Hi Adele:

Sounds like Diesel has panosteitis, also known as 'wandering lameness' - so
chances are he's not manipulating you. :-) I'm surprised your vet isn't aware
of it though. It's sort of like 'growing pains' in children where there's
fairly rapid growth. We used to see it a lot, but since we make it a point to
no longer feed our puppies high protein 'puppy food', we've pretty well
eliminated it. We've also cut out supplements. If it is 'pano' you'll find
that it's a self-eliminating thing and he will grow out of it. As you've found,
Dobermans are a stoic breed and it's hard to elicit discomfort on examination.

Feeding a moderate (protein/fat/calorie), meat based high quality diet in
moderate amounts will keep growth slow and even.

JMO, Pat
Pat Blenkey & Brian Casey
Wrath-Liberator Dobermans Perm Reg'd
Harley, Ontario, Canada
http://www.wrath-liberator.com

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