I saw a case recently... a 14 year old mix-breed (maybe part border collie) dog who was diagnosed as simply having weakness. So I jumped into assessing this dog thinking I would find back pain, neck pain, generalized osteoarthritis in the hips, stifles, elbow (you know... all the common places), or I feared I would see a dog that had obvious metabolic issues that I would have to council the owner to address further with her vet. But nope... everything I looked at was good, good, good! I sat back and looked at the dog. Huge old feet - big flat, splayed out pancakes! The front feet were obviously worse than the back feet. Well holy cow! I think this poor old girl just had horrific osteoarthritic feet, with 'stretched out or avulsed' superficial digital flexor tendons! Even in weight bearing, I could extend many of the toes further back! I've only seen arthritic feet like this before in a handful of other border collies / part-border collie dogs in the past! Fascinating case for me to see - so I wanted to share it! How joints and 'parts' so small could cause such a dramatic decline in quality of life!
P.S. The treatment plan: ensure supplements are on board, advise that the medication the vet prescribed would likely indeed be helpful (yes, all too often I have to 'back up' the vets' suggestions because owners are leery of medications), recommended looking into Therapaw's product - Cushy Paws for indoors, & Therapaw booties for outdoors, advised walking on grass only, laser... laser... laser, underwater treadmill therapy as a means to bolster this old gal's conditioning in a buoyant environment until we get the 'foot-pain' managed, and some gentle toe mobilizations for pain relief as well!
Amazing how something so simple could be so profound!
