tired? I can DO that! Or do
I have to wait until we've seen the orthopedist to know that?

We have no stairs here, just two shallow steps between the bulk of the house
and the bedroom.

Poor puppy!

--Katrina