Update on Raven

 Raven has improved since his last post.
We have not let his issues (still popping, still in pain, awkward gait) go untreated.  Turned out that our surgeon had never seen such an outcome from TPO surgery.  This led to further studies at a neurology clinic in another state, which revealed that Raven has fibrotic myopathy of his gracilis muscle. No idea how it happened, but we apparently caught it early enough to treat it so it doesn't cripple him.
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After a solid month of physical therapy, hydo-therapy, muscle stimulation, massage, heat therapy, laser and ultrasound therapy, Raven seems to be in less pain and more physically active, less limping and less painful.  He can now even jump to catch a ball.  He will need to continue water therapy and possibly laser for life.  He has also been taking herbs and tinctures (black walnut, irish moss, ligaplex 1,vitamin c, and others) to build up his ligaments, and the popping has lessened, but not gone away completely.  He is finally up to 83 pounds.


 

Sula has been on herbs and tinctures as well (osha, mullein, ligaplex 1, vitamin C and cod liver oil) to help her build ligament strength, and her hip popping has decreased far more than Raven's.  She is still much smaller than Raven (around 65 pounds), probably due to some lack of minerals during early development.  She was markedly smaller than Raven as a puppy, so she'll just be my little Hobbit agility dog. 

Hopefully they both will continue to improve. And again, if you are interested in getting a German Shepherd, make sure that the breeder has ALL dogs OFA certified.  Save yourself a lot of trouble.  I also recommend insurance for at-risk puppies as well, and get it as soon as you get the puppy so nothing is pre-existing.  It's been a life-saver for us and our dogs.

Week 13, only 1 week left

Raven and Sula enjoying the cooler weather outside...no leashes!

 Thursday marked the last stretch for Raven's recovery from TPO.  One week left before we're technically "out of the woods".  This week, Raven has had significant free-play time, off leash walks, and a seemingly normal life. Our concern is still the popping, along with his preference to STILL lay down.  His eating once again returned to "not eating", which led us to seek an allergy test.

Raven and his funky hair cut, a bit of length to it now.

 The allergy test revealed what we suspected:  He is literally allergic to everything we've been feeding him.  The vet alluded to his stomach-lining being raw like a burn victim's skin, causing him pain at every meal.  For now, the only things he isn't allergic to meat-wise are beef, bison, and lamb, without any additives found in kibble or even packaged raw-meat on the market (he is allergic to kale, flax, apples, peas, oats, venison, chicken, and eggs.) .  We bought straight-up raw beef with kidney and heart along with a gallon of aloe for his stomach.  The past few days on this diet have been remarkable, my mom even started tearing up at the sight of Raven's enthusiasm to eat a full meal. We can only hope that this will help him to be in less pain.

Raven relaxing on his pillow pal, Sula.

Our next mission for Raven is to get to the bottom of why he is still hurting.  The new vet we tried suggested two new procedures: removing a hip muscle that is causing Raven pain due to it's tightness from the TPO surgery, or prolotherapy to re-grow and tighten the loose ligaments in his hips.  We are willing to do either or both depending on what will get Raven into a pain-free life.  With Sula's laxity in her hips, prolotherapy might be a God-send for us, because other than loose ligaments, her hips are very close to normal.  TPO seems to only be an option for dogs without hip laxity, because after all the trouble we went through, we are still searching for a way to correct our original problem: the hips popping out of socket, and the pain associated with the laxity.  I will recommend to anyone to do JPS (only works for young puppies) and prolotherapy (for any age dog) before looking into TPO or total hip replacement.  It will save you money, time, and pain.  JPS has a recovery time of no more than 4 weeks and has a small amount of pain (mostly due to the incision), and prolotherapy is maybe one or 2 days of rest with hardly any pain.  TPO and THR both have a downtime of 3 months, and cost you an arm and a leg, plus cause severe pain which might even cause allergies and other health issues like ulcers in sensitive dogs.
 TPO has worked wonders for so many dogs I'm sure, and on X-rays, Raven's hip "look" perfect.  But if you have a dog with any amount of laxity due to ligament damage like Raven...think twice about TPO surgery.  I will continue this blog in order to document our findings about prolotherapy, and hopefully we will give Raven the happy, painless life he's never known.

Week 12! Only 2 more to go!

 Raven has had a very good week.  He almost has total freedom in the house, and we've even let him off leash outside in our fenced-in barnyard and round pen, where he's been allowed to run.  We all forgot how fast he used to be, so it was amazing to see him go.  We made him stop after a few laps, but he was so happy that he started eating a full breakfast every day, which hasn't happened in a month.  We've been giving him slippery elm powder as well, so maybe the combination has helped his stomach and appetite. 

 It was a little rough at first dealing with these two in the house unrestrained, mostly because we don't want either of them to get accidentally hurt.  So far we've been lucky, and the more they are allowed to interact, the better and more calm they seem.  They are even returning to their old habit of sleeping close to each other after a walk outside or romp in the round pen.

After another 2 weeks, we will start letting Raven swim to help build his muscles back.  Both of their hips are still popping, but at this point there is nothing we can do, so we're trying to just let them be puppies.

Week 11 post op

 This is week 11 and 9 for Raven's hips.  They are still popping, no explanation as to why.  Anyway, Raven has had a good week:  He has been able to run on a leash several times much to his amusement.  He's such a good boy, he sometimes stops abruptly with a sheepish look in his eyes as if he thinks he's doing something wrong.  We have to tell him it's ok to run around a bit.  Still having issues eating.

Raven being a worm

 Raven has perfected what we call "the Worm", due to being conditioned to lay down at all times. He plays mostly laying down, and rolls around stretching, and lunging on his belly like a seal.  Sula is not as good about laying down, but when she does, she has a more "Viper" technique, striking and snapping.  

Sula only has one more week to go before she can be let off leash.  Can't wait, this puppy is ferocious and needs a lot of exercise, so keeping her contained hasn't been easy.  She's not as cool and collected as Raven.  Unfortunately, her hips are popping more and more.  I'm already set against doing TPO surgery with her simply based on her personality and energy level, especially because Raven's hips are still popping even after his TPO.  I'd rather do total hip down the road if needed when she's mellowed out.  And still hoping the JPS will do the trick.

Week 10 post op

Sula and Raven playing

 Week 10 and 8 for Raven.  The end seems so close, but it's still a month away.  Raven now has free roam of the bedroom at night, and most of the house is open to him off-leash.  The only reason the gates are still up is to keep Raven and Sula apart so that they don't play with each other without supervision...although they sometimes sneak by opening the gate..or crawling through the cat-door.

 Thankfully, Raven is eating more consistently, although we still feel like there's something wrong with his stomach.  He's not really gaining weight due to his lack of appetite, and his coat looks dingy since he's not eating his omega oils.  Today he trotted alongside me around 2 acres, twice.  We're trying to get him back into shape since his muscles are underdeveloped.

 Sula had a rough week. Her incision site developed big purple and red boils near her stitches, which swelled so big that they covered the incision and kept it wet.  We took her to the vet and he did a course of three laser treatments on the site, and prescribed antibiotics.  We also sprinkled the wound with ionic silver and talc powder to dry it out and prevent further infection.  Within a few days the problem cleared up.

Both Sula and Raven can't wait to finally play freely. 

Week 9 post op

Raven and Sula in the car coming home from the vet

 Sula has mild hip dysplasia.  Of course the x-rays looked pretty good in comparison to Raven's before his surgery, but the problem wasn't just in the x-rays:  The Ortolani test revealed that she has laxity in her hips as well.  So I decided to do the JPS surgery instead of "waiting to see how her hips turn out". With our luck, waiting would turn out to be a huge mistake, and I'd punch myself in the face if she ended up needing TPO surgery because we decided to "wait". 

Sula flaunting her new battle wound on her belly

 It is such a difference as far as the amount of stress and trauma involved with this procedure.  She will only need to be on a leash/controlled environment for 3-4 weeks, and then hopefully her hips will grow to a better conformation on their own.  She's almost completely normal, other than wanting to lick her stitches. 

Raven waiting for his much-deserved freedom.

Raven's hips look amazing on the x-rays due to the TPO surgery, even better than Sula's, but they are still popping (of course the vet could not replicate it.)  Right now he's very happy with his frequent walks and larger amount of freedom in the house.  While in Alabama, Raven got to stay with us overnight in a hotel, and he had a very good time walking through the parking lot medians and even got to go on a woodland trail off the side of a road.  He was quite pleased.  This poor dog has had a miserable beginning, and such little things make him so happy.  And he even had the chance to bark at strangers at night.  Let me just say that even with a dog like Raven (bad hips and silly haircut), I had no fear of walking in a strange place at night. Still, he will not be allowed to be off leash outside until after Sula's surgery.  Anyway, this is week 9 and 7 for his hips.  Almost there!

Week 8 post op

Week 8 for the left hip, week 6 for the right.  Raven is a bit sore lately due to his level of activity.  He sometimes tries to do acrobatics that he forgets he shouldn't do, which seems to make him sore.  I don't know if this is from the bones in his hip hurting, or the damaged ligaments. It's discouraging to say the least.  His hips are still popping.  I've been reading more about TPO, and apparently it only corrects the conformation...it doesn't fix the loose ligaments.  Really hoping that his ligaments heal and tighten...otherwise, what was the point of the surgery if he still will need total hip replacement in a few years?

We are taking Sula and Raven to the vet on Monday, for Raven's checkup, and Sula's first x-rays.  Since she's just over 5 months old, I want to suggest JPS surgery instead of TPO.  It is minimally invasive, and the puppy can resume normal activity in a couple weeks.  The only issue is the puppy must be very young since it involves cauterizing the growth plates in one part of the hip, so hoping we can do this if we need to and that we haven't waited too long.  Sula has no glaring signs of HD right now, but she lazy-sits and has had a few popping incidents, and Raven didn't start showing signs until he was this age as well.  Again, hoping more than anything right now that she has normal hips, and that if not, that JPS will improve the problem.

 Based on Raven's situation, I'd be very reluctant to do TPO again with a dog who has major laxity in the joint, simply because it's so horribly painful and stressful for everyone, especially with a high-energy dog with such a need for mental and physical stimulation, and incredibly frustrating that the hips are STILL popping.  The only issue with total hip replacement at such a young age is that the cement would probably wear out in a few years, and he'd need to go under the knife again. The money at this point isn't our biggest concern because we bought insurance on these puppies as soon as we brought them home (the best decision we made).   It's been a lifesaver (a nearly $8,000 lifesaver).  We;re hoping to get the x-rays from the parents of these dogs to compare their hips, and to give us an idea of what to expect with Sula.