Please help my 7 Month Yellow Lab with OSTEOCHONDROSIS

[1groovygroves]

I was heartbroken and devastated! My service dog, Abie, of 14 years, passed away. I did not think I could ever love again. I have Ménière's disease and she was able to sign sounds and miraculously, tell me 15 min before an attack; I was blessed with the most intuitive canine service dog in the world. She notified me of tornado sirens, ambulances, doorbells, police, phone, email, and all other sounds that during an attack I find difficult to hear. After 12 years of service and 14years of life, Abie passed away. I needed a service dog but at the same time, my heart was broken. How could I ever hope to have another dog as wonderful and intuitive as Abie? How could I hope to find a special dog to fill my special needs and heart they way she did?
After nine months, my grown daughter and her husband brought me Maisy, a unwanted dog from a neighboring farmer whose farm dog had been impregnated by a hunting dog down the way. It was love at first sight! WHAT A BUNDLE OF JOY! She was a beautiful healthy and happy yellow Labrador retriever. I took her to the vet to be checked out as healthy and she passed with excellence so I took to training her right away using a well-known training schedule for service dogs. Maisy became my new companion 24 hours a day. We never separated, where I went, she went. Everyone was amazed at how quickly she learned! Maisy was amazingly brilliant, she was patient observant and gentle, in only three weeks she was completely housetrained and used a flashing doorbell to sign to me she needed to go out. At three months she had mastered, look, come, sit, stay, off, in, out, under, ring bell, touch, over, backup, crawl, wait, drop, pull, paw’s, support, still, up, get, bring, basket, pee-pee, and drink. She was nothing short of a miracle. Because of her obvious talents I decided to train Maisy as a full Service dog, one that could fill all needs to disabled, including hearing impaired, and wheelchair assist dog. This way, if for any reason I passed away she would qualify to help someone else in need and be of great service to someone with the same or different needs than my own. She would be a full-fledged Service Dog. Maisy went to the vet about every three weeks for well checks and weigh-ins. She was growing as the vet said according to schedule, though to me she was growing at an alarming rate. It seemed she was gaining 7 lbs ever three to four weeks! We had her on Solid Gold Puppy formula dog food.
At 7 months of age, Maisy begin to limp alternating between her right and left leg. I took her to the vet where she exhibited no real signs of limping but I kept insisting to our vet that she was limping. She said it was common for puppies to have growing pains and wait a few weeks and it would go away. I went home and watched as Maisy’s condition worsened at a accelerated speed to the point that in only a few days she would fall on her face when she was running in the back yard or simply walking across the room. She began to cry nightly, I called and made an emergency appointment with an orthopedic vet in town and took her within three days of my last appointment with her regular vet. He thoroughly examined Maisy pulling pushing and twisting her front legs and observed her walking up and down a corridor of his office. He said he suspected something but needed to take x-rays to know for sure. After the x-rays he came back with a serious look on his face and said, what I suspected is true Maisy is OCD. OCD I said! I have OCD tendencies too!! Thank goodness its not something serious I am sure we will be just fine! Then the look on his face deepened and he shook his head and said, you had better sit down. He explained, it does not mean Maisy has obsessive-compulsive disorder. When it comes to our four-legged companions, OCD is OSTEOCHONDROSIS OF THE SHOULDER a joint disorder involving a cartilage flap in the shoulder, stifle, elbow, or tarsus. steochondritis disicans (OCD) is canine disorder seen most frequently in young large- and giant-breed dogs In order to understand the pathology of OCD one must have a basic understanding of anatomy and how bones grow from puppyhood to adulthood. He showed me her e-rays and the physis, also known as the growth plate, and explained how in puppies it is made up of cartilage cells. These cells are responsible for growth of the diaphyseal portion of the bone. A similar event takes place along the very end of the bone in the epiphysis. Here, along the very end of the bone, another growth plate exists and is responsible for the production of hyaline cartilage (joint cartilage) and for the growth of epiphysis. The underlying pathology of OCD is associated with failure of the normal bone and joint growth process. The cartilage cells in the end of the epiphysis grow out of control and this cellular region becomes thickened. The thickened cartilage detaches from the underlying epiphysis and tears into the joint. Joint fluid seeps under the cartilage flap causing further undermining. The result is a large cartilage flap with a corresponding defect in the bone. The exact cause of OCD is not completely understood. Clinical signs of OCD depend on the joint affected and severity of the lesion. OCD usually affects large and giant breeds between 6 and 12 months of age. The most common joints are shoulder, stifle (knee), elbow, and tarsus (ankle). Dogs with shoulder OCD are often extremely lame and have pain on shoulder extension. Stifle, elbow, and tarsal OCD also result in severe lameness as well as moderate to severe joint swelling. OCD may be bilateral (affecting both the right and left sides). He explained to my horror that Maisy was indeed affected in both shoulders. Treatment he said involves removal of the cartilage flap. In all cases, arthroscopic removal is considered the least invasive method. Following flap removal, micro fracturing the remaining defect is recommended. Micro fracturing involves making small holes in the remaining defect in an attempt to reach a local blood supply, which aids in healing. In the shoulder joint, the above treatment is usually all that is needed. In the elbow, stifle and tarsus flap removal and corrective osteotomy are often used in conjunction with one another. Regenerative stem-cell therapy may also play an adjunctive role.

He explained she has it in both shoulders and each “old fashioned” surgery would be $1500.00, or $3000.00 together. He said that the old fashion surgery is very painful because the muscle over the shoulder would have to be removed and holes drilled in her bone to promote cartilage re-growth he said the old-fashioned surgery can leave them with more arthritis. But the new surgery arthroscopic would be $2400.00 for each of the two surgeries or $4800.00 together with the stem cell therapy afterwards. He explained I had until the time she was 15 months old to perform all the surgeries needed and that she would need three months recovery between each surgery. If she did not undergo the surgeries by 15 months she will be doomed to a life of pain and lameness. She will need to be euthanized because of pain levels.

HOW COULD THIS BE! MY POOR MAISY she was just a baby! I went home and cried for two days, completely inconsolable. I had just went through losing Abie, how could I have to watch my new puppy only months old suffer the way a 14 year old dogs suffers. The doctor explained that I should keep her very still because if that ‘flap’ were to come lose it would be excruciatingly painful for Maisy and I would rush to put her down and out of pain. Each night Maisy would cry herself to sleep curled up next to me in bed. Each night I would cry myself to sleep curled up in bed with Maisy, both of us in pain.

So the dilemma, do I have $4800. No, I do not; will she be able to serve without the surgery? Will she be able to walk without the surgery? No, she will not. Do I need a service dog? Yes, I do. Is she a service dog? Yes!! I knew she was the second week I had her. Her temperament is perfect her intellect is perfect, her patience is off the charts, her intuitive nature cannot be taught. I was sure of it, she needs to stay on the earth. I poured myself over the computer, searching the internet for any known non-surgical routes we could afford. Why dose money exist? I thought, why do we have to be limited by money? If I had all the money in the world, she would not have to endure in pain and I would not have to watch her suffer. How could I be logical when my heart was breaking?

As a family, we begin to pray fervently for answers to our questions, for a healing, for peace, for a pain free existence for my dear Maisy. We felt inspired and were led to a website that brought us hope; with our vets permission we begin the only known non-surgical regiment it would be:
Keep her as still as possible for 10 weeks
Give her 2000 mg of Fish oil a day
Give her 1.2ml of Adeqan 2X week
Give her Glucosamine and chondroitin daily at maximum dose
Give her an anti inflammatory for dogs Remidyl 50mg 2x a day
Acupuncture 3x weekly
Low Protein diet – slowed growth rate- strict maintenance of weight.

Pray, fast, and continue to look for ways to help her and to save up as much money as we could to get her the least invasive laparoscopic type surgery.

We are on week 8, Maisy is still limping, though God has granted her peace and she no longer cries at night. She has good days and bad days. We have been able to pay for the expensive medication, vets visits and x-rays, and acupuncture supplies, we have paid them all in full through our credit cards to date we have spent a little over $1000.00 and we have saved up nearly $800.00 in addition! However, we are running out of time for her surgeries to be successful. We need $4000 more dollars. Our vets name is Dr. Kristy Ellis at Mill Creek Animal Hospital in Marriott-Slaterville, Utah, (close to Ogden Utah)
If anyone of you are willing and able to spare any money to help with these two surgeries we would be forever grateful! Please send moneys to:
Dr. Kristy Ellis Mill Creek Animal Hospital C/O Maisy Groves Surgery
1920 West 250 North #19
Marriott-Slaterville, UT 84404
(801) 731-0300

[critters]

Make sure you see the helpful stickies at the top of this board for financial ideas!