[LottesMama]

Hi- This is my first time posting here and I come looking for advice. We are first time basset owners, we have a 5month old female basset named Charlotte. We recently noticed that when she gets up from a nap or lounging around for a while she limps slightly on her front legs. She isn't in any pain, we've really felt her legs and massaged every muscle to see if she'd respond. Once she gets going she seems fine, she runs and jumps and plays normally. Ive read a little about pano(?) does this seem to fit that condition? Does she need to see a vet right away or should we wait a few weeks to see if it resolves? We would obviously rush her right in but we have already spent a fortune on vet bills in the few months we have had her with lots of health issues such as ear infection, parasite infection and cherry eye surgeries in both eyes. I still owe a balance of a couple hundred dollars and I am scared of adding the cost of xrays to the tab. All advice would be greatly appreciated!! TIA

 

[Mikey T]

Pano is general very painfull it effects males 4 times as often as females. The most non evasive diagnose tool is to squeeze the long bones (middle of the bone) the radius, ulna and humerus of the effected leg and compare the results with the what happen when squeezing the bones in an uneffective limb. In pano one of the bones in the effective leg should be painful when squeezed.


The a number of possible causes that may not be pano so having the dog examined for a definative diagnoses is the best course of action.

 

[LottesMama]

Pano is general very painfull it effects males 4 times as often as females. The most non evasive diagnose tool is to squeeze the long bones (middle of the bone) the radius, ulna and humerus of the effected leg and compare the results with the what happen when squeezing the bones in an uneffective limb. In pano one of the bones in the effective leg should be painful when squeezed.


The a number of possible causes that may not be pano so having the dog examined for a definative diagnoses is the best course of action.

We have squeezed, rubbed, pinched, massaged every inch of each leg and paw and she shows no responce to it at all. She doesn't hesitate to chase after her kittie buddies or go down the 2 steps to her back yard. We dont see any sign of pain at all. Just that she walks funny on her front right leg after she has been sleeping or down for a while.

 

[smitte21]

Hmm... could be Pano don't really know though. Our rescue boy had a very mild case of Pano that only ever surfaced after really hard play sessions and he would limp on differing legs. We just tried to limit his play and kept it under control that way. Also if you don't have her on adult formula food you should have her on it now... it will give her bones a chance to grow a bit slower to catch up.

 

[SophieB]

Hopefully you have not been walking your Basset for more than a few minutes each time because we have always been told by breeders and vets, never to take Basset pups out walking on a 'proper' walk until from about 10-12 months of age because of the way their leg bones/plates are developing and they don't knit together properly for a long time.

When we have had pups, we have found (especially having two together) that their playing and running around in the garden several times a day, followed by periods of resting, has been sufficient exercise until they are older. We have always walked them gently and for about an increase of five minutes for every month of age and they've not done 'proper' walks until almost a year old, having built their walking time up as they age.

I remember meeting someone who told me they had walked their eight month old Basset for far too lengthy walks and when she was limping, the vet told her never to walk a Basset 'properly' until getting on for 11/12 mths and she said she had to keep her dog in for almost three months and to curtail walking or the vet said she would have suffered arthritis etc as an older dog.

I think some uninformed people/new Basset owners, think they can walk Basset pups like they could a young Collie/Terrier/Husky etc that has what I call a springy/bouncy body, but you have to be patient and make it gradual until they are grown! Mikey T will correct me if I am wrong, but it's worked for us and we have always had fit, sturdy Bassets with no joint problems.

 

[LottesMama]

Thanks for the information. We have had her only on puppy food (both wet and dry mixed for each meal) and she has been enjoying fairly lengthy walks of about 30-45 mins. We thought she could walk until she seemed uninterested or tired, we never pushed her to go too far or fast but maybe it was still too long. In your more informed opinions' would it be safe to keep her on rest, switch to adult food, and see if the limp improves in about a weeks time (as long as she shows no pain)? I am afraid to not take her to the vet and have it turn out to be something that was more agrivated by us waiting. On the other hand we have spent about $3,000 the last few months on her vet bills and I am almost in tears that she has developed a new health issue.

 

[SophieB]

I disagree with Smitte21 and I would keep Charlotte on puppy food until she is a year old as she has a lot of growing to do. How heavy is she? Another thing you probably already know, is never to exercise a dog for an hour or more before, or after feeding!

I have to say that walking a puppy that is only five months old for 45 minutes is far too much, especially if you have been doing it for some time! She probably won't have let you know it was too long for her to be walking, until the damage had been done! Did your breeder or your vet not tell you that Basset Hounds have to be restricted in their walking time whilst young?

My family have had Bassets for many years and have never walked a puppy for more than a few minutes of gentle exercise on a lead (or better still, natural play in the garden when they choose how long to play) and to meet other dogs for socialisation, by driving pups to the local park or beach and sit on a bench and meet passing dogs or just a few minutes walking around on the grass.

Due to the terrific growth rate of young Basset Hounds there is a huge pressure on the puppies' ligaments, muscles and bone development, so it is recommended to avoid long walks with a puppy, especially under 6 months of age. With this in mind it might be worth carrying out the collar and lead training in the garden or a restricted place where the puppy isn't tempted to walk too far.

If you don't want to take Charlotte to the vet, if it was me, I would very much restrict her to the garden or a few minutes gentle exercise on a lead for three or four weeks and see how she does. If you take her to the vet, she will possibly be put onto Metacam or something like that and too much of that sort of stuff isn't good for them at such a young age!

Just my opinion of course, but from experience of two generations of my family owning Bassets!

Edit: Another thing is to not let Bassets go up and down stairs - going downstairs is particularly bad as the full weight of the dog (might be 65-75lbs when grown) is pushed onto the little front legs and can cause joint problems!

 

[LottesMama]

Unfortunatly our vet doesn't seem to have much basset experience and the breeder we got her from is not very responsive now that we have brought her home. We thought we were getting this show quality AKC registered basset hound from good healthy parents but she has had health troubles litterally from day 1. We took her to the vet on her second day in our home and she was underweight and already had Giardia. By the time she was done with antibiotics for that then she had ear infections in both ears. Four days after she finished up her ear ointment she wakes up one morning with cherry eye in both eyes. She had to have surgery in both eyes which didn't take in her left eye so that required a second surgery. Now she is limping and her right eye looks like it will also require another surgery. I just can't imagine how much stuff one little baby puppy has to put up with! We love her to death, she is my best friend already, but with my husband losing his job and all the money we have put into her vet bills I don't know how much either us or our baby can deal with. I just want her to be a happy healthy puppy.

 

[Mikey T]

I have to say that walking a puppy that is only five months old for 45 minutes is far too much,

That state could not be further than the truth. There are too many factor to be taken into consideration in making such a determination.

What it the speed of the walk, from the dog perspective.. a walk, trot,cantor. What is the surface, how hard is it, what is the fitness level of the dog. What is the weight of the dog. Walking is a low stress exercise. A dog should be able to walk a considerable distance but at the same time it endurance need to be worked up to slowly over time. Moderate exercises like walk can reduce fustrtion levels of pups from inadequite exercise which then on ther own will engage in much higher risk activities like jumping etc. One also must keep in mind that what most people call a wlak with a basset hound is hardly that a 45 minute walk could easily be a 5 minute walk and 40 minutes of sniffing without out seeing an exercise program is is imposible to legitimately comment on it, the best thing is to provide information and let the idividual chose to you or ignore that information,

Keeping Your Large Breed Puppy In Shape

The Role of Exercise in Preventing HOD

It is our collective experience and our opinion, the majority of growth problems, poor conformation, lack of soundness and bad movement are normally due to a lack of free exercise in the early stages of development - under 8 months

I think some uninformed people/new Basset owners, think they can walk Basset pups like they could a young Collie/Terrier/Husky etc that has what I call a springy/bouncy body, but you have to be patient and make it gradual until they are grown

a dog is a dog is a dog, if they need some special care one has to question what the breeder is doing in creating such an exteme body type that requires special care. A basset should be able to hunt all day. If you need to not exercise the dog for the equvilent of it childhood there is something seriouly wrong with the breeding program. Their has been tendency to promote extreme types in the breed ring which contributes to being over careful about the dog development as it grows but if this need to be done it is neither good for the dog or the breed. Recently the KC has adjusted the breed standard of the Basset Hound which should hopefully have an effect in reigning in the extremism seen in a number of "eurpean Basset hounds" This extemism was more common in the US 2 years ago but more recently more moderate and fit bassets are winning in the breed ring rather than dogs that have trouble getting out of their own way.

THE INTERIM STANDARD (WITH CHANGES)

 

[SophieB]

Unfortunatly our vet doesn't seem to have much basset experience and the breeder we got her from is not very responsive now that we have brought her home. We thought we were getting this show quality AKC registered basset hound from good healthy parents but she has had health troubles litterally from day 1. We took her to the vet on her second day in our home and she was underweight and already had Giardia. By the time she was done with antibiotics for that then she had ear infections in both ears. Four days after she finished up her ear ointment she wakes up one morning with cherry eye in both eyes. She had to have surgery in both eyes which didn't take in her left eye so that required a second surgery. Now she is limping and her right eye looks like it will also require another surgery. I just can't imagine how much stuff one little baby puppy has to put up with! We love her to death, she is my best friend already, but with my husband losing his job and all the money we have put into her vet bills I don't know how much either us or our baby can deal with. I just want her to be a happy healthy puppy.

Awww you poor thing and even worse, poor wee Charlotte! I bet her immune system is really low with all these problems!

And Giardia, how did she contract that? Isn't that something very serious and from drinking dirty water that has some kind of bacteria in it or something like that? I would think your breeders have been rather 'neglectful' and I wonder how the rest of the litter are, healthwise!

And MikeyT, maybe my breeder is fairly strict about walking young puppies for only short lengths of time and building up gradually because he has show quality Bassets with many successes from his pups and wants dogs who walk well with no joint problems and likewise with the stud dogs he uses, where the breeder also of many champions is also careful with his dogs.

Coincidentally my vet is also mindful of not exercising Basset puppies too much, too young and went to great lengths to explain how their bone structure is unlike other dogs!

Edit: With respect MikeyT, you seem often to reply to messages on here with quotes from books.... and I don't know if you are a vet or something like that..... or maybe you are a Google fan like myself at times!

 

[smitte21]

Ok so your breeder recommends not walking dogs at a young age. If we want to play that game my breeder has been in the breed for around 40 years and has produced over 120 champions and title holders to her credit and she recommends switching the puppies to adult formula at 4-5 months old. It will not stunt their growth but help with pano and help give the bones time to catch up... otherwise the puppies grow so fast that their dense bones (the densest in regards to size of any dog breed) a chance to fully grow. So if you are not sure about the statement then don't discount my breeder's knowledge either. We obviously both have decent breeders who have different ways of dealing with things.

 

[SophieB]

Ok so your breeder recommends not walking dogs at a young age. If we want to play that game my breeder has been in the breed for around 40 years and has produced over 120 champions and title holders to her credit and she recommends switching the puppies to adult formula at 4-5 months old. It will not stunt their growth but help with pano and help give the bones time to catch up... otherwise the puppies grow so fast that their dense bones (the densest in regards to size of any dog breed) a chance to fully grow. So if you are not sure about the statement then don't discount my breeder's knowledge either. We obviously both have decent breeders who have different ways of dealing with things.

Like you say, breeders are different and probably changes depend on the individual puppy too. My breeder feeds his pupsand adults that tripe stuff (the dark version) but I didn't like the look of it so I mix in some Butcher's tripe from a tin and sometimes sardines or tuna just to vary the taste and they also love carrots and cauli as well, so that's another texture they enjoy.

 

[Soundtrack]

FWIW, I've taken young pups on fairly long walks without issues, however it's generally recommended that *hard*, *structured* exercise (like roadwork) be avoided in growing bassets in favor of free play where the puppy is following its own cues as to whether to exercise or not - although I think this concept assumes more than one puppy/dog so that they are playing with each other, or playing with the owner. Just sticking him out in a yard or field is not "free play".

At any rate, I doubt that a 45 minute stroll around the neighborhood would cause a problem.

 

[Mikey T]

At any rate, I doubt that a 45 minute stroll around the neighborhood would cause a problem.

Percisely there is a big difference from a liesurely stroll vs jogging etc. The concept of free play is the dog will not engage in activity that cause it pain. But anyone that has watch puppy play is sure to witness activity that is far more stressfull and traumatic on the joints, tendon, muscle and ligiments, than walking is.

she recommends switching the puppies to adult formula at 4-5 months old

Which was sound avice 10-15 years ago. It is not so clear there is benefit to doing so with the advant of Large breed puppy food, that is lower in caloric content and calcium and phosphorous than traditional puppy food and on the calcium and phosphorous font lower than adult food as well. A strong argument can be made for keep a puppy on large breed puppy food until the growth plates close. However there is vast difference between brand of commercial dog food so making a sweeping generalization is not appropriate.

you seem often to reply to messages on here with quotes from books.... and I don't know if you are a vet or something like that..... or maybe you are a Google fan like myself at times!

Not a vet but when it comes to putting forth an argument it is important to substantiate it. So any link Is provided to Either substaintiate and argument or and more likely to provide more detail and elaboration than can be done in this type of forum. Since I know many or most are unlikely to ready said link I include a quote for the purpose of substaination.