Lame Greyhound Advice

[chris]

Hello everyone.  Could any experienced greyhound owners offer any advice?  We have a 4 year old greyhound who is lame in her back leg.

We first began to notice this towards the middle of last year but looking back, may have been longer.  Initially we thought it was just a knock from running around the garden and playing with our other dog - 4 year old Lurcher.  However, I went in to her one night after they had gone to bed and noticed she was sitting up and panting despite being at rest and not particularly warm, so we took her to the vets for a check over which included xray of the back knee.  The vet said she was fine in herself, no heart or other obvious problems and looked good and healthy apart from her back knee.  The xray had revealed what she though looked like an old injury that had either not been treated or not properly, and had not healed properly.  Unfortunately, we don't know her history other than having stamps in each ear so presumably has raced. 

The vet said that there is now arthritis in the joint and that it will not get better, it is just a case of managing the pain etc.  She was prescribed Metacam and we also trialled Galapram but she seems better on the Metacam.  

There are a couple of things I hoped someone may be able to help with.

We have heard (only through hearsay) that Metacam, over time might damage her liver.  It seems to be a case of weighing up the pain now against other problems down the line.  We started Numove about 4 months ago and initially showed some improvement but she has gone downhill lately.  She also has Sardines with her breakfast as we though the oily fish may assist.

The other one is walking.  The vet said she should be okay to walk as long as she wants to so we let her decide.  However, there have only been a couple of times when we put her coat on she has gone and lay down on her bed so we took that as a sign she doesn't want to come so let her stay home.  The vast, vast majority of the time however, she is desperate to come with us springs around the house with excitement.........and then limps along on our walk.  We walk the dogs together at least twice a day plus they can wander around the garden as they want to.  We don't know whether walking her will make the situation worse but then not doing so is not good for her well-being.  She, otherwise, seems so fit and healthy.  Her weight is correct and muscle tone looks good.  Vet had no other concerns.

We just wondered if anyone has similar experience of lameness at what seems to be quite a young age and how we could help her manage this.

many thanks  
    

[ragsysmum]

Have you checked for a corn? The vets are pretty useless at thinking of or noticing these. If she walks easier on a soft surface like grass but limps more on solid ground, then I'd suspect a corn on one of the pads.

[greybeard]

Hi Chris - don't know if following is any help,but here goes.
Your girl is Irish,tattoos in both ears.If you wanted,and if you can read her tattoos, the Irish Stud can give you more information.We've contacted them about all our 3 Gap hounds - just cos knowing their birth date makes insurance
easier than a guesstimate.(Plus you can celebrate their birthday on the right day)!
Sounds like she has raced from that injury.Our vet thinks all former racers should be on a joint supplement from square 1 - just because of the effect from racing.Most develop arthritis at some stage.We use Riaflex Canine Joint
Plus,and more recently added their Green Lipped Mussel supplement - they've made a noticable difference in our growing old disgracefully girl.And yes,oily fish is good -our boy has it,but she has chronic pancreatitis so sardines etc are a no-no.Though she's fine on salmon.
Metacam can cause liver damage,but as far as I'm aware they do need regular blood checks if on it long term.Our bridge boy had his dose reduced due to his liver function results,but was still able to have it.Sorry,can't remember how often the checks are - think 6 monthly.Only problem is at the moment,there are production problems with it due to Covid.
Walking is good for her,keeps the joint moving - and she's already telling you when she doesn't want to.Our bridge
boy still enjoyed his wombles(so called cos it was at his pace and decision as to how far) at 15 1/2.
Sadly,4 is is not too young.Our boy was only 2 when we adopted him but he was already showing some signs of creakiness.
Sounds like you're managing her OK.Keeping her warm could help too - my joints are definetly objecting to this cold weather.Hope this has been some help,and welcome to the forum.Cath

[chris]

Hi ragsysmum and greybeard. Thank you very much for your responses.

I did look for corns and have since had another look but I can't see anything. She does seem to limp on soft ground as well so I suspect it is the arthritic knee joint.

Interesting you mention obtaining her race/stud history. I have thought about doing this but I wasn't sure whether this was the done thing with her being rescue. I was worried that you never know the circumstances under which she was rescued so thought it best left alone. We do have a card with her actual birth date on and from the stamps in one of her ears I was able to trace this to the same birth year as her card. I can't remember where I saw it but there was something online which gave a key as to what some of the letter mean. I think it was SR in one of her ears which indicated 2018....I think.

I am going to try changing her supplements a little. I have looked at the Numove and this does contain Green Lipped Muscle but not as much as the RDA so I think it will be worth adding a little more of this.

In terms of the Metacam, we are still trying to limit this to when she is in obvious pain but I think it may be worth a vet trip to get the bloods done if she goes on it more regularly. Vet didn't say anything about bloods but maybe because she is only occasionally taking it. Mind you, with this weather, I think I could do with some! Hopefully she may show some improvement as the spring comes.

She doesn't actually seem to be in as much pain as I haven't seen her panting in a while. She just seems to be limping more and I was concerned about walking her and whether this could be doing further damage. From what you are saying, walking will actually help and this is similar to what the vet said. As long as she wants to walk, she is fine.

Greybeard - have I interpreted correctly when you said your boy was 2 and a bit creaky and is now 15 and half. That is fantastic. I would love for our girl to make it to such an age!!

Thanks for your help.

chris

[greybeard]

Hi Chris - Stud book was really for birth dates,don't want to know racing history etc,as all on the forum are anti racing - we just want our beautiful hounds to have a loving home.All I know is our 1st Gap boy was a rubbish racer - only won 1 race,retired at 2,then "disappeared" for 6 years,till Gap rescued him age 8.Our girl had a muscle injury during her 3rd year and came to Gap,and baby boy (I believe)made 1 of his only sensible decisions.He was a rising star at Belle Vue,but came to Gap at just 2.I think he just decided he didn't like racing.
Our 1st boy and our girl had/have Metacam regularly - hence the liver function tests.She originally had it for a chronic pain problem but it's helped her later arthritis too.Baby boy just has the supplements.Hope you find a supplement that works for your girl.
Chris - I wasn't very clear in my post.Perry, my heart-boy,was 15 and and a half when we said goodbye,and he loved the last nearly 8 years of his life.Jem,our girl,is coming up to 10 and a half,Shadow will be 7 next month.All the "regulation" Gap black.
Just a different slant on arthritis - our 1st greyhound,my Princess Tillie, had always been a pet.All we knew about her was she was an RSPCA abuse case (enough said!),no tattoos,Irish or English,and she never had arthritis.
Come join us in the Off Topic Community Area - we'd love to know how your girl gets on.Cath

[chris]

Thanks Cath, I shall head over to the community area and will certainly keep you all updated. I'm afraid I am a bit new to forums. This is my first ever thread!
I hope you don't think I was in any way insinuating you wanted to know racing history. I know most, if not all of us are united in our opposition to racing.
I am new to dog owning - well, a couple of years in now and can honestly say adopted these gorgeous creatures is one of the best things I have ever done. Only reason I didn't do it before was I worked away a bit and we were out of the house a lot. It breaks my heart to see what the poor creatures have been through but it is good to know that at least those rescued by Gap and people on this forum go to good homes.
We actually only ever intended one dog but we met our girl at a Gap fund raising event. Lisa let us take her for a walk and....well, the rest is history! ha ha.
She was 2 then and I don't think she had been long out of racing. When I look back at the photos from that day she was so bulked up she is like a different dog now. She had been injected with goodness knows what regularly. We just want her to be happy and pain free now for the rest of her life........which I think she is. Especially when the fire is on and she is nudging me out of the way so she can take her place!!
Thanks for being so welcoming. Look forward to being part of the forum.

[greybeard]

Wow Chris - a Gap girly,which 1?We might remember her,cos some of us do do Facebook - I have never posted on there,but I can access the Facebook groups.Like to keep up with Gap hounds just in case.Would have loved another 1 after Perry left,but Jem has been rather reactive since she had cancer.Saying that she's surprised us by really taking to our neighbours little black witch - she usually prefers boys she can boss around.
Never crossed my mind about racing history - I can always remember Lisa warning us off that.Like I said - just cos insurers were making it more difficult without an exact birth date,took us ages with Perry cos he was older than 7.Cost us a fortune and never had anything wrong that was worth claiming for.Jem has proved it's worth the premiums!
We have had dogs for 40 years,but until 16 years ago never a grey.Then we saw Tillie,deal was she came with her Saluki X sister -nobody on the forum knew Tillie,but some had the "privelege" of knowing Kizzie,been hooked on hounds since.
Please do join us - so many are now on Facebook only,the diehards would like a new friend.Cath

[chris]

She is Biddy. It was a couple of years ago. I think she is classed as blue.