stayc811

Hello fellow fur lovers! Im new to the site. I own 2 bassets..Roscoe and Reese. Both just turned 1. The vet said they both have angular limb deformity. Reese's right leg is very noticably "crooked"..for lack of better words. Seemed to start showing around 7 months and has gotten worse. Shes not in pain and it does not slow her dow. She has to keep up withher crazy brother Roscoe lol. Luckily we have a ranch style so not to many steps for heShould i be worried? Who else has had experience with this? Thank u!

Cooper&Lyla

My Cooper also has a crooked front leg. He is now 1 year 9 months. He had a spell of very slight limping as a pup, but it didn't last long. It doesn't bother him at all now, though I can see it is less stable when he is sitting with his hind legs to one side. We are leaving it alone.

Others posting about this type of issue generally recommend not doing anything unless it is bothering the dog. Most vets are not familiar with Basset bones, and may want to do surgery when it really isn't needed. No surgery is going to un-basset a basset's legs, and the recovery is long, difficult, and painful. If you do seek orthopedic care or opinion, make sure it is someone VERY familiar with basset hounds. Check with your local BH club for recommendations. Good luck!

stayc811

Thank you ! I agree, Im if it aint broke (literally lol), dont fix it. She seems to be fine for now, no pain , not holding her back. I will keep my eye on it. Thanks for the info.

3kbasset

we first noticed a problem with sophies front leg at about 5 months. vet initially thought pano /xray inconclusive. treated with nsaids/pain meds.

waxed and waned but at about 9 months, markedly worse deformity and leg would buckle. was on pain meds daily. revisit to vet yielded a referral to the university vet hospital and ortho specialist.

all due to premature closure of growth plate with adjacent bone continuing to grow resulting in the deformity, elbow incongruity and deformity at the paw.

was corrected with surgery. she is WONDERFUL now. no pain and can walk, run etc. the surgeon was fantastic...lots of experience with bassets.

everyone has different stories and different degrees of deformity. For our girl, this was the only option. We are so very grateful for the surgeon's skill. recovery was 5 weeks cage rest (she was ready to rip and run after 4 days!) so a very easy recovery. She was off of the post op pain meds rather quickly.

Mikey T

nearly alol basset have angular limb deformity to some degree as straight legs are more of a fault in the breed than crooked one. As Sk point oit it is a matter of degrees. most angular limb diformities require no intervention however if sever enough then surgery will reduce pain and othe problems long term,. It is why you need a vet with experience in the basset breed when making such decisssion and even then secomd and third opinions should be gathered,

Soundtrack

I'm another one who believes that most vets don't understand Basset legs and how they grow. Sometimes surgery is necessary, but most of the time it is not. I've seen plenty of Bassets with very deformed fronts who lived normal pain-free lives. The average vet is much to quick to reach for the knife in these cases.

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FranksMum

I too am basically against surgical correction, UNLESS the animal is in constant pain, continually lame. Unfortunately I went through this premature closure of the growth plates, ulna both sides, thing with my current last Basset who was a buy-in. After x-ray to find out exactly was going on with him being lame, around 8 months (and yes I did fear pano, which it wasn't) we discussed the options re surgery and the vet, who specialises in bones and knows all about Bassets (so that was one hurdle I didn't need to overcome!!) said that even if he did go in, at that young age it would probably need to be done again as the other bones grew. His lameness ended, although he does have more turn out than I'd hoped for (and which has prevented me from going back into the ring which I'd hoped to do - much as actually I've seen worse in there!! ) So I'm glad I didn't put him through any surgery.

The only thing I would say is there is the possibility of arthritis setting in later on. But if any surgery you had done wasn't 100% successful, that may be going to happen in any case.

I would suggest that each situation is individual so provided you have a Basset-aware vet, and not one who is after money either, I'd be guided by his opinion but yes, if it ain't broke ............

Mikey T

could not agree more, can't make diagnoses on-line at best can give you some guidelines,

and if you do not have a vet that meets the discription above, it is a good time to look for one that does,

3kbasset

the right vet/surgeon is indeed paramount.

while our ortho surgeon corrected the right leg problem surgically, he told us the problem in the left leg was minor and did not need surgical correction at least at this time.

point is, we were not even aware of a deformity in the left leg (right was so bad, left looked normal) now we can see the minor deformity and again, are grateful for the surgeon only operating on what needed surgical correction.

crazydiamond123

Hi everybody!
I'm new to this forum and joined because although I have had dogs all my life, I am a first time Basset owner. Digby will be 1 year old this month and started limping on front legs at 8 months old. The limp has jumped from one foreleg to the other with limping lasting approx 2 weeks on each side. Crepitus was detected in each elbow also. Xrays were taken and ortho vet has diagnosed OCD in both elbows with the onset of osteoarthritis visible. Elbow incongruity has occurred due to premature closure of ulna growth plates. Pano is also present although I'm not concerned about this as I know this will resolve at skeletal maturity.

Ortho vet is experienced in Bassets and other chondrodystrophoid dogs and has said Digby's problem is mild therefore he would not advocate surgery. I have been advised to use conservative management through restricted exercise, rest and weight control with the use of NSAID's as and when necessary.

My vet recommended putting Digby on Royal Canin Mobility food so that he benefits from the green lipped mussel in this food to help with his arthritis. Digby has been on this food for 10 weeks now. Does anyone have any experience of using this food for ortho reasons? Digby was weaned on Royal Canin Maxi Junior by the breeder and I kept him on this until the switch to mobility food.

Digby has never been over-exercised and is not allowed up stairs and he is lifted in and out of the car. He has never suffered any type of trauma. He has a ramp to get down the steps to the back garden. I did all I could to "Basset-proof" my property before bringing him home. He is only ever walked on grass.

My vet has recommended short walks on the lead from now on. I would be very interested and grateful to hear from other owners/breeders who are living with Bassets with same or similar problems regarding lifestyle for Digby since he will have this problem for the rest of his life.

Many thanks

Lorna - Digby's mum