# Shoulder injury



## gshock (Sep 8, 2011)

Hello,

Well during Thanksgiving my 4 month old pup, came up limping to me from the backyard. The last activity he was doing was digging a hole in the backyard???? It doesn't make sense to me. At first I thought it was a leg injury or maybe perhaps something stuck in his paw. He was in obvious pain. So I took him to the Vet, and they did x-rays and the Vet came back and informed us that a triangular piece off the grow plate had been chipped. And during his adult growth phase his bone growth should heal that piece without any further complications. She said that however he could suffer from arthritis, or (OCD). 

She said there was no actual fractures in the bone or near the socket, so she said it looked good. He also has a bad sprain associated with the injury and hes on doggy Ibuprofen and anti-inflammatory meds.

Question is should I seek a second opinion? One of the best Vet hospitals associated with U.C Davis, told me I couldn't bring in the previous X-rays?? 

I know I'll have to seek out a specialist in orthopedics for dogs.So If I explain my situation in depth it seems like they want to take advantage of my situation here. My concern is that I want the dog to live a normal and healthy life, and not let this injury stop him from doing that.


I feel terrible for him, I don't understand how this could happen. Please feel free to give me any feedback.


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

There is no socket in the shoulder unless you are talking about the elbow... There is a piece of bone in the elbow, * Anconeal Process , that fractures easily and then it is called Ununited Anconeal Process which by some is considered elbow dysplasia.*

* Is this what is injured? Like I said above, there is no socket in the shoulder, it is a flat piece of bone held onto the chest/rib area by muscles and ligaments/tendons. Did he fracture a piece of the shoulder blade?*
* Yes, I would probably get another opinion. If he fractured the shoulder blade itself, there won't be any arthritus since the shoulder blade does not touch other bone. If its the socket in the elbow joint, this can cause issues with arthritus and other bone problems*


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## gshock (Sep 8, 2011)

wyominggrandma said:


> There is no socket in the shoulder unless you are talking about the elbow... There is a piece of bone in the elbow, * Anconeal Process , that fractures easily and then it is called Ununited Anconeal Process which by some is considered elbow dysplasia.*
> 
> * Is this what is injured? Like I said above, there is no socket in the shoulder, it is a flat piece of bone held onto the chest/rib area by muscles and ligaments/tendons. Did he fracture a piece of the shoulder blade?*
> * Yes, I would probably get another opinion. If he fractured the shoulder blade itself, there won't be any arthritus since the shoulder blade does not touch other bone. If its the socket in the elbow joint, this can cause issues with arthritus and other bone problems*


I'm sorry let me clarify better. It's not associated with the elbow, but rather the top of the left shoulder bone. They did the x-ray from top down. And she showed me the x-ray in comparison to the top of the right bone, she said the left one is not rounded because the left one is chipped. I guess I was wrong about the growth plates. Their actually fine, i'll have to recheck with the Vet. 

She mentioned OCD so I was aware of some possibilities of what could have caused that bone to chip. She said to monitor the dog and see how he responds to the meds. If he is still in pain after 2 weeks than I need to bring him back but it has been 2 days and my pup seems to be doing fine. He is back to being a land shark and has no indication of pain.


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

Ok, I just read where you said the joint and there is no joint in the shoulder. If its a chip in the top of the blade, I would just watch it and see what happens. Arthritus is caused by bone against bone continually and causing pain. I imagine, depending on how big the piece is that broke off,that it won't cause any future problems and possibly the body will build a "cushion" around it and it won't cause any issues. Its amazing how many chips we see in dogs and horses that nobody has a clue how they happened and maybe caused a day or two of limping, then the body took care of the "foreign substance" and no issues. Then we would find them on an xray and show them to the owners, most of whom would be surprised.
He is very young, I would just watch him and I bet it will not be an issue.
Good luck


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