12yo Tripod lab with severe OA

August 14, 2012

Hello all,

I just met a lovely geriatric labrador today who I would love to be able to

help. He is 12 yrs old and is missing his RF leg after being hit by a car 7yrs

ago. The current owner adopted him a year after this event and doesn't know

much about his history previous to that.

Over the past few years he has become less and less mobile due to arthritis in

the remaining elbow and wrist and now only walks about 20ft from his bed to the

door and back. Today on exam he had significant muscle wasting of the remaining

leg, and is painful to palpation and manipulation of the metacarpals and carpus.

His elbow is very thick and he has only about 50 degrees of motion in the elbow

(loss of both flexion and extension). He also has significant muscle wasting of

the hind end though he has minimal arthritis in the hips or knees. He is

currently on Tramadol, Glucosamine and Rimadyl and is still in a lot of pain per

owner (crying, panting, very reactive to any motion)

While obviously I would love to work on rebuilding strength and coordination in

this dog, I think the primary goal needs to be pain control. I spoke with the

owner about stopping NSAIDS since this is a very chronic process, and trying

other pain med options (Gabapentin, Amantidine, Acupuncture, etc) and I also

spoke to her about considering a cart or orthotic to help support the remaining

front leg. She has tried a harness in the past but the one she has doesn't fit

the dog well and slides around due to the missing leg. The dog also runs away

from the harness/vest and resists having it put on. She is not interested in

acupuncture or a cart but is willing to consider the other options if I do all

the " legwork " for her.

I showed her ROM, moist heat, and massage today but the dog is really too weak

and painful for much else at this point. What do you think about how to

proceed with this dog? Do you think a brace would be helpful? Any experience

with pain control in dogs like this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,

Joni Barsky DVM (CCRT pending)

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