Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Here's a chronology of him for size comparison:

4 months old (35 lbs or so) (this was the weekend you met him for the first time)




5 months old - getting a little heavier - he weighed between 50 and 60 lbs here:



11 months old (Last Monday) weighing a petite 107 lbs:




crashed on his cushion



In case you're wondering why the t-shirt, he had Ortho surgery Monday of last week so now he's Frankenstein:



He's fine and actually walked out of the vets office the day after his surgery and we're having a hard time keeping him calm, quiet...cool...collected. Now that he's got his problem taken care of, he wants to run and jump and play. All the things he's not supposed to do for 3-4 weeks

Frankenstein Dog !!

He is beautiful.....

What a bear. Now that dog would make a good huggable pillow. I wish you well in keeping a pup like that quiet for that long.

Why the surgery, shoulder problems?

Newfoundlands are one of my favorite breeds. I am glad I got to see him in person at the store (B&B).

That's right, you met him He's a hambone. They're my favorite breed too. We have a friend with two Pyrs too.

Why the surgery... well he'd been limping for awhile and our regular vet, general practioner if you will said he might have growing pains (Pano) as is common in large breed dogs or he may have OCD (Osteochondritis Dessicans) and to give him light exercise and pain relievers. So we've been treating him as if he's a glass dog instead of one who is healthy etc. Call it paranoid, but big dogs are soooo prone to ortho problems and we wanted to avoid that at all costs.

Anyways, the exercise/pain relievers which we rarely used didn't do the trick, so we got an appointment with an ortho vet. We had xrays which showed OCD and we scheduled a surgery. He wound up having had OCD but it had resolved itself. What was causing the problem was joint mice which are tiny calcified pieces of cartilage that sit in between the joints and rub and grind and cause all sorts of fun. Pain being one of them. He's walking WAY better now than he did before surgery. So we're happy. Once he's all healed up, we'll do water therapy and keep him lean and trim.

We have a pic of the joint mice too if you're not grossed out.

Bava in deep concentration with his kong.

I'd like to see them. Is OCD generally a degenerative problem?

The best dog I ever had was a pit-chow some guys I knew found on the interstate when he was just a little pup. He had the most massive case of hip dysplasia they'd seen at UT vet hospital. There was basically nothing we could do, replacement wasn't possible as he was too heavy, they had discussed the other method: breaking his Femur and putting a plate there but it would have been way too much pain for him. Basically those cal. deposits just kept grinding out his hip socket. He was a trooper though, lived till he was 13. I swear that dog looked like a 55 gallon drum with legs.

Melissakins wrote:tiny calcified pieces of cartilage that sit in between the joints

Sounds like bone spurs

“Bone Spur”

Definition: Bone spurs, or osteophytes, are bony projections that form along joints, and are often seen in conditions such as arthritis. Bone spurs are largely responsible for limitations in joint motion and can cause pain.

If I remember right, bone spurs are attached to the bone, is that right? I think these can attach to the bone, but mostly they're free floating, they can get in the joint like sand or in his case like a pebble in the joint. Seems like it would hurt to me.

This is the joint mice the doc removed: (Obviously kinda gross)
http://www.haveparrotwilltravel.com/gal ... t-mice.jpg

Those are pretty large, good you got them out when you did as they would do some real scraping on the inside of the joint socket. Poor thing, that must have been painful.

Oh it definitely was. It was amazing to see him walk out of his kennel the day after surgery.

It's amazing what they can do nowadays with surgery. The type of surgery you mentioned is very invasive and it's wild to think that after cutting the bone like they do leaving no "ball" to go into the socket that they can actually walk afterwards!

People on a couple boards we're on have had their dogs operated on with the surgery and swear by it.

We're lucky we caught Bava's problem when we did or it could have done irreparable damage.

Melissa looking at your sig I do not see your big tank, have you guys already tore it down ?

No That's just my stuff....Big tank is still up.....

Kevin, I sent Amy Joe and email.....just FYI.