Surgery

First, thanks for the well-wishes for Reilly.  We appreciate them.

Reilly managed to stay off the pain meds for a couple days, but Sunday and Monday nights he had to have them again.  Tuesday night he was taken off food and not allowed meds, and Wednesday morning we were off to Raleigh to NC State Veterinary Teaching Hospital.  Our appointment wasn't until 11:30, but we were there by 11:00.

We first saw a fourth-year vet student named Sue, who took a very thorough history and did a physical.  Then she went off to discuss with the orthopedist, Dr. Marcellin, whom you can see here.  His research area is in physical therapy and rehabilitation.  Dr. M. came in, repeated the physical, with additions such as measuring joint flexure.  Pain response was noted for hips, knees and elbows.  Some physical abnormalities were noted in knees.

He mentioned that Reilly did have the "normal" growth issues associated with giant breed dogs, but he had other issues.  Hips are more common than knees or elbows, so he wanted to start there, with x-rays.  Since Reilly had been off food since the night before, they sedated him and took both lateral and dorsal views of hips.  And he used a large enough plate to get his knees too.

His hips were good.  Nice, sound hips, which was a relief.  His knees?  Not so good.  He has a genetic disease called Osteochonditis Dissecans, or OCD.  Not something that can be genetically tested for yet.  It can only be diagnosed individually.  He showed me where Great Dane breeders are compiling a genetic list for it, such as Mastiff breeders are currently doing for Cystinuria, but was unaware if there was such a list for mastiffs yet.  I'll have to check on that, even though Reilly was never meant to be be bred and was not sold as a potential breeder.

At any rate, after going over possibilities, alternatives and the risks they have, and reviewing his x-rays showing large flaps of cartilage interfering with joint movement, his recommendation was surgery to remove them and smooth that cartilage. 

Even with surgery, Reilly will never be 100% sound.  He will never be a working dog.  He will, however, remain a member of our family and be a much loved pet.

Today, Reilly is having surgery.  Tomorrow, we pick him up. He'll be on limited exercise and leash-walk only for at least a month, and perhaps six weeks.  Then we'll get to see how much improvement the surgery brought him.  I hope he'll be out of pain by then, and able to run and play like a puppy should be able to.  But at that time they'll do an assessment of his elbows, which were also showing signs.  Hopefully we will not need to do further surgery on those.

I wish that I had requested a referral earlier.  I wish my vet had suggested it.  The "wait and see" and "we've got time" and "just rest him" attitudes caused him more pain in the long run. 

Speaking of which....when he was still thinking hips were a higher possibility, he told me that giant breeds should be screened by four months for hip dysplasia, particularly if they show any signs whatsoever of gait issues. We have gotten so used to OFA tests at 24 months that we forget that the purpose of OFA is to show healthy dogs.  But hip dysplasia discovered by four months old can be surgically corrected...with a surgery that cannot be done on an older puppy such as Reilly is, at seven months.  We did not discuss it further since his hips were sound, but I will bear it in mind for future large breed pups.  Sometimes doing surgery young is a much better plan than doing the "wait and see", especially in something degenerative, such as hip dysplasia or OCD.

Chris asked me if I wanted to get another puppy and try again.  No.  It took months to find Reilly, with his perfect temperament.  I doubt I'll ever be so lucky again.  I'll keep working with Jake and see how his potential is.  He still has some shyness issues to overcome, but he is working on them.  If it hadn't been for Reilly, I would never have seen the potential in Jake. Perhaps that's how Reilly is my Knight in Shining Armor.

I'll post again when I know how Reilly did through surgery.

Meg, Reilly, and Jake