Ask The Vet: Puppy with Swollen Shoulder
Question:
Question: my 9 month old german shepherd has swelling at the left shoulder area but very active runs in yard but limps a little please help.
Answer:
If you are pretty sure that your dog's lameness is from playing too hard, you can try restricting his activity for 7-10 days to see if he improves. The most likely thing is a simple soft tissue injury ---most 9 month old GSDs are still goofy adolescents, and if he spends time on his own in the yard he may simply have strained himself jumping at the fence, or jumping down off of something. If that is the case, it should improve fairly rapidly on its own with sufficient rest and perhaps some anti-inflammatory medications (your vet can prescribe you these, like metacam, rimadyl, or deramaxx, or they can give you an appropriate dose for aspirin). The most important element is REST ---if you put him out in the yard and let him run around, or take him on walks for exercise, he will not have a chance to heal! Imagine a teenager with a sprained ankle who insists on playing basketball every day ---it won't get better until he takes a week or two off.
A swollen shoulder could be a number of things, and it is hard to tell what is going on without actually examining your dog ---if the swelling is significant, I would encourage you to have it looked at by a vet as soon as you can. It is either swelling around the joint, or swelling inside the joint.
Swelling of the tissues around the joint could be from an injury to the muscle or tendon (that soft tissue injury we were just talking about), from an infection caused by a penetrating injury, or even from a reaction to an insect bite or sting. An infection could lead to an abscess, and could make your dog quite sick if not attended to promptly. A fracture or dislocation could also cause swelling, but in that case your dog would most likely be a lot more lame than you say he is.
Swelling within the joint capsule (which surrounds the ends of the bones, where the joint cartilage is found) could also be caused by injury. However, there is another condition that could cause a swollen shoulder and lameness, called osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD). OCD occurs in rapidly growing young large breed dogs when part of the cartilage in the shoulder joint does not develop properly. This leads to inflammation, and eventually a small flap of cartilage may break off, causing more problems. Dogs with OCD usually first show a very mild lameness, and often improve with rest and anti-inflammatories, only to get worse again when the dog goes back to normal activities. It generally becomes more severe over a few months, and while one side is often more noticeable than the other, about half of dogs with OCD have lesions in both shoulders. Your veterinarian can take radiographs (x-rays) of the shoulder to check for signs of this disease; sometimes, we need to inject a dye into the joint to be able to see the lesions. OCD may require surgical correction.
Fortunately, the young age of your dog means that the swelling is not likely to be a tumor ---if he were an older dog, I would be concerned about the possibility of bone cancer, which can occur in that area. But cancer is rare in young dogs.
Good luck!
Have a question for the Veterinarian? Use our Ask The Vet Form here.
This post was generously contributed by Dr. Stanley of House Call Of The Wild.
Question: my 9 month old german shepherd has swelling at the left shoulder area but very active runs in yard but limps a little please help.
Answer:
If you are pretty sure that your dog's lameness is from playing too hard, you can try restricting his activity for 7-10 days to see if he improves. The most likely thing is a simple soft tissue injury ---most 9 month old GSDs are still goofy adolescents, and if he spends time on his own in the yard he may simply have strained himself jumping at the fence, or jumping down off of something. If that is the case, it should improve fairly rapidly on its own with sufficient rest and perhaps some anti-inflammatory medications (your vet can prescribe you these, like metacam, rimadyl, or deramaxx, or they can give you an appropriate dose for aspirin). The most important element is REST ---if you put him out in the yard and let him run around, or take him on walks for exercise, he will not have a chance to heal! Imagine a teenager with a sprained ankle who insists on playing basketball every day ---it won't get better until he takes a week or two off.
A swollen shoulder could be a number of things, and it is hard to tell what is going on without actually examining your dog ---if the swelling is significant, I would encourage you to have it looked at by a vet as soon as you can. It is either swelling around the joint, or swelling inside the joint.
Swelling of the tissues around the joint could be from an injury to the muscle or tendon (that soft tissue injury we were just talking about), from an infection caused by a penetrating injury, or even from a reaction to an insect bite or sting. An infection could lead to an abscess, and could make your dog quite sick if not attended to promptly. A fracture or dislocation could also cause swelling, but in that case your dog would most likely be a lot more lame than you say he is.
Swelling within the joint capsule (which surrounds the ends of the bones, where the joint cartilage is found) could also be caused by injury. However, there is another condition that could cause a swollen shoulder and lameness, called osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD). OCD occurs in rapidly growing young large breed dogs when part of the cartilage in the shoulder joint does not develop properly. This leads to inflammation, and eventually a small flap of cartilage may break off, causing more problems. Dogs with OCD usually first show a very mild lameness, and often improve with rest and anti-inflammatories, only to get worse again when the dog goes back to normal activities. It generally becomes more severe over a few months, and while one side is often more noticeable than the other, about half of dogs with OCD have lesions in both shoulders. Your veterinarian can take radiographs (x-rays) of the shoulder to check for signs of this disease; sometimes, we need to inject a dye into the joint to be able to see the lesions. OCD may require surgical correction.
Fortunately, the young age of your dog means that the swelling is not likely to be a tumor ---if he were an older dog, I would be concerned about the possibility of bone cancer, which can occur in that area. But cancer is rare in young dogs.
Good luck!
Have a question for the Veterinarian? Use our Ask The Vet Form here.
This post was generously contributed by Dr. Stanley of House Call Of The Wild.
