February 2012

PET OF THE MONTH:  PTOLEMY - 16 week old male Leonberger

Ptolemy bounced into the SMART Clinic on the 20th of December 2011. His long legs and gangly movement reminded the staff of a new born foal crossed with an extremely lovable teddy bear. He had been owned by Mr and Mrs Hughes since he was 8 weeks old and initially they had not noticed any problem with his movement. They were aware however that he was growing very very rapidly and at 16 weeks he already weighed 30Kg (without an ounce of fat on him).

In late November 2011, his owners took Ptolemy on his first visit to a puppy training class. Unfortunately the class was held in a building with wooden floors which can be extremely difficult for young puppies with poor co-ordination to manage - to them it can be just like walking on an ice rink. Ptolemy’s legs shot out in all four directions and his owners immediately decided to take him home. The next morning however they noticed that he was struggling to get up and when he did gain his feet they noticed that his movement had changed dramatically. Now instead of moving in a straight line and picking his feet up as he went, he was now tending to move sideways like a crab and was shuffling his hind legs along. His owners noticed that the outline of his pelvis had also changed and that he was reluctant to put weight on his right hind.

Over the next two weeks, Ptolemy’s gait changed very little despite trying him on anti inflammatories and a referral was made to the SMART Clinic. When we first examined Ptolemy, it was immediately obvious that he had very poor control of his movement in general and tended to trip over his own feet. This is often the case with young, fast growing dogs where the muscles, tendons and ligaments fail to develop at the same rate as the bony skeleton. As a result there is insufficient support for the joints which if left unchecked, can lead to joint pain and possibly cause changes in the way that the joints develop which can lead to problems in later life.

Ptolemy also demonstrated a moderate right hind lameness and marked rotation of the pelvis as he moved forward at the walk. The right hind lameness became worse when he was circled to the right and it appeared that he found moving in a circle both clockwise and anticlockwise extremely difficult.

When we examined Ptolemy, what initially struck us was his general lack of muscle development in both his front and back legs. This lack of support for his joints meant that he had very poor control over his body when he went to sit down or when he tried to walk up steps or get into the car. Both of his hip joints were tender on palpation and he appeared painful on flexion and extension of both hind legs. His thigh and hamstring muscles were underdeveloped and extremely tight as were the muscles of his back and abdomen. More worryingly we noticed pain and discomfort in some of the joints of both his front legs as well.

On further questioning of his owners regarding his diet it appeared that they had been supplementing his Raw Food Diet with dairy products such as yoghurt and goat’s cheese. Although each portion was small, cumulatively it was potentially enough to lead to a Calcium and Phosphorus imbalance, both of which are essential for healthy development of bones. We were also concerned that as Ptolemy was growing so fast that the diet was providing him with too much protein, a factor that needed immediate attention in order to slow down the growth of his bones and allow time for the muscles, ligaments and tendons to strengthen and provide his skeleton with the necessary support. We were concerned that if he continued on his present diet and rate of growth that he would run the risk of developing a condition known as nutritional or osteodystrophy which can result in significant joint damage.

It appears in retrospect that Ptolemy’s injury was fortuitous in that it allowed us to moderate his diet and introduce exercises to help develop his neuromotor skills (or in layman’s terms to help his brain talk to his legs and control his movement). His treatment at the clinic has combined acupuncture with work in the aquatic treadmill and gentle soft tissue work to ensure that all his joints are moving through their full range of motion and that there are no areas of tightness or restriction in his muscles to interfere with movement. By carefully adjusting his diet we have slowed down his rate of growth slightly, enabling him to develop his muscle mass and tone which now provides excellent support for his skeleton. We also started him on an exercise regime to improve his balance, co-ordination and core stability.

Six weeks on, Ptolemy is sound, growing at a controlled rate and has started back in training classes (but this time on non slip surfaces). He demonstrates no lameness and his balance and co-ordination are improving weekly. We can now move all his joints through their full range of motion without any pain or discomfort and we hope to see him in the show ring soon.

On a general note, it is extremely important that puppies have the correct amount and type of exercise as well as appropriate levels of protein and fat in their diet. Rapid growth rates coupled with poor body awareness and joint control can increase the trauma in young cartilage and bones and prevent proper development and may predispose to lameness. Repetitive trauma should be avoided i.e. long periods of ball play or excessive tugging are both examples of bad exercise while controlled lead walking for short distances on lots of varied surfaces do not have a repetitive strain component and are excellent fro training good walking skills.

January 2012

PET OF THE MONTH: MAX

Max, an 8 year old Jack Russell Terrier has made remarkable progress since first visiting the clinic back in November. Max had been diagnosed with generalised polyneuropathy, a condition that had severely affected his nervous system. On presentation to the clinic Max struggled to stay upright in a lying position and was unable to hold his head up for more than 30 seconds. He had weak movement in his limbs but was unable to stand even with assistance, with his legs crumpling beneath him. Max started visiting the clinic twice a week as a day patient so that he could receive acupuncture treatment and we could focus on frequent short sessions in the aquatic treadmill, as he would fatigue quickly. This treatment along with the dedicated work his owners continued at home, as advised, saw Max progress amazingly well during his rehabilitation programme and we were all delighted when he took his first new steps in December! Max now runs in to the clinic to greet us and we couldn't be more pleased with the progress he has made. Well done Max!

Lowri has recently returned from a flying visit to Denmark during the first week of January. She was there to lecture members of the Danish veterinary profession on rehabilitation and physiotherapy. The course was very interactive, with all the delegates getting involved in the therapeutic exericse practical, as well as trying the equipment out with their dogs. Lowri will be going back at the end of March to teach the second module of the course.

Sian Ferris Runner Up in the Pet Health Counsellor of the Year Scheme 2011