Information on Arthroscopy Surgery Needed

[Terryann]

Any good or bad results from arthroscopy surgery on the elbow? There is not too much information that I have found on arthroscopy. Any information, good or bad, would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Briar Rose]

Tell us why you think your pup needs it. Symptoms, please. Did the vet x-ray? What found? Funny thing is, both human & animal docs want to do surgery when that is really not the problem, and some nutritional fix will work better. For limping, joint pains, etc., I've had fantastic results from 2 dogs over a total 3 years by taking them off all human food scrap "treats" and taking them off ALL canned & dry food. "Going back to nature" really works, corny as it sounds. Try feeding real meat--chicken, turkey, beef, liver, supplimented with human vitamines, some cod-liver oil is good, bones &/or bone meal for calcium. A week to 10 day trial (with NO cheating, NO treats, NO human food, NO prepared dog food) should show you some improvement if its going to work.

[Terryann]

Well, today is the day he gets the procedure. He was severly limping on his front left leg. I took him to Colorado State University. They tood x-rays. Left already shows moderate to severe arthritis and an incongruent joint. Right leg shows little arthritis, but an incongruent joint. Possible FCP on both joints, but hard to determine from x-rays. CSU wanted to completely open up both joints (doing each 6 - 8 weeks apart) to clean everything up and slow down the arthritis process. The vet who is actually performing the arthroscopy where I live (in Colorado Springs) believes that better results can be seen from doing the arthroscopy because the joints are being "taken apart" and cleaned. He did tell me this morning when I met with him, that my dog will never have normal joints (this is a dog who has also had TPO surgery on both hips at 4 months of age because of HD, and his back left hock has been fused due to OCD).

As far as the food goes, he currently is feed Nutro Natural Choice Senior (because it has the Glua/Chon), but are working on switching him over to Canidae. My dogs do not get table scraps, at all. They get plenty of exercise.

I'll let everybody know how the arthroscopy works out!