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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on January 20, 2009 at 11:12am

Hi Mo, what your vet said is right, it really depends how severe it is, get a second opinion with your surgeon and see, my guess is if he's still young and the condition is not severe, he'll have you wait until his bone structure is fully develop, then a re-check. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Ann B., Scout and Summer on January 20, 2009 at 3:35pm

Hello! Our corgi, Scout, had the same problem 5 years ago, when he was 1 yr. old--only it happened with both his front legs! We noticed that his legs were "bowing", especially the right, and he became lame occasionally. The vet sent his xrays to Wash. St. Univ. vet school to diagnose this. They thought it was a congenital problem--but the orthopedic surgeon who we later saw said it could have been caused by trauma to his legs when he was a puppy. Scout's breeder had told us to be very careful about over exercising him before the growth plates closed, and not letting him jump off furniture. We sure tried to comply with this, but try keeping a corgi pup from over-exercising! Scout often came "bursting" into the house when he was a pup, often tripping over the small step on the threshold, falling on his face! When I think back, I really think this is what did it.
Scout has always been "reckless" with his body--broke a toe when he was 6 mos. old. We took him to an animal ER then, and told the vet we had noticed that the right leg was bowing a bit. The vet told us not to worry, corgis just had bent little legs. I think he did us a disservice by not paying more attention then, when perhaps we could have done more about it. Anyway, Scout had surgery on both his legs when he was one yr. old (a couple weeks apart)--they actually broke the bones that had stopped growing prematurely, and let them heal naturally. Scout had to be confined to a cage for about 8 weeks, I think--he could stand but not walk while the legs healed. He was not casted at all! I actually retired a couple months early so I could take care of him. This included carrying him out to the yard to go potty, and trying to keep him entertained, so the year old pup would not go bonkers!
5 years later, he is doing well, but his right leg still looks very bowed, and sometimes gives out on him. The vet said he does have premature arthritis in the joints, but we have him on glucosamine, and he rarely seems to have any pain. He walks and runs pretty normally, but we are careful about too much exercise. The surgery was expensive; luckily we have pet insurance, and it paid 80%. Pet insurance is not too expensive; I would recommend it to anyone. Of course, if you don't have it, your pup now has a pre-existing condition that might not be covered. I hope Norman's problem is not as severe as Scout's--thank goodness it is only one leg.

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Permalink Reply by Dillydoodle on January 20, 2009 at 3:37pm

My corgi, Dillon, started limping around 6 months of age...Initially we thought it was from too much running and playing. It was off and on for another two months or so.. Finally I decided that it was too frequently happening so I took him to the vet, they did xrays and initially he said it appeared that he had elbow dysplasia- I called the breeder and she was shocked as she has never had a puppy with that and has been breeding about 30 yrs. She did say that she has had one other puppy in her breeding experience with premature bone plate closure and told me that I should get a second opinoin and have them look for that. ( oh and this puppy of hers with the condition had surgery and a long recouperation period but he is a happy and healthy dog now so it was successful )

So i took Dillon to a specialist at around 8 months of age. This specialist immediately said premature bone plate closure. Talked about the surgery that involved cutting his bone , inserting a pin and sewing him up , placing him in a cast and having him on strict crate rest for 8 -10 weeks.. oh and the cost would be $1600+... We had just started a dog class and were two weeks into it, i decided to postpone the surgery for 3 weeks so we could finish up the class. I brought him in for the surgery... and asked that they take one last set of xrays before they cut him as he hadn't been limping much... and they called me a few hours later and told me that he didnt need the surgery , the bone plate that appeared closed was not and his bone "grew" and he was fine. of course all these xrays, specialist visits and the sedation they did on him cost me about $500 but i was just happy to not have a then 9 month old puppy in a crate for 8-10 weeks.

I figured i would tell you our whole story... i would make sure that you take this puppy to a vet ( specialist) that has experience with corgis and understands the odd bone structure of the corgi leg... my first vet ( and now x-vet) didn't and had me running all over the place, stressing out for nothing other than a case of Panosteitis. And this bone and joint specialist really didn't impress me much either. I took those xrays to a corgi breeder/vet and she said that he was a typically developing corgi....

Best of luck to Normal. I hope he doesn't need the surgery...

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Permalink Reply by Mo on January 22, 2009 at 2:31am

Thank you all for your responses. We'll look for someone who knows a lot about corgis. We also found out the xray shows both bones in that leg had premature closure, not just the ulna....He doesn't show any lameness right now and loves to run so hopefully this is a good sign....will keep you posted.

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Permalink Reply by Mo on February 25, 2009 at 1:54am

Here is an update - we saw an orthopedist who acknowledged that corgis are "normally abnormal" and did a very thorough evaluation. He said since it appears Norman is not suffering any pain and will likely not grow much more, why put him through the torture of surgery if it may not be necessary....I asked if it could cause problems in the future and he said it is too difficult to tell - it is possible it could but it is also possible it will not...so no surgery for now at least which makes us all very happy and Norman is still running like a bunny rabbit! We did get him a bench for jumping off the bed just in case. Thanks for all your input we appreciate it.

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Permalink Reply by Dillydoodle on February 25, 2009 at 6:51am

Mo, I am glad that you were able to find a good orthopedist who was not rushing to get Norman under the knife! The surgery , from what was described to me in our situation, is extreme and has risks as well. Also there is no guarantee that down the road, the dog wont end up with issues from the surgery , like arthritis, etc. I am very happy for you and Norman that surgery wont be needed.

You know we bought stairs for Dillon and gus to get on and off our bed to prevent them from the high jumps. It took a lot of work to train Dillon to use them to get off the bed ( he would much rather do the flying corgi leap off the bed) but I figure it keeps the impact from jumping off to a minimum.

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Permalink Reply by Mo on February 25, 2009 at 7:13pm

Yes I agree it was very nice! We have been working on getting him to use the bench too, we try to treat him and praise him when he does and guide him there when needed. It's when he is excited that he forgets to use it but it seems like when he does take the time to think about how he is getting off the bed he prefers to use the bench. Thanks for your good wishes.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on February 25, 2009 at 7:52pm

I got the two-piece ramp from Drs. Foster & Smith for my guys. When people come over, they always ask me if it's some kind of exercise equipment for me to do sit-ups, and when I explain what it is, there is either stunned silence or hysterical laughter. No one understands the trials of being short-legged/long backed!

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