Question:
One of our two, female, spayed German Shepherds was diagnosed with Panosteitis (Long Bone) was she was quite young. This inflammatory bone problem is quite painful and causes a "shifting leg" syndrome. We were told that she would outgrow this by the time she was two years old. She'll be turning "2" on April 15th and is currently experiencing another flare-up? Our vet only gives us "Anafen" 20mg tablets to give her 2 each day for pain and never prescribes more than 8 tablets. Why is she still experiencing this painful, inflammatory bone problem? Could it be something else? Please, can someone help us???? Thank you and "Nellie" will thank you too!!

Answer:
Here's a recent discussion about pano:

Is your vet sure that's the problem? Has Nellie been xrayed to rule out anything else? Long bone growth stops at about 18 months in large dogs, this seems late to still be going through pano pains. I really think other causes need to be considered, or ruled out, or something.

Crate rest really helps. Restricting exercise & feeding a decent diet during growth helps too. Glucosamine/chrondritin daily can be a miracle supplement, no joke. I've known people (I'm one of them) with dysplastic dogs who are absolutely symptom free after taking it, my ortho vet said he often heard this from clients.

I'm no vet but I'm really curious (and doubtful) about pano symptoms lasting this long. Here's some more info:
http://www.vetinfo.com/dpano.html

Answer:
Thanks so much for your reply to my post. My husband and I too were thinking that perhaps Nellie has something else going on? We were talking this afternoon that I'll phone our vet on Monday and make an appointment for Nellie sometime this week. She was xrayed quite awhile back and dysplasia was ruled out and pano was diagnosed at that time. However, I tend to agree with you that perhaps it is something else. We have always fed both Nellie and her sister Shadow IAMS and think(?) it is a decent food. I'm going now to check out the link you supplied for me. Thanks again for your concern and interest. I LOVE my "girls" to pieces and are very spoiled. The only two German Shepherds I know that sleep on their OWN couch!!!!

Answer:
Does the limping involve the back legs, front legs...or is it hard to figure out (it is for me.) Dysplasia isn't necessarily evident early on, and elbow dysplasia (UAP, RCP) can be very tricky for a regular vet to diagnose via x rays. My vet (who is excellent) missed it; he figured it out on a second set of xrays later, & this was confirmed by an ortho specialist & then at a vet school.

I really encourage you to get some more info - don't be afraid of getting an opinion from a second vet either! And really look into glucosamine; my dog was all but scheduled for $2500USD arthroscopic surgery at MSU, but a month on these nutraceuticals stopped his 7 months of limping; that was 15 months ago. A neighjbor with a dysplastic Newfie had the same experience,

PS: Iams is fairly horrible food. It used to be sort of OK, but Proctor & Gamble bought the company in the mid-1990s, changed the formula, & put it in grocery stores.
There are MANY better foods than that crap. Here's an excellent nutrition link:
http://www.bowchow.com/dogfeeding.html

PPS - my dogs have their own couch too!

Answer:
The limping occurs in a "shifting leg" pattern. Sometimes it's one front and one back leg. Other times it's one front or one back. The last flare-up involved her front left leg and her back right. This time however, it only involves her back left leg.

I spent a good deal of time checking out all the links you supplied me with and they are a FANTASTIC WEALTH of information for me. Thank you sooo much!!!! I'll be continuing to do more research on various maladies affecting the bones.

I ended up calling my vet this morning as he was the one on call. He's known me for about 14 years and called me back immediately. His words were "Nellie should NOT still be suffering from this inflammatory bone problem. You need to bring her in early this week for an exam to see if we can figure out what is going on with her. It could still be the pano but perhaps something else is going on". I told him I'd call the office first thing in the morning to make her an appointment.

To be quite honest Carina, I am extremely upset and worried about her. What if it is dysplasia or some other bone ailment? I don't want her to suffer and be in pain!!

As for IAMS, I WILL be researching some of the foods suggested on your links! Again, THANK YOU for that information. I didn't realize the company had been bought out. What about the foods that ONLY vet offices sell????

Answer: