Wworm

..Or are they arms? We r talkin' bout my 2 front legs (arms) here.

Promise i'd give an update here bout what i found & what's happened to me. Well, the issue is relatively minor. Me started out in life w/straight legs, and over the course of the year, am getting progressively turned out, which seems normal for bassets. But am also getting knuckled over, too.

So we went to see my vet about it re: external supports I read about here. Dr. D referred me to a Specialist Center.

Lemme tell u, it was the saddest place i ever been too Because there were Ortho, Neuro, & Oncology. Dogs going thru cancer treatments there. Me saw a 3-legged dog. And dogs w/paralysis. so sad. but it was kewl to see all the rehab equipment they have there for dawgs.

I saw a Physical Therapy Rehab specialist for 1 visit. She thought I should try Thera-Paw Carpo-Flex Sports Wrap. Therapaw's Carpo-Flex Sports Wrap for Dogs. Actually, a prescription is not needed for the standard sizes. But because I have odd measurements, we had to get custom made ones, which do cost more and require a prescription.

They came last week & seem kewl so far. I just wear them when i go running in the park (~30-60 min/day) or on walks. We are hoping it will slow down the knuckling over, since I am still growing. I have been gaining some weight recently, so that will probably put more pressure on my legs (arms).

so yeah, that's the story there. Feel free to ask me more ??s about it.
--your friend, Worm

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BassetHoundHank

What is "knuckling over" exactly? pooor worm

And yeah, that's what I thought when I went to Hank's eye specialist. It was so nerve wrecking because I saw so many different animals (not just dogs) going there with bad eyes. I saw a mainecoone cat there that was huge and was apparently going blind or something

Please keep us updated on the walking!
Does it make Worm's legs get straighter, too? Or just slow down the knuckling...

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jaleely

WORM! this is awesome. I tried wrapping bowser's legs before, but kind of gave up because it was hard to tell if it was too tight, and he hated it.
Hmmm maybe PM me where you went, since i know we're not too far apart? : )

i can't remember where i posted bowser's leg photos before, so i'll just do it again. hank's mom...it's when the elbows kind of stick out, sorta! Like this! (there's some of when he was little and less crooked too)

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Annie714

Oh Wormie! Those will make you look VERY athletic! I sure do hope they will help

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houndmomma

So sorry Worm bout your front legs – I hope it doesn’t hurt. The things you have to wear look like what we put on our thoroughbred race horses. They really liked it when we put them on – I hope you also get comfort from wearing them.

Jaleey – your puppy is sooooo cute

Jen~

henry'smum

Wormie, your going to look like a racehorse! Miss Paisley will be so excited to be dating an athlete!

Mikey T

just the knuckling over which is thought to be related to to mock laxcticity in the ligimentent of the carpal area ie wrist.

just for a little clarification the elbow joint on a basset is the first joint below the shoulder and is general above the bottom of the chest on bassets and other dwarf breeds. The carpal joint is the equivelent of the human wrist and in the photos is what bends forward of the fron feet, Keep in mind dog walk on their toes and finger so working the joint back from the spine for the human equivelent general works better than from the foot to the spine. That the rear fott for example human heel is on the ground wheres as the dog equivelent is up in the air as would occur if you walk on your tippy toes.

There is a school of thought that it is caused by laxtivity in the ligaments and by supporting and wraping one can couse these ligiment to tighten or atleast preven continued hyperextension.


below is a picture of knuckling over with a straighter leg breed it more easily defined what we are talking about


and it can be way more severe


In order for the front assemply to work properly and get the feet unde the chest the leg must be crooked. However such trait is polygenetic meaning it takes multiple genes in the right combination to accmplish but it is unlike that there is only a single combination that works. It is whya when breeding basset with perfect fronts form two very distink lines the odd of getting good fronts are much less than bredding to dogs from related lines with good fronts. Another thing that people and vets do not consider is that by spaynuetering in the six month to 14 month time frame is that nuetering delays the closure of growth plate but by six month some plate have started or have close while other remain open by spaying and nuetering in this time frame you can change the relationship of bone pair lengths that would have occure naturally and possibly exagerate elbow inconguites that lead to fiddle front ie feet pointing east-west rater than north-south. Of course this is speculation and there has not been any studies on this posiible effect and if it does occur to what extent. But it is a stong enough possibility that it is include as a reason by some vets involved in dogs sports to recommend spay.nuetering after maturity if you are going to do so.

Keep in mind it is very difficult to impossible to sort through if such incongruities are the result of genetics, trauma or other outside influence like nutrition and spay/nuetering etc. and what role any one has in any particular case.

BassetHoundHank

OH MY GOODNESS! that is frightening...

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paisleysmom

Oh WWorrmmie I think you will look very handsome in your new leg (arm) braces and very athletic too!!! You will look just like the joggers that wear the sweat bands on their wrists and mybe yoyr Mommy can get you a scarf to match!!!
Mikey that second picture is quite alarming!! I know it would be in the extreme and wonder why someone would let it get that far. Surely there would be a surgery to correct this??? I am wondering if or why especially in a shorter breed as the basset the growth plates are not zapped ( I am using that word for lack of another ) to prevent further growth. i know this can be done in humans to let a shorter leg catch up to a longer leg -- they do this near the end of growth and will "zap" the longer leg so that the shorter one catches up thus hoping that both legs turn out to be approx the same lenghth.

jaleely

probably expense, paisley. i know when i took bowser in they wanted 150 just to talk to a doc on the phone, and said the whole visit would be at least 300. of course, later the guy also said that bowser was too old to have any braces do any good. i disagreed, but like i said wrapping didn't really do anything. I saw another website similar to this one before, but that one wasn't quite right.
Truthfully i kind of gave up. We started him on glucosamine, yucka powder, and he's still got a few adaquan shots left. i think after the first 150 & 300 initial cost, i was quoted 3,000 for surgery...as a minimum. so...blah. lol

P.S. i'm sorry to ramble a bit...I actually think it would be awesome if they could zap the cartilage, but then i started thinking about how some vets would just love to find something else to charge people for. It would be so wonderful if they thought more of the animal's health, and how much that animal can mean to family, and the quality of life. So...I rant about money. sorry! hehe
Bah, i also harbor a lot of guilt, because i feel like i did this to my boy by encouraging him to go up and down stairs, or play too rough, or i didn't give him proper nutrition. Really, he has horrible genetics. But, I always feel like i should do more for him, and should have.
Wormy, your mom is awesome for getting you some leg brace thingies! Okay again i'm gonna stop rambling now *lol*

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