The following pages are a diary of events describing our experience with hip dysplasia, arthritis and luxating patellas suffered by our Staffordshire Bull Terrier bitch, Dani.
I am a “pet owner” and have owned Staffordshire Bull Terriers for 25 years.
Dani was born on 2nd January 2004. Click here to see her pedigree.
Dani has had some problems with her back legs since she was a youngster and I had always believed her short periods of lameness and stiffness, usually following exercise, was caused by muscular strains. Sometimes she would stop during exercise and wait a minute or two before carrying on. At other times she would carry one of her hind legs for short periods of time during a walk or run. She also did a little skipping movement every now and then and occasionally what can be described as a “bunny hop” movement.
At first she would be lame for only a few minutes as she got older it could last a day or so, then she would be back to normal.
I had a Stafford who suffered from leg cramps after exercise when he was young and he grew out of this as he matured. I thought Dani would too.
I was wrong. Dani started limping quite badly. It came and went for a week or so and I thought she must have pulled a muscle quite badly and massaged her back legs regularly.
She was particularly bad on Sunday 1st February 2004. She tried her best to avoid moving all day and that night could not walk upstairs to get to bed. I took her to the vet first thing on Monday morning. Unfortunately I had fed her so she could not be anaesthetised and X-rayed that day but she was booked in the next day for a full set of X-rays to be taken.
Click here for article “Patellar Luxation in the S.B.T. by Paul Boland B.V.Sc. M.R.C.V.S”
http://www.staffords.co.uk/sbtvet/patella.htm
Click here for the Crossbow website article on Hip Dysplasia in the S.B.T
http://www.staffords.50megs.com/HipDysplasia.htm
Tuesday 3rd February 2004
Today the vet gave me the news I was dreading and praying not to get. Dani's problems with lameness are indeed caused by problems with her hips. I'm devastated. The vet took a lot of time going over the X-rays, etc with me but to be honest half of it didn't quite sink in because I was upset.
Click here to see copies of Dani’s hip X-ray - these are photographs I took myself and are not the best images I'm afraid!
Dani has poor coverage of both femoral heads by acetabulum and there is flattening of both femoral heads. She has mild hip dysplasia also.
My understanding of this is that the hip ball joints are not shaped correctly - they looked quite different from the healthy comparison pictures I was shown - and also they ball joint isn't fitting into the socket correctly. Her right one is the worst but she is limping badly just now on her left leg.
What does it all mean? Well apparently it gets worse with age. How bad and how soon is not so easy to diagnose it seems. There is no operation that can be done to cure her.
She has painkillers to take just now. The pain is very obvious in her face and when you see pain in a Stafford's eyes you know its bad. That really upsets me.
Dani will have to take tablets called "Seraquin" for the rest of her life. These are nutritional supplements - the box says "Glucosamine and chondroitin are building blocks for the synthesis of cartilage. Turmeric extract (curcumin is a potent biological antioxidant which protects the dog's body from the destructive effects of free radicals".
The vet bill today was £186.14. That included the cost of her X-ray plates and the prescribed tablets. Her tablets alone cost £46.00.
I am extremely relieved that she has good insurance cover with Pet Plan and that she can get every thing she needs now without me having to worry about the cost.
She would have had everything anyway, I would make sure of that but having insurance certainly takes the worry out of the treatment costs and vet bills.
A lot of things click into place now. Like her crying loudly whenever Max mounted her (boys will be boys). How she doesn't like jumping into the car any more, and now how guilty I feel now for thinking she was just being lazy :-(
Then there is the extreme guilt I feel now that I should have had her X-rayed and checked earlier and not mistaken this for muscular cramps.
Dani should continue to be exercised regularly and we'll need to restart this gently shortly. She's been lame on and off for weeks now and because of that hasn't been getting proper walks. I need to try and get her as fit at possible over the coming months and get her to lose her winter tummy and keep her slim.
Dani loves running so much. She loves her long walks in the country and on the beach and I am hopeful that once we get her fit again and the pain under control she can have many more of these.
Friday 6th February 2004
I have spent a lot of this week surfing the net for information on Hip Dysplasia. I have also been looking different food supplements said to be beneficial for dogs suffering from conditions like this such as Green Lipped Mussel capsules. To be honest the more I read the more the information can seem to conflict and the further confused I get.
I decide to phone the Orthopaedics department of the Small Animal Hospital at the Glasgow Vet Hospital http://www.gla.ac.uk/faculties/vet/sah/index.htm for advise and they tell me to phone me vet and ask for a referral to see one of the specialists.
My vet arranges all this very quickly for me and within a few hours I am told that I have an appointment on Tuesday. I’m really pleased at how quickly Dani will be seen.
Tuesday 10th February 2004
Dani saw the specialist early this afternoon. An assistant took her details and history whilst the specialist looked over her case notes and X-rays.
The specialist told me that her hips are not the main problem. She does have mild hip dysplasia and degeneration of the hip joints but the specialist said that it was not the cause of her lameness.
Dani has a degenerative arthritic condition. Pretty much what the vet said. Apparently, this is not something to be overly worried about at this stage.
Dani has luxating patellas. The vet did not pick up on this and the specialist said it was not something that was easily detected on the X-rays that had been taken.
The specialist recommended surgery and since Dani was not willing to take exercise or go for her usual walks, the sooner this took place the better. I was simply to leave her at the hospital there and then which was a bit of a surprise.
She will be X-rayed further and tomorrow she will have her first knee operation. All being well, and after her first knee has had a chance to heal properly, her other knee will be operated on in six to eight weeks.
Dani will be staying at the hospital until Friday, maybe later depending on how she copes with the pain following the surgery.
I'm very glad I took her to the specialist and that she is being treated for a problem I had no idea she had and which the vet had not picked up.
I felt really bad leaving her there and the look on her face when I left her tore me up.
This evening I had asked people on the SBT Forum if any Stafford owners had experience with this condition and with the surgery involved and learned that a two year old bitch had died today on the operating table having the very same surgery Dani is having in the morning. I know this dog’s owner personally and am shocked and very upset to hear this.
Wednesday 11th February 2004
I hardly slept a wink last night. I spent most of the night debating whether to cancel Dani’s surgery or not. After talking with my mother I decide that I have to let this go ahead. Dani has to have a chance at a better quality of life. I felt sick and jumpy all morning at work.
There was a message on my answering machine when I arrived home at lunchtime. I must have just missed the call.
Dani came through her surgery OK. She is going for further radiographs this afternoon. The surgery went absolutely fine. She does have erosions in the cartilage, which means she has worn the cartilage away in places, but the specialist says that hopefully that shouldn't affect her too badly in the future.
The specialist is in surgery all day but says he'll phone first thing tomorrow morning. I'm miffed at missing the call but so very happy to learn that she is OK.
I have a little crazy dance around the room with Max.
I ordered a Crufts puppy pen for Dani to convalesce in tonight. It’s very roomy and I think she will prefer this to a crate. I really hope it gets here before she is discharged.
Thursday 12th February 2004
I had very little sleep again. The specialist phoned at 9.00am to say Dani was doing OK and was fairly settled. She is in a lot of pain though, understandably. If we are lucky and she is well enough we will get her home tomorrow.
We are all missing her. Max is a bit lost and doesn’t know what to be doing with himself. Francesca cries a lot.
Friday 13th February 2004
A vet nurse called at 9.30am to say Dani was well enough to come home.
Two minutes later my father phoned to say the playpen had been delivered and it was huge!! We got that built up very quickly – it looks great. Exactly what I had in mind for her.
Francesca and I went to the hospital early to sort out the account. It is standard practice that the client pays for the first treatment then all subsequent treatments are claimed directly from the insurance company. The first account is £715.98 though and I don’t have this amount of money easily available. They agreed to claim payment for this direct from the insurance company too, which is great.
I spent well over half an hour talking to the specialist. He was very patient with my 101 questions.
The X-rays the hospital have taken are amazingly clear – far superior to the ones the vet takes. They have a brilliant radiography department he says.
I was kicking myself for not taking the camera. I had charged the batteries up ready but in the excitement of leaving for Dani we forgot just about everything, including her collar and lead!
The before and after pictures of the knee were crystal clear and it was very easy to see the difference.
Click here to see the “Discharge Instructions to Client” which provides further details of the treatment, management, etc.
Words can’t describe how happy I was when I saw Dani hobbling through the corridor with the vet nurse. She had her back leg totally shaved with a small sticky dressing over the top of the wound.
We got her straight home and into her new playpen. Max was over the moon to see her. It was touching to see how incredibly happy he was. I have never seen him so pleased about anything.
Dani is not at all vocal normally but after any time away from home at the vet’s she cries loudly for ages. This is her voicing her protests at being abandoned I am sure. Max helped her by standing alongside the playpen barking in tune to her cries.
Dani was sick shortly after getting home and she needed faeces cleaned off her too. She finds it hard to balance when toileting. She was cleaned up and her bedding changed and after a very light meal of roast chicken spent the next few hours fast asleep.
Saturday 14th February 2004
I had to take Dani to our local vet clinic this morning because she developed a nasty rash on her leg and I wanted it looked at. The on-duty vet doesn't think it looks anything serious, probably just with the shaving and her licking at it.
I now have a copy of the report the hospital sent to the vet clinic – click here.
The on-duty vet was very impressed with how well Dani’s wound is healing. The wound is 3 days old in this photo and I agree it looks really good.
The vet also explained to me the benefits of giving an epidural during and after surgery for pain control (see the small shaved square on Dani’s back). I had wondered about the use of this yesterday but forgot to ask the specialist during our talk.
