# Pano-Growing Pains



## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

The great dane lady has several good articles on pano. www.greatdanelady.com


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

I worked with a dog with pano. If it is really bad the vet can give them pain medication. Mostly he was restricted as far as jumping/playing/walking goes per the vet. It can move to another paw and it isn't considered fully gone until their grown (although they can have period of non-lameness). Vlad took weeks on end for his limp to completely disappear.

...they say the cause is undetermined. The dog I had trained was one of three out of a litter of seven. I have a deep-rooted suspicion that genes may play a role. I would be curious if anyone else has experience with this.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Oh yes, Brady had pano growing up. It tends to wax and wane. Our vet and the orthopedic vet we saw told us to limit his exercise/playtime when his bouts were significant. Rimadyl is an option too, but Brady didn't do well on it so we just moderated the exercise. This is tough to do with an energetic pup. One of our puppy trainers suggested we teach him lots of tricks since mental stimulation is just as tiring as physical exercise. He limped for about 3 months then it just faded away. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions about it.


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## NewToGoldens (Feb 5, 2009)

Our puppy has it. Diagnosed as a possibility (by process of elimination) at about 4 months. He's now 6 1/2 months. 

Per orthopedic vet, he's on Vitamin C and lower protein (25%).

We had him on Rimadyl for the 1st 10 days and I did take him to see a doggie chiro.

Fortunately, x-rays were clean (phew!) and doggie chiro couldn't find anything (no reaction, no joint pain, etc.) 

In our case, he exercises as usual when he seems "right". On days where he looks a little "off", we still let him move around but don't encourage hard play and minimize walks. He tends to be quieter himself on the days where he was sore.

We've done 2 obedience classes and told the instructors up front so they were aware and they were great about watching his gait.

All w/vet's approval of course. 

Knocking on wood here.. But he's been completely limp free for about 4 weeks!

The vet did say it was *possible* to be a soft tissue injury which can have very similar symptoms and can take awhile to heal. In our case, they thought pano though (big puppy and went through a stage of growing too fast). 

Good luck!


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## slechner (Sep 5, 2008)

Just found out that pano can be attributed to too much protein. We had just switched Boomer to grain free food the week before which has double the protein as regular dog food so we may not be able to keep him on the grain-free. We are trying to reduce his energy level.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

slechner said:


> Just found out that pano can be attributed to too much protein. We had just switched Boomer to grain free food the week before which has double the protein as regular dog food so we may not be able to keep him on the grain-free. We are trying to reduce his energy level.


Just curious...which grain free food are you using?


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## Wilson's REAL Mom (Nov 10, 2006)

Wilson had it when he was younger. Well, it was either that or Osgood-Schlatner's, and since it would have cost another $1500 to find out for sure, and since the treatment was the same, we never went any further. We treated with Rymidal when necessary (not often) and restricted his jumping/running when he was having one of his bouts. He's 3 now, and I don't think we've had any problems in the last year or so. These days he can out run/out jump just about any dog out there.


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## slechner (Sep 5, 2008)

Orijen is the name of it.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Well, there are differences of opinions as to whether or not it's just the high protein content of the food, or if it's the combination of the protein, calcium and phosphorus levels in the food. There are now reports that the latter combination can encourage more rapid bone growth. I took a quick look at the Orijen large breed puppy analysis, and the protein at 40% is definitely higher than the AVERAGE puppy food (I believe most are in the upper 20's range), and the calcium and phosphorus may be a bit on the high side too for a young pup. Having said that, when Brady was 4-8 months old (he was diagnosed with pano around 5 months), we had him on Natural Balance duck and potato formula because we were testing for food allergies. This food has a low protein, calcium and phosphorus, and Brady still developed pano, so I don't think you can definitively nail it down to the food. It may be a contributor, but genetics play a large part in this too, so I don't think you'll never know the real cause.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

There is also a theory that the fat content in the food can play a role in pano as well, but that also needs more research to determine if it's true or not.


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## GoldensGirl (Aug 2, 2010)

Sorry...Wrong thread.


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