Posted: 6/22/2010 9:04:48 PM EDT
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Hey guys, my pup has developed a "sort of" limp. Sometimes when he walks, his rear left leg will swing out to the side a bit. He doesnt whine and can put his full weight on it with no problem. Took him to the vet a couple weeks ago and they said that it was an inflamed muscle and to keep him on a leash and not to have him play rough for a week. Also put him on an anti-inflamitory. It seemed to have fixed everything, but he started doing it again today  You guys got any miracle cures before we go back to the vet on Friday? I'm not rich and it would be great if its something simple. |
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Could be a multitude of problems... I would first check the pads on his feet, webbing, ect...might be a splinter in between, cut, torn nail...ect.
My Rottie had a few "growing pains" as he developed... to include a few limping bouts. You have to eliminate the obvious... are you working him? If so did this occur after a training? Do you have more than one K9...and if so were the two dogs rough housing it? I also looked into the food I was feeding our dog as well...which at the time we had him on Diamond. Now Diamond was good...it's just that there was near 33% protein in the food...and we thought it might be too high for him...causing some sort of problem. Thin...but we considered it...and did a change in diet...as well as relaxing on the training for a week. Seemed to work, and after he was a year old...never had a re-occurrence of the limps. If I had to guess...our Rottie had probably 4 bouts of the limps...over the course of a year. Hang in there, and I hope your pup rebounds without incident. 
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Well, we went and he pretty much told us the same thing. Gave it some more time its its more of the same. He still walks funny and I think our vet may be mistaken. Heres a video to see what I'm talking about. He never complains about it, and puts his full weight on it. We can bend it and squeeze all up and down the whole leg without him even blinking.  |
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Ahh okay... the video helps. Your dog is cowhocked, a way of describing a structural weakness of the rear where the hock joints point inward towards each other rather than being parallel. As the dog converges, the hocks interfere with each other and the dog is forced to swing the legs out and around each other to prevent them from brushing.
It is a genetic fault, mostly one that impedes a dog in the show ring or in this case, if this dog needed to do any sort of trotting work. It may cause strain on the ligaments over time and you could see some arthritis develop eventually. |
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Quoted: Ahh okay... the video helps. Your dog is cowhocked, a way of describing a structural weakness of the rear where the hock joints point inward towards each other rather than being parallel. As the dog converges, the hocks interfere with each other and the dog is forced to swing the legs out and around each other to prevent them from brushing. It is a genetic fault, mostly one that impedes a dog in the show ring or in this case, if this dog needed to do any sort of trotting work. It may cause strain on the ligaments over time and you could see some arthritis develop eventually. Thanks for the info, That doesnt sound very curable. 
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| It's not a disease or injury, the dog didn't have good structure from birth. The dog isn't limping as much as compensating for it's structure. The breed should stand with the hocks parallel to each other and converge in motion with the legs providing a straight column of support. |
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How old is he?
He's not putting his full weight on it when he's trotting. I'm going to diagnose a cruciate injury without even examining your dog, just from looking at the video. Go to another the vet and let them check the knee. He may need sedation to get a really good feel. |
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Quoted: How old is he? He's not putting his full weight on it when he's trotting. I'm going to diagnose a cruciate injury without even examining your dog, just from looking at the video. Go to another the vet and let them check the knee. He may need sedation to get a really good feel. Almost 9 months. Would an xray help the doc figure out which problem it is? |
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Xrays are helpful. In fact any bone issue, structural or injury, should be clear in an xray
I just want to give some encouraging words. I adopted Rolph from a shelter when he was about 1 1/2 and he had a bit of a limp that was not getting better. Long story short, it was determined that he had a fracture in his knee when he was a pup that didn't heal perfectly and as a result the hing leg in question is shorter than the other limbs. At first I was devastated, but Rolph gets along fine. He always walks with a slight limp because he is slightly off balance. But he gets along fine and loves life. It is funny to see him take off and run, because then you can really tell he has a short leg. While it is a different issue albeit, dogs are resilient and can still live a good life. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
How old is he? He's not putting his full weight on it when he's trotting. I'm going to diagnose a cruciate injury without even examining your dog, just from looking at the video. Go to another the vet and let them check the knee. He may need sedation to get a really good feel. Almost 9 months. Would an xray help the doc figure out which problem it is? 9 months is kind of young for a cruciate but it does happen. OCD (osteochondrosis) of the hock or hip dysplasia or panosteitis (common in shepherds but usually multiple affected limbs). Did the vet actually palpate the whole limb and all the joints? It's usually pretty easy to differentiate between a bone, joint or muscle problem. X-rays may help if it's a bone problem like panosteitis, hip dysplasia OCD but soft tissues like cruciate ligaments, muscles aren't visible on x-rays, however you will usually get some effusion (fluid) in the knee with a cruciate injury and you can see this on an x-ray. I think you need to go back to the vet or go to someone else that will actually examine the dogs bones and joints (if the first one didn't do this). |
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UPDATE Vet just called and I'm picking him up in 2 hours as he wakes up. I'll get a better explanation when I go in to see the guy, but he said that his hip is partially out of socket and its putting stress on his tibia, but its correctable with surgery. Does this sound legitimate? ETA its not displasia(sp?) it just popped out when he fell on some icy steps it looks like |
| That doesn't make too much sense. I partially out of socket hip would be considered a dysplastic hip unless it was the result of some sort of trauma. I'm not exactly sure how it would stress his tibia unless he's talking about the angles of the femoral head and how it affects the knee joint. |