4 months old - 47 pounds / Severe Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy

Today's Date - July 17th, 2014

 

Had an 8:15 AM appointment at Trusty Vet for Emmett's 3rd series of puppy shots then an 11:15 AM appointment with Dr.Jones at Animal Hospital of North Alabama for x-rays of Emmett's right front paw. 

 

I had always felt that Sadie, Emmett's mother stepped on him when he was very young and that his leg healed crooked.  Looking back at some of the first photos that I had taken of Emmett his right leg looked larger.  Not knowing the growth patterns of a Great Dane, I just thought his right leg grew larger first and that his left leg would catch up.  The picture below was taken when Emmett was 5 weeks old.

 

 

 

I noticed it started to look like he was bow legged at 6 weeks old.  He walked okay, I didn't notice any limping or that anything wasn't normal.

 

 

 

This is the first picture that I had taken that I noticed his leg was different.

 

 

Each growth spurt his leg looked more bowed.

 



 

Once he started to gain weight and looked like a small adult dog, even though he was still a young puppy, he started to favor the leg and as he grew his gait changed and limping became part of his normal stride.

 

 

 

 

Dr.Jones brought us into his office to show us Emmett's x-rays and I about cried.  The x-rays were scary looking to say the least.

 

Below in blue is what I later posted on Facebook.

 

"Just received an e-mail from our Vet and Emmett has,

 

severe hypertrophic osteodystrophy

 

I about cried when I saw how bad his leg looked in the x-ray. We will be seeing the Vet next week to see if anything can be done to help with any pain he has. He gets around alright with a noticeable limp and I want to know everything there is to know to help him as he gets larger and heavier. He's a sweet boy and to him all of this is normal. Very, very sad but then again who would understand him better than me. We can both be slow and awkward together."

 

Dr.Jones said for his leg to be this bad that both his parents had a recessive gene and that it was genetic.  That he  should never be bred but we weren't going to mate him anyway.  I asked him questions about breeding because one of the Great Dane books I have said Mantles & Merle's should never be bred together.

 

He himself was a breeder at one time of high quality Labrador puppies and he answered my many questions.

 

He commented that none of Emmett's littermates should ever be bred and that if the breeder was ever going to mate the mother again, what ever male she was considering should be tested.

 

All the puppies from his litter carry the inherited recessive gene and their puppies could have health issues.

 

The mother and father looked healthy and fine to me but I know nothing about genetics.  I had no idea how involved Great Dane breeding was or I guess any breeding for that matter.

 

It never occurred to me that you couldn't breed two healthy, beautiful dogs and not get beautiful, healthy puppies.  The other puppies in his litter looked fine, though he was a good 5 - 7 pounds smaller than the others.  The reason we brought him home at 5 1/2 weeks old was by the time he worked his way towards the feeding pan, all the food was gone.

 

He was so much smaller than the other puppies and there was one that was even smaller than him.

 

 

 

When we first brought him home the top of his head was all scaly with scabs.  We were told it was from the other puppies playing too rough with him.  I noticed it never healed and Dr.Jones suspected Demodectic Mange, did a skin scrap test and he was right.  He actually let me look through a microscope and I could see the actual mites crawling all over the slide.

 

Below in blue is what I later posted on Facebook,

 

Emmett is going through a growth spurt and weighed in at 47 pounds at 4 months of age. The medication for the Demodectic / Puppy Mange looks like it's starting to work. Our Vet said even when his coat starts to look better we need to keep giving him the medication for 6 weeks. I'm about to give him a medicated bath. I guess he'll be presentable by the time he gets his final puppy shots. Apparently it's something puppies get from their mother so I don't have to worry about Rosie catching it. I can't wait to introduce him to my family, friends and neighbors. He's got an incredible personality and keeps me laughing all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today's Date - July 19th, 2014

 

Emmett is 16 weeks old / 4 months and weighed in at 47 pounds. 

 

 

Today's Date - July 23rd, 2014

 

Today, I posted my concerns about Emmett's leg on Facebook's Great Dane Lover's page and copied it here as a reference.  I wanted to see if any of the other Great Dane owners had ever experienced or had first hand knowledge of hypertrophic osteodystrophy.  Below in blue is my post.

 

"When we first brought Emmett home, we didn't notice that his right, front leg was a little bowed. We thought perhaps his mother stepped on him and accidently broke his leg. The day after bringing him home, I fell and broke my leg and there was no way possible that I could carry a wiggly puppy in his own cast outside. So we went and had the x-rays done after I got my own cast off.

Our vet took a bunch of x-rays and Emmmett has severe hypertrophic osteodystrophy. I about cried when I saw the x-rays and they were sent out to a specialist for a 2nd opinion. Emmett is now 4 months old, 47 pounds and he gets around very well considering everything. He does limp but he has his whole life and doesn't known any difference.

My Vet said Emmett's disease is treated with medication to help the inflammation, but will eventually need surgery to correct the damage caused by the disease.

He said for it to be this bad that both parents had to of had the same recessive gene. I don't know anything about breeding and thought 2 beautiful, healthy dogs would have beautiful, healthy puppies.

All the other puppies in his litter looked extremely healthy, he also was 2^nd to the runt and all the other puppies were 5 – 7 pounds heavier than him.

The breeder offered to give me another puppy with her next litter and she is a very nice person but we love Emmett and he is, what he is. Hopefully, surgery will be an option, but to be truthful the x-rays were absolutley the saddest thing I've ever seen. I'm disabled myself and besides loving Emmett with all my heart I have empathy for him and who better to understand him than me.

He's a very smart and happy little boy. I'm just really concerned about what his quality of life will be like if surgery can't be done. I have my own issues with fatigue and balance so the two of us, in a sad way make a great team. We can be couch potatoes together, go for short walks and enjoy life the best we can.

I've researched amputations and seen videos of a few Great Danes with 3 legs on YouTube. They seem happy and got around well so I wondered if surgery were not an option would Emmett be better off limping and keep in mind I have no idea what his limp will be like when he's full grown verses amputation. My Vet said he will be a small male and in his case I think that is probably a good thing.

I was wondering what other people would do in the same circumstances." 

 

I also attached this photo to show what his leg looked like.

 

 

A lot of Great Dane owners responded to my post.  Many felt I was feeding him the wrong food and that he was growing too fast.  We actually weigh him every Saturday and I record his weight.

 

At 5 weeks old at his first visit to the Vet with his littermates he weighed 5.3 pounds and the largest puppy was almost 11 pounds.

 

We brought him home at 5 1/2 weeks old and he weighed 6 1/2 pounds and at 7 1/2 weeks he weighed 12.4 pounds.

 

10 weeks - 22 pounds

11 weeks - 26 pounds

12 weeks - 30 pounds (3 months)

13 weeks - 33 pounds

14 weeks - 40 pounds

15 weeks - 45 pounds

16 weeks - 47 pounds (4 months)

17 weeks - 51 pounds

 

A couple had similar situations with their puppies.  I am very happy to report that Dr.Jones said Emmett would be able to have surgery but it would have to be done by a Board Certified Orthopedic Vet and there are two locally.  We have to wait until he's full grown and his growth plates are done.

 

Great Danes stop growing anywhere between 18 - 24 months so we have about 14 months to save for his surgery.

 

He will be on an anti inflammatory to help with the pain and soreness until then.

 

Last night I noticed the top of his head touched the top of our larger crate so I guess we need to save for the Great Dane size crate now.  He can still lay down in it but not for much longer.  Watching him grow taller almost daily has been fascinating to watch.

 

He's taller than Rosie now and perhaps just a hair or two taller then Emma had been when she passed away.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 5th, 2014 - 14 weeks old, 40 pounds - 1st real meat bone

It's been an interesting week with Emmett.  He is in full puppy mode and everything I thought I knew about puppies is no longer applicable.  When he plays, he plays hard and it takes a good hour or two to get him played out.  This happens all day long but once he's exhausted he'll nap for 3 - 4 hours straight without waking up.

When he gets that rambunctious, I crate Rosie who goes very willingly.  She doesn't tolerate his craziness very well and actually appreciates the safety of her crate.  Once he settles down and is no longer bouncing off the walls I let her out but more times than not she just prefers to stay in and nap herself. 

At 10 years of age, Rosie just doesn't get really excited about playing anymore.  She loves it when he follows her all around the yard and always glances back at him to make sure he's still the acceptable and respectable 2 - 3 feet behind her.  She still loves to go on late night walks with her daddy and looks forward to it from the moment she first wakes up.  She lives to be walked and once my leg is completely healed I will start walking her again in the morning while it's still cool out.

I've been following the Great Dane Lovers, Facebook page and I've learned a lot of interesting things with the first being Great Danes act like puppies their entire lives.  You can have 25 different puppies all the same age and there will be a noticeable difference between them.  Some much larger being 5 - 10 pounds heavier and talk about a wide assortment of different energy levels.  It seems to be pretty common for many of the owners to have 2 - 5 Danes in their household. 

Emmett is right in the middle of the acceptable weight for his age.  I noticed the other night that he may be moving into the larger crate earlier than I thought he would.

 

It looks like we're going to need to save up and actually buy a Great Dane size crate.  Emmett likes to sleep in his crate and I've seen enough hilarious photos of damage done by other Great Dane puppies to know it's by far a much better investment compared to replacing all the furniture. 

 

I wonder if anyone makes one that looks like and can be used like a table.  I've seen crates that look

like end tables.

The measurements below are for the largest crate made.

54" L X 37" W X 45" H
For dogs 111-190 lbs.
SKU: 1314114

 

Midwest Solution Series "Ginormus" Double Door Dog Crate

Internet Price: $389.99   Today's Price: $130.49  (Save 67%)

Shop All Products By Midwest

• Midwest dog crates have a strong & secure corner drop pin design
• Tough, easy to clean ABS plastic pan with independent pan-stop
• Safe & secure slide bolt latches
• Large dog crates designed specifically to fit the largest of dogs
• Ideal for extra large breed dogs over 125 lbs.

 

I also saw that some of the Great Dane people have purchased, a large dog bed that looks like a couch.  All the people who bought one for their dogs absolutely love it.  It would definitely fit really well in my office and leave me some floor space.

Snoozer Luxury Overstuffed Sofa in Red

Internet Price: $129.99 - $189.99   Today's Price: $97.49 - $142.49  (Save up to 25%)

Shop All Products By Snoozer

• Stuffed with high loft polyester fill
• Provides your pet with a luxurious place to sleep
• Perfect for any size pet
• Soft & comfortable microsuede fabric
• Removable cover & pillow are machine washable & dryable

 





I like to save any product information that I come across so it will be easier to find when and if I actually need it.

 

Today's Date - July 11th, 2014

 

I gave Emmett his very first meaty bone this afternoon.  He's been teething and I wanted to give him something that he could really sink his teeth into.



 



 

 

I let him sniff them before I actually gave him one and within seconds I had his undivided attention.

 

 

I gave Rosie's hers in her crate and gated Emmett in the kitchen so there could be no confusion over the bones.  It was very obvious that he liked it a lot.

 

 

I videotaped him for a few minutes so I could recall and cherish his first experience for many years to come.  I knew I needed to temperament check him to see how he would react to me taking a bone away from him and I truly did not expect his reaction.  He growled, snarled and snapped.  I was extremely surprised and before I even knew what I was doing I had him on his back and it turned into a huge battle. 

 

July 2nd, 2014 - 13 Weeks old, 33 lbs and how I sort my photos

Today's Date - June 23rd, 2014

 

Over the years I have taken hundreds of pictures of our dogs and cats.  I categorized them in several files that makes perfect sense to me and burned to several DVDs.

 

I created one called, "The Boys" which are all pictures of Parker and Gunther together.

 

 

 

Then I had "The Kids" which were all the pictures of Parker, Rosie, Ginger and Emma.  I called it "The Kids" because all the pictures had Parker a male with one, two or all three females.

 

 

 

 

After Parker passed away I created another file called, "The Girls" which are all the pictures of Rosie, Ginger and Emma.

 

 

 

 

I can find any photo I want within minutes and even created one for our cats called, "The Cats" which is all the pictures that I had taken of Squirt and Webster together.

 

 

 

I don't remember when I came about the idea of creating files to organize all the pictures but I can honestly say it's made it a lot easier to find any particular one.

 

Now that we have Rosie (female) and Emmett (male) I needed to come up with a description for them.  I couldn't use "The Kids" because that represents Parker, Rosie, Emma and Ginger.

It took several days to come up with something specifically for them and in the end, I came up with something very easy and created a file called, "The Kidz".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some people might think I just created a lot of extra work for myself but in the end, I know where all my pictures are filed.

 

The Boys - All pictures of Parker and Gunther together

 

The Kids - All pictures with Parker, Rosie, Emma and Ginger

                          

The Girls - All pictures of Rosie, Emma and Ginger

 

The Cats - All pictures of Squirt and Webster together

 The Kidz - All pictures of Rosie and Emmett together

 

 

  Today's Date - June 26th, 2014

 



Last night, two incredible things happened that amused me.  The first, while taking Emmett outside for his last potty break, he saw our shadows out on the garage door, because of the position of the moon.  He barked, growled, his hair went up his back and he definitely was not sure of what he saw and acted accordingly.

 

I was impressed by this just for the fact he's only 12.5 weeks old and is already showing signs of being an incredible watch dog.

 

The second incident happened after getting back inside, thanks to the Transverse Myelitis I tripped and fell going into the kitchen.  It scared the hell out of poor Emmett and he ran away from me and I could hear the terror and fear in his yelping. 

 

I naturally started to cry, I don't know why I do, I didn't hurt myself but I think because I never see it coming and due to the nerve damage I can't feel pain it just scares me really bad.  I guess I expect to be hurt and then realize that I'm okay. 

 

I was only stretched out on the floor for a minute before Emmett spun around, ran back to me and promptly sat on my back.  He was concerned about me and started licking my face.  I was relieved that I was alright and very proud of Emmett for reacting to my fall.

 

When I broke my fibula, I felt it snap and it hurt for all of a minute.  It hurt to stand on it but as long as I didn't move, I didn't feel any pain or throbbing of any kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 While training a neighbor's dog by the name of Hutch, I fell in a hole in his yard that had been covered by leaves and didn't know I hurt my toe until 3 days later.  I know it must sound strange and there's no name for it, it's something I call, "Delayed Pain".

 

I can tell by a fall whether I should be in pain or not and act accordingly.

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I started truly training Emmett.  I am rewarding him for sitting still while I attach and remove his leash and by the way I need to buy a real  dog size adjustable collar.  The collar that he's wearing now, he's worn since he was 6 weeks old and still has room to be enlarged but I question whether it's  strong enough to support his weight.  His neck is a lot larger and muscular now and he weighed 30 pounds last Saturday when he turned 12 weeks old and I always look forward to weighing him every Saturday to see  how much he's grown.

 

I think he looks really good with a red collar and might order him and Rosie new collars on-line with their names and our phones numbers on them.

 

I've been working with the "sit" command for a couple of weeks and he knows it 80% of the time.  He could easily be mistaken for a much older pup because of how big he's grown and I need to keep remembering that he's still very much a baby.

 

His testicles are half the size of 2 marbles which looks really odd for such a large puppy.

 

Anyway, today, I started teaching the "recall" command and using doggy treats as the reward.  Like many dogs before him, he seems to learn a lot faster when using food and I definitely have all of his attention. 

 

I need to check all the local Veterinarians and see if any of them have any real experience working with Great Danes or large breed dogs.  I read a post on Facebook today from a lady who just had her Great Dane spayed and it died.  It's temperature dropped three degrees and the Vet kept it over night as a precaution and it had a heart attack.  The Vet and his staff tried in vain to revive the dog and were unable to do so. 

 

The Veterinarians charge by weight and even that doesn't bother me, I just want what's the least painful to Emmett.  Heaven forbid he gets a whiff of a female in heat at a young age, it's something he will remember when he's much older and neutered.  I do not intend to be dragged all over the city of Madison by a half crazed Dane trying to prove his manhood.

 

I have never heard of any dog dying from being spayed or neutered and am going to do a lot more research about it.  I read many Great Dane owners don't neuter their Danes until they're full grown so the dogs can grow as large as possible.

 

I did find a large breed Veterinarian out on County Line Road and their office visits are $50, they  have boarding and have a doctor who is well known for his orthopedic surgeries.  I will probably switch Vets after Emmett finishes up with his puppy shots.

 

Today's Date - June 28rd, 2014



 

Today, Emmett is 13 weeks old and weighs 33 pounds.  He only gained 3 pounds this week but he's grown in height and is noticeably taller.  I was somewhat concerned and decided to ask the Great Dane Lover's Facebook group to see what some of the other owners and breeders might say.

I posted, "Do Great Dane puppies gain weight one week, then the next week grow taller with little weight gain?"  a lot of people responded to my post and all said yes, there is no rhyme or reason to it. 
 

Late last night when I took Emmett outside for his last potty break, he noticed the crickets chirping.

Even I have to admit they were a lot louder than normal and his reaction to it was comical.  He stepped outside and froze, the hair on his back went up, then he growled, gave 3 sharp barks and scrambled back inside through my legs.  I ended up attaching a leash to him and walked him around the yard to do his business trying to impress on my very impressible 13 week old that he was safe.  I think not being able to see what made the loud noise spooked him a bit.  Just another memorable moment to laugh about years from now.

The other night while loading the dryer, Emmett reached in, grabbed a sock and had a serious case of the zoomies. For the life of me I couldn't catch him as he ran circles around me keeping just out of reach but close enough that I could see sparkle in his eyes. When I finally did corner him I won the tug-a-war but he beat me back to the dryer and grabbed another sock.

Woke up this morning, went to the dryer to get some underwear that I washed just before going to bed last night only to have Emmett grab it from me and run out the back door.  Naturally, my elderly neighbor was outside tending to his garden. While I might of appeared upset, I was laughing so hard on the inside that my ribs hurt.