SunnyD needs elbow surgery (FCP)
SunnyD our youngest, less than 1, needs to have surgery on her front legs. The "C" shaped bone in her elbows has imperfections which at times is causing her some pain. Some arthritis is beginning to set in on her right elbow, the left elbow is less effected but has a similar defect. We noticed an occasional limp soon after we brought her home. Our daughters boyfriend is a vet and gives her regular checks - recently running her through a range of motion test her discomfort became obvious. Took her in for a scan and the issue is obvious. Surgery will be on both elbows and minimally invasive. It's quite expensive, more than $3,000, but it will prevent additional damage caused by a possible fracture and slow/eliminate(for now) the progression of arthritis. Her outlook is very good mainly because we are acting on this when she is young.
Diagnosis : CT - Mild fissuring of the bone at the medial aspect of the coronoid process in both elbows.
Diagnosis :
1.) FCP - (fragmentation to the medial aspect of of the coronoid process) bilaterally
The recommendation is an arthroscopic evaluation and removal/debridement of the medial aspect of the coronoid process in both elbows. It involves general anesthesia and is ~2 hours in duration.
Any other Corgi owners run into this this kind of issue in a young dog. I'm curious to hear more about real world outcomes.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Don, I met a member 3 years ago at a corgi picnic, this is what he told me "6 months post surgery for the best results to be reached", his dog looked good and I couldn't tell by his gait. Generally as far as rehab goes, hydrotherapy is excellent, it helps the dog maintain muscle tone, increase blood flow and generally a speedy recovery. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
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Permalink Reply by Donald Till on
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Hi Sam,
We took her in today for the surgery. It's going to be tough for the next 6 weeks while she heals as her activity has to be monitored and controlled. Most of the time right now SunnyD's gait is great and she looks strong and powerful. But we noticed occasional limping and what appears to be stiffness - we've watched this closely since almost the day we brought her home thinking maybe it was a small injury or growing pain but it has gotten slightly worse over time. We've had two different doctors manually do motion testing on several different occasions and last weekend one doctor noted a slight abnormality so we took her in for a CT.
Apparently this condition is more common in Rotweilers but it is not too unusual in Corgis. For sure I'll put up some updates in time. Thank you for your reply.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Markley on
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Jackson has this in his front legs. Unfortunately, we didn't get him until he was 7, so the vet said it may cause him arthritis in the future--but it doesn't affect him at all yet. My vet said if he was young then they probably would have done surgery....
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I think the previous pair of Cardigans both had some degree of arthritis when they got older - maybe a bit limpy and stiff especially after a hard play or a long walk. It might have started around the age of the 7 or 8. They were fine with it - I'm in my 50s and have some arthritis and for now just treat the symptoms. We did the same with the older dogs and they were both active until they passed. Unfortunately for Jeannie she got the degenerative spinal disease so her last year or so she dragged herself around on her front legs!
Right now, the sisters, Star and Scout, aren't even 4 and Spice is less than 2 luckily they don't appear this issue. The doctor says it's a much harder decision if a dog is more than 18 months.
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Permalink Reply by Katie & Mitzie on
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Hello Don,
I know this doesn't really answer the question, but in the meantime while you decide, I recommend getting some glucosamine chondroitin to help with pain and lubricate the joints. They sell drops that you can put in SunnyD's water, tablets or you can buy chews meant for humans at any pharmacy - just give her half of one every day. It works miracles.
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Yes we should be but now will be using this for all 4 of our Cardigans. Because SunnyD is so young the prognosis is very very good so it's almost a "no-brainer" for us to do this surgery. I have some onset of arthritis in my knees and that stuff works wonders for me too!
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A follow-up to the original post. 6 month past surgery and we notice no limping or lameness and SunnyD is the most active of our 4 Corgi girls. So far I'd consider the surgery a success.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Wonderful...thanks for the update!
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Permalink Reply by steve smith on
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WOW The way you have described the occasional limp sounds like Coco, my female corgi. She would play and run like crazy and then at cool down she would limp alittle but not too much. If she would hold her arm up in the air instead of putting pressure on it, off to the vet we went. On some occasion the doc would x-ray and put a bandage on but by the time we got home she would have it off. By meal time she would be good and appeared not to be in pain. Doc really did not find anything wrong. Sometimes I would give a Rimadyl (sp) and she thought it was a treat and that would be that. I was and am very careful to dispense that.
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