Wonky Elbows
“I’ve got wonky elbows! But I don’t mind!”
Funny how things go … she’s only 4 months old and the universe has arranged itself to present her (and us) with an early challenge (over and above the one of managing a scampering, energetic and naughty pup).
Before Christmas we noticed Willow limping on her front leg occasionally, especially after a snooze and after vigorous playtime or walks. Thinking it might be growing pains we made her take it easy for a week (an ‘interesting challenge’ with a puppy) and she improved. However it came back last week so we took her to the vets yesterday. She saw Catherine, who was the wonderful vet who previously cared for Shelby, our much missed Springer who passed away over a year ago.
After we’d got through the usual pleasantries involved in Willow meeting new people (excitement, wee’ing, rolling in said wee in said excitement …. Willow, not me), Catherine examined her, bending her paws and legs around (which made Willow squeal a bit). Having done this and then listened to me give a quick history of her symptoms, Catherine suggested she may have a condition common to the Springer Spaniel breed called IOHC – which stands for Incomplete Ossification of the Humeral Condyle. This means that the end bits of the upper bone (the humerus) in her front leg, where they form the elbow, have not fully developed and are thus weak. With her normal puppy bouncing around these weak ends may have developed small fissures and, if left untreated, could result in a much nastier fracture if she does a particularly large jump (off a chair for example). Background reading on IOHC suggests it could be a hereditary condition and so she is likely to have had it from birth.
She’s been referred to a specialist orthopaedic vet near Guildford for a CT scan to get a diagnosis one way or the other. If its IOHC it means surgery, possibly on both her front legs. They basically put a screw into the weak bits of her bone that holds them together and stops any further fracturing. These screws stay in for life.
My vet did say this specialist does all sorts of pioneering work on bones and it turns out its Noel Fitzpatrick’s practice she’s been referred to – he’s the Supervet who’s recently been on TV (I think he did a Christmas Supervets show recently).
From reading up about it, it does seem that the outlook is good for her in the long term, it’ll just be a hard initial time. I’ve found many case studies of other Springers who’ve been through this and grown very old and had virtually normal and active lives, so it does seem like its worth putting her through it.
Whilst the Vetinary science is fascinating, I do feel very sad for the poor little thing who just wants to get on and be a dog. However, if there’s a good chance of giving her a very good quality of life in the long run then we’re going to support our pup! And if it is IOHC then we’ve caught it before it causes a very tricky elbow fracture later.
Her appointment for her scan is in a few weeks time. Until then we have to make sure she takes it easy and to avoid any jumping. Have you ever tried telling a 4 month old puppy she can’t jump around?
She’s OK at the moment, still limping and a little confused about why we are all being extra calm around her. The vet didn’t want to prescribe any painkillers because she didn’t want Willow thinking being pain-free gives her licence to race and jump and generally throw herself around.
Poor little pup.