Published: November 10, 2008 08:36 am      

'German Shepherd Disease' common

EDMOND — Q: We have a 7-month-old half-German Shepherd that has been limping badly on her left front leg for three or four weeks. She improved some, then started limping on one of her back legs. Her appetite is still great. She’s somewhat listless, but shows no other signs of illness. The veterinarian we take her to says she thinks our pup probably has a rare condition called panosteitis. She just recommended a Bufferin twice daily and suggested we wait it out. Since this is all new to us we’d like more information about this strange problem affecting our pup. Can you help? — Helen V.

A: The condition affecting Helen’s young German Shepherd mix is not actually a rarity, but probably goes undiagnosed frequently. Panosteitis is the most common of several limp-related problems associated with bones and bone growth in the developmental stage of large breed dogs.

Panosteitis also is called growing pains, shifting leg lameness or ’that German Shepherd dog disease.’ For the sake of brevity I’ll refer to it as pano. It is best described as a sudden and acute lameness not associated with trauma that occurs during the rapid growth period. Pressure applied to the affected long bone usually will elicit a pain response.

Pano is consistently affiliated with large or giant breeds of dogs, usually between 5 and 12 months of age. It is ordinarily found in males (by a ratio of 4 to 1), and often shifts from one leg to another ’ and no one knows for sure just exactly what causes it. Fortunately, there are no long-term ill affects from pano.

Because of the greatly increased incidence of pano in certain families and breeds (German Shepherds and German Shepherd mixes lead the list) it is likely that there is a genetic component involved in this condition.

Pano can be difficult to diagnose at times because it can mimic several other more serious bone diseases that plague young large and giant dog breeds. A positive diagnosis only can be rendered following X-rays, which, done properly, and interpreted correctly, reveal tell-tale lesions indicating inflammation on the affected long bones.

Current recommended treatment consists of the reduction of the percentage of protein and fat in the patients' diet and pain management through the use of such drugs as buffered aspirin, ascriptin, Rimodyl or, in severe cases, cortisone for short periods. Restricting the activity of a pano patient has not been shown to have any beneficial effect on the healing process.

The best information that I can impart to Helen, or anyone else with a pano pup, is that this is eventually a self-limiting condition. After pano runs its course, in a period of 1-6 months, with the average case lasting 2-3 months, full recovery will automatically occur 99 percent of the time.



DR. WILLIAM K. FAUKS is a retired Oklahoma City veterinarian. If you have any questions regarding the health of your pet, please write to ’Ask a Vet,’ at 3142 Venice Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73112, or e-mail bfauks1@aol.com.