1209. Sunday's interesting case Nov 24, 2013 -- A young Golden Retriever is still lame

Nov 24, 2013 Bright sunny Sunday

This young Golden Retriever, Male, born Apr 4, 2013 had a painful left shoulder joint on Nov 5, 2013. This was evident as he "cried" when I flexed and extended his left shoulder joint while he laid on the examination table. The owner heard the cries.

The dog had jumped one week ago. The diagnosis was sprain of the left shoulder joint.

Now, 19 days later, the dog is still limping. I had the dog walked and trotted outdoors twice as I would have done for a racehorse lameness examination.

There was a dipping of the left fore limb as the dog trotted but this was not very evident or replicated. There was some lameness of the front limbs but which joint?
I had the dog videoed during examination.

The left shoulder joint was no more painful but there were replicable "clicking" sounds indicating a loose shoulder joint. No cries or pain.

The right shoulder joint was more stable and no clicking sounds were heard. After many manipulations, the dog was not so happy as you can see in the video.

The right hind knee joint was "stiff" when I extended it. No pain. But the dog was not lame after manipulation. The left hind knee joint was flexible and there was no pain.
I advised X-ray of the left shoulder joint as it may be shallower. Give a "large breed" dog food - owner to check and no more jumping for one month. The dog was not supposed to go up and downstairs as advised during the first consultation but the owner did not come yesterday.  The lifestyle of this dog could be very active as he is a puppy.

The "clicking" sounds of the left shoulder joint are reproduced in the video.

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The younger generation seems to have no time for their pets. The uncle travels a lot on business and had to take time today to send the Chow Chow to me for veterinary treatment of itchy head area.
"The tail is almost bald in the last half of its length," I asked my assistant Niang to express the Chow Chow's anal sacs. He did it once and lots of grey brown anal sac oil shot onto the tissue paper held in his hand. This accumulation of anal sac oil caused discomfort and itchiness and the Chow Chow bites his tail till all hairs fall out.  

"Do one more time," I said and Naing expressed another similar amount of oil.
"Go to the groomer monthly or get a groomer to the house," I said. "Take this telephone number of Karen, an stray dog activist who has 48 dogs in her 8 kennels in Pasir Ris. She will do the house-calls to check on this Chow Chow!"

Younger generation has a moral obligation to take good care of their pets but they have so many distractions and so the father has to pay money to the vet for treatment which can be prevented by daily grooming. All my advices on regular care and grooming fall on deaf ears of the younger daughters and I see this Chow Chow for skin diseases owing to lack of good grooming!  Fortunately the father and uncle are dog lovers and the uncle spares the time to drive the dog in his mercedes to seek vet treatment.