My baby boy Malachai is in need of prayers and support! He's pictured throughout this website and is my current competition dog. I've spent the last 2 years (since he was 10 weeks old!) training him for Schutzhund.

Unfortunately our last two sessions have shown there is something majorly wrong with his front right leg so we headed off to a specialist on Saturday. This guy, despite 30 years of experience...was a total crook quoting me $800-1000 for xrays, pain medication etc AND he wouldn't do xrays unless the dog was sedated.

For those who don't know, Malachai is a parvo-survivior who was hospitalized for several days when he was just 6 months old. The Parvo took its toll on his stomach and his ability to absorb nutrients so he has a very low body weight, despite eating like a pig! Therefore, sedating for xrays is all the more risky for him.

So I left that vet and went to my regular guy - Dr. Butchkos in Riverside. We took 6 shots of his leg, shoulder, and foot and came up inconclusive. The two vets there were leaning towards the possibility that he has piece of cartilage or bone floating around that is causing the pain. It was inconclusive because it showed on two of the xrays but not on another.


So he's basically on restriction...no exercise...potty on leash...no training whatsoever. I've got him on glucosamine, MSM, and calcium until then and I might take him in for an anti-inflammatory shot as well.

We will re-xray in two weeks and see if there is pain.

The problem is that IF it is a piece of bone or cartilage, the only specialist in the area are VCA and the main guy who does this procedure (arthoscopy) is the idiot specialist I went to the first time.


So I have friends putting feelers out for other specialists and might send the radiographs off for another opinion.

The arthoscopy is the camera procedure to locate the floating fragment and then reduce any calcium deposits that may have formed. Average costs.....$2500-5000.

And no guarantees of success that he will be pain free or be able to work again.

And if I didn't mention it before...this is a dog I've spent the last two years specifically gearing to go compete on the world team with! So it could be two years of work down the drain and a dog that can't compete ever again.

So please, keep my boy in your thoughts and prayers and I will keep the blog updated with his progress. The other thing it could possibly be is a hyper-extension of the joint. So we will wait and see.

Thank you everyone for your support so far.

Dana Williams
OCdoglady.com