ADDISON'S
DISEASE
- To the best of our knowledge no treatment known -
- sorry, don't have any advices on this -
BLOAT (& gastric torsion) / Aufblähung / Blähsucht und Magendrehung
- don't feed your dog before excercising (wait at minimum 1, better 2 hours)
- don't let your dog drink excessive amounts of water immediately before starting any activities -
- don't exercise your dog immediately after feeding or drinking excessive amounts of water -
- feed 2 or 3 meals per day instead of one large meal -
Older dogs (7+ yrs.) face a higher risk for GDV - Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus.
-see "alternative methods" for more info -
CANCER
- see alternative methods for more info -
DYSPLASIA'S - elbow, hip
- surgical treatment /
HTEP & medical treatment (against arthrosis and
pain-management)
for more info please see alternative methods -
Medical treatment known:
Cosamin (humans) & Cosequin (dogs) supports the optimal function of the skeletal joints (knees, wrists, elbows, fingers, toes, hips, shoulders, neck and back) - for better mobility, improves the articular cartilage and this has an important influence on optimal joint functions.
Contains: GAG - Glucosamine 500 mg and Chondroitin 400 mg (plus Manganese and Ascorbate).
- more info on alternative methods -
EYEDISEASES
Regular eye-check is recommended (diseases as entropion / ectropion can be diagnosed by each vet, for more specialised checks one might have to see an ophthalmologist).
HEARTDISEASES
For breeds known to be prone to develop a certain heartdisease it might be recommended
starting at the age of 5 yrs.: yearly veterinarian check-up
incl. check of heart-beat (percussion), X-ray to check size, EKG & eventually ultrasound
(echography).
Some of this methods give us just the "present stage" of heart-activity, others (X-ray & ultrasound) provide the vet with info about size, location, normal or irregular function of valves etc.
Well known are two kind of heart-diseases,
• Myocardial hypofunction/insufficiens (weakness of myocard)
• Dilated Cardiomyopathy - a disease of the heart-muscle
(heart is elongated, function weak)
Esp. the DCM is known to be the common
heart-disease among the large- and giant-breeds. The majority of the concerned dogs presents the symptoms between 4 - 10 years
of age, a few wasdiagnosed before
reaching 1 year of age.
The left ventricel is
dilated & blood can hardly be pumped through the venes and flow like
it should.
Heart muscle is weak and elongated.
Everything which could mean "stress"
(mental/physical, e.g. excercises, over-feeding, stress etc.)
should be avoided.
At the very beginning (esp. for the "weakness due to age") homeopathic remedies might be helpful - see alternative methods.
HYPOTHYREOIDISM
"malfunction - less hormones produced by the thyroid-gland" or autoimmune thyreoiditis.
- see alternative methods -
O C D
Ostechondrosis dissecans
Can be caused by accidents (genetic
mode of inheritance not clearly know, eventually polygenetic trait) - known to
be found in humans and animals.
For humans "juvenile OCD" is known .....maybe for animals it's the
same (? !)
Watch input of food, better keep the puppy/growing youngster on the lean side !
PANOSTEITIS
= Growth disorder
As the name suggests ......"Pano"
appears during the growth period and is known to "disappear" when the final body
size is reached (in the most cases without causing any consistent harm).
"Pano" can show up in just one attack or in conintuing attacks - is said to be painful;
therefore watch each limping of your puppy and juvenile leo as if there was no
trauma known it might most likely be caused by Pano.
- for more see alternative methods -
v. WILLEBRAND-DISEASE
The disease is known to be present in humans and animals, as well as it's known that a "too close relationship" can cause a higher risk of "v.Willebrand-suffering descendents".
On the website www.leonberger-world.com, - Database - those who are interested to learn more will find some information.
Links Websites about alternative treatment pls. go to Alternative Methods
for general health-info
about diseases and treatment
please scroll to the end of this site
www.vetheart.com - esp.heart-diseases -
On all of the large
animal-related websites one can find a health-section,
parted into several items
The most Club-Websites (Club
UK, Club USA & others) provide a Health-site,
where one can find articles conc. special health-problems of the breed
this site is not complete yet; updating is continued !