My dog, Martini, is a very large 4 year old Harlequin Great Dane.  A few months ago I noticed she was favoring her back leg and limping a little after she would get up from naps.  At first I thought that her leg had just fallen asleep, but as the weeks went by the limping got progressively worse.  And at times, she didn't put weight on the leg at all.  We went in to see our favorite team of experts at Parker Center Animal Clinic, and after reviewing an x-ray, we learned that the ligament over Martini's knee was very swollen.  After trying Rimadyl for a few weeks and realizing it wasn't going to be enough, Dr. Noone, Dr. Aluise, and Dr. Motichka suggested we add laser therapy to the mix. 
 
The first thing I noticed was that it was very affordable and didn't involve having a struggle with my 140 pounder to administer.  We started with a 3-2-1 approach, going for three sessions the first week, two sessions the second week and one session the third week.  It was totally painless, I was in the clinic for less than 15 minutes, and the best part was that Martini seemed to really enjoy it!!  
 
I saw improvement in Martini almost immediately.  But the end of the first week she was no longer limping, and her old playful personality was back.  She hadn't wanted to play or go for walks in months, but now she was excited again.  By the end of the second week she was sleeping through the night without waking up with pain.  And by the end of the third week we were able to cut her dose of Rimadyl by more than half! 
 
From what the good doctors tell me, this is a treatment that we will continue on a weekly or bi-monthly basis for a little while and then be able to administer once a month as long as Martini is doing fine.  Great Danes, especially really large ones like Martini, suffer from a lot of wear and tear on their joints, muscles and bones.  I thought my only options were going to be large doses of Rimadyl, or expensive and painful surgeries.  But the laser treatments have been a wonderful blessing for me and Martini!  And I've learned that laser treatment can be used to help a wide spectrum of problems, besides just joint and ligament issues.  It is definitely something I would recommend to anyone to discuss further with the vets at Parker Center Animal Clinic. 

Heather Shelstad

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