Is there help for my great dane's paws

Is there a way to correct our great dane's front feet.  She is a 145 pounds, very tall dane with front paws that turn in, causing her toes to splay to the outward sides.  She stands with all of her weight on her front four toes.  (As if she were on her tippy toes.) From the back view, you can see the large pad on both front feet is vertical, not touching the ground at all.  It seems like the bones in her lower pastern have fused with the upper bones of the metatarsals.  When trying to manually bend her paw forward at the joint  it will not bend.

[Arnold L Goldman, D.V.M.]

Dear GDLVRS,

Your description is consistent with an angular deformity of the distal (near foot end)  limb. There are two broad classifications based on observation, rather than cause.
In a varus alignment, the distal segment deviates medially with respect to the proximal segment. In a valgus alignment, the distal segment deviates laterally with respect to the proximal segment. You seem to be describing a varus condition. That said, the cause and reason cannot be clear in the absence of examination and x-ray imaging.
Without actually seeing the dog, and its x-rays, its hard to comment further on what the problem actually is and what might be possible to do about it.

My advice is that you seek a consultation with a Board Certified veterinary surgeon (the credential is DACVS) , and one who does orthopedics as a preference. You can locate one in Minnesota through www.acvs.org. Alternatively there are several excellent ones at UMN in Minneapolis at their college of veterinary medicine.

Advice on a forum like this on a course of action for a longstanding orthopedic condition of this nature is likely to be unhelpful in the absence of the examination and evaluation of x-ray images.

Good luck and let us know what is discovered and recommended.

Sincerely,


Arnold L. Goldman DVM, MS
MedHelp & PDOC