QUESTION

My local vet treated my dog with anti-inflamatories for a limp in his left leg coming from his shoulder. As the limp wouldn't clear up, he referred my dog to a specialist for a more thourough examination. He was xrayed and had dye injected into the shoulder but nothing was spotted out of the ordinary. The vet said he seemed to have a "soft tissue" injury in his left shoulder and the treatment involved a steroid injection into his shoulder and then "house arrest" for three weeks. Over the last two weeks he has been excersied on the lead for 10 mins three times a day but his limping seems to be going back to the way it was before. I have cut back the walks to five mins three times a day. can you tell me what course of action i should take now? Many thanks.

Duncan

ANSWER

Dear Duncan,
Firstly, as a referral vet myself, if one of my cases had not responded to treatment, I would be wanting to see them back (I deal with eye referrals!). I also deal with all other aspects of medicine in my practice, and I often find that survey radiographs. X-raysd taken to try to diagnose disease of bones/joints, that show nothing abnormal - often need to be followed up 1-2 months later with the same views to see if there are any signs of degeneration.only then, hopefully, when a lesion shows up, can a diagnosis sometimes be confirmed. Sounds like osteochondrosis of the shoulder to me!

James Haddow