HOD February 15, 2008
greatdaneservicedog @ 12:09 am
Hypertrophic osteodystrophy is a terribly painful disease affecting mostly puppies. The long bones of a puppy’s legs have what are called “growth plates”, which are responsible for the bone growing. In HOD the bones are fragile and fracture just above those growth plates, twisting, bowing, and excessively elongating as they heal. So puppies who are refusing to stand or whose joints are horribly swollen should be immediately x-rayed. As with most illnesses, the longer it goes untreated, the more deformity will occur. Below is an xray of the bowing and breakage of the bones.
There are two primary factors in HOD, which not all “experts” agree on, but are certainly on everyone’s concern list: diet and possible vaccine reactions. Diet, just as with hip dysplaysia, is a tricky business for giant dogs. The ratio of calcium to phosphorous, and the relative amount of protien and calories has little room for error with a dog that grows almost 3 feet in one year! And there is some evidence that Vitamin C supplementation can make it far worse. Which is why I have chosen the Blackwatch Feed program, which was designed with these issues in mind. Prevention is the best cure!
Vaccine reactions in Danes has become enough of a problem that the Great Dane club of America has funded research into protocols used by veterinarians. Some 5200 cases have been evaluated, but it is highly probable that there are many more that have been misdiagnosed as HOD. Before you accept a diagnosis of nutritional HOD, have a blood test done to rule out septic infections, vaccine reactions, and other arthritic conditions. As an aside, some vets will skip the blood tests and go straight to antibiotics for treating the problem. Insist on the blood test, and be very careful about antibiotics–some will cause even more problems with Danes. Check it out at http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/vaccine_reactions_in_great_danes.htm to find out which antibiotics to avoid.
HOD can be an almost cyclical disease, with periods of quiet between the flare ups. Sometimes the disease just never quits and can cause the most horrific of disabling deformities. Treatment is sometimes corticosteroids as anti-inflammatories and pain medicines, but the steroids are falling out of favor because of the viral or bacterial possible cause. And they have potentially severe side effects. My Taj had HOD (past loves page), and all the side effects of corticosteroids used to treat him. Recent research points to the effectiveness of antibiotics and whatever pain medicine is needed to give comfort.
As for my Taj, I couldn’t stand to see him suffer, and he was 23 months old when I put him to sleep. When he didn’t “snap out of it”, and all the steriods had done damage to the rest of his body, I knew it was cruel to keep him alive just so I could avoid the grief of his death. So don’t play games with HOD–your puppy is walking around on 4 broken legs and he cannot take himself to the vet.
i am writing in regards to my almost 6 month old puppy-born april 14—honey….9/26 we noticed she was having a hard time walking, very shaky on her legs and lethargic. she seems to have an enormous amount of pain in her leg joints, particularly her front legs above her knees. she will eat but must be coaxed to walk far enough to go to the bathroom outside, and other than that seems to be in extreme pain and has fallen when applying any pressure to her legs.. she has had all of her vaccinations, the last one 9/14. should i return to the same vet or go elsewhere and if it is an allergic reaction to the vaccinations, will she get better? does she absolutely need to have a blood test and are they extremely expensive? we own her mother and father and they have never had any problems such as this and her brothers and sisters are also well with the exception that 2 of them have cysts on their left shoulder where they had their shots– any advice would be greatly appreciated–i am just sick with worry and don’t know who to see or turn to for the proper diagnosis— thank you so much–carol lawton