Should I be concerned?

Mdawn

Bad title to the thread, as I know I should probably be concerned...
Anyway, as we have had a lot of new members since I first joined, I'll give some history.
Eddie was abandoned as a puppy near my house Jan/07. He was between 3-4 months old. He wasn't a dog that I bought from a breeder, he was a stray essentially.

Eddie is now a year old. About a month or so ago, I noticed Eddie limping a little on his back left leg. It's so minor that, you really have to look for it to see it. When I first noticed it, I didn't really think too much about it because Uallis and Eddie do play together pretty rough. Uallis is about 140 to Eddie's 75-80 lbs. I figured Uallis put too much weight on him and hurt Eddie's back leg a little. Eddie still ran, jumped fine, it didn't seem to affect him any. It still doesn't. However, I still notice this limp; not everyday or even every other day, just sometimes. I've seen him be fine and then jump off the porch, not a big jump, but he'll get that little limp after he does it. I've kept this in the back of my mind, watching him, trying to see how bad it is, how frequent; things like that. Now its sometimes his left leg, sometimes his right... I haven't been letting him and Uallis roughhouse like they want because I wanted to see if the limping would stop. It's still there, every now and then; mainly after he's been running for awhile or jumps off something but it doesn't cause him extreme pain or anything. He still wants to do all of his normal activities. Although, he does lay around more but he is starting to mellow to some extent, so that could be the reason for that.

I should also mention that I noticed a similar limp in Uallis, although more severe, in his legs. It was always during the time he hit a growth spurt and it would stop after a few days. I know it was a growth spurt because it was like you could actually see him growing. He looked a little bigger from one day to the next. I've taken him to the vet on a few different occasions and it was attributed to growing pains and his exercise is regulated and he's been fine since; no more limping.

However, Uallis was 5-8 month age range during this time, Eddie is 1 year old. I don't think that it can be a growth spurt for him.

Eddie is getting neutered here very shortly, probably the week of the 14th-18th. I am going to mention it to my vet then. But I was thinking that while he was there, I'd have him check his hips and elbows. Or at least ask him about checking this at some point. Can they even do that when his in to be neutered? I don't know. I have to admit that I'm starting to worry about HD. It's a terrifying thought and one that I honestly don't want to admit to. But I feel that I have to consider this. Right now, I'm researching everything I can on HD. I may be jumping the gun but I feel better when I go to the vet already armed with knowledge concerning what I'm there for. That way I'm not as likely to forget to ask something because I'm distracted or whatever. I usually bring a list of questions, so I don't forget Could HD be a possibly or could there be something else?

I'm not even sure of what I'm trying to ask in this thread really. Just some other input I guess.

ChrissyBz

Hi MDawn,

Have you examined his legs? Does he have full extension/range of motion? Does it bother him when you manipulate his legs in any direction. Do you hear any clicking, grinding, popping noises from any of the joints when you flex, extend, rotate them?
I have an older rott mix with probable HD and my vet taught me how to check her condition on my own.

ozsat

About six months ago, our dog developed a slight limp which we put down to old age.

We gave him supplements to help his joints etc.

He later developed other symptoms which became fatal - whether the two were related we do not know - but had severe leg problems at the end.

Looking back we suspect that taking him to the vet then would not have helped - but we wonder.

Our next dog will be going to the vet for the slightest thing - as we miss our last dog too much to go through it again.


Hopefully the limp is nothing serious - but don't take the chance.

Mdawn

I've moved his legs around to see if he has any pain. I haven't listened to see if his joints make any noise though. When I moved his legs around it didn't seem like it hurt him, he just looked at me like, "What are you doing now?"

I will do what you suggested though and post back.

ETA: I moved his legs around, he seemed like it was ok, he was just wondering what I was doing. It seemed a little tense though and kind of resisted me moving them. I think that it was because he didn't know what I was up too though....and I disturbed him from his nap. I didn't hear anything; like grinding, clicking, etc. I also put my hand on his hips while I moved his legs to see if I could feel any grinding; I couldn't.

FilleBelle

Could be a problem with his anterior cruciate ligament (that's a bad knee, in layman's terms). A partially torn ACL results in sudden-onset lameness of a rear leg. The lameness can improve slightly and then become chronic (ie you see it most/all of the time, but it's not really bad) or it can worsen steadily. Most dogs want to continue their regular activities on a partially torn ACL, but continued motion and exercise almost always leads to a full rupture, which requires surgery. The big giveaway that a dog has a partially torn ACL is that he sits/lies with the affected leg held out away from his body, rather than neartly tucked under.

I have all this info because my Lab is currently suffering from this very thing. He limped on and off for weeks before we realized the episodes of lameness were getting more frequent and more severe. Apparently Labs suffer from this injury regularly because, like their football-playing human counterparts, their big, burly bodies are essentially too large for their legs.

Xrays are the only way to diagnose an ACL problem FOR SURE, although your vet can probably give you a 99.9% sure diagnoses without them.

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Mdawn

I have some experience with a ruptured ACL. My Golden Retriever that passed away a year ago last November ruptured it in both back legs. Before that happened we had no idea that anything was wrong. One day he was fine, the next he was completely lame, unable to stand. They did Xrays but would not do surgery because of his age. He was around 13ish when this happened. I ended up getting a second opinion with the same result. We decided to treat him for the pain and eventually is legs stabilized enough for him to bear his weight. But he walked with a limp for the rest of his life and was unable to run or even walk for an extended period of time. He also was on pain meds for the rest of his life. However, he was old at the time of the injury and I knew that it was just buying time. Eddie is only a year and dealing with those types of problems with him terrify me. The only good thing is that if he does develop some sort of issue, he is young enough to recover from the surgery unlike my Golden. Two years after the incident with my Golden he developed cancer and started having seizures. He died in the middle of a seizure (this particular time, he had them one right after another, he died in the middle of the 3rd one). It's ironic because we were going to have him put to sleep that day because of a particularity bad seizure he had the night before.

ChrissyBz

I'm so sorry about your golden. Seizures are so scary. Cassie has had seizures related to her ehrlichia and I swear that sick feeling of not being able to help is an awful AWFUL thing. At least your Golden did have someone who cared and what sounds like a good life in spite of the health problems.

Re the resistance. that's normal. It usually takes me about 15 minutes of manipulation for me to get my dogs to relax enough for full extension.

Example: When I extend the back leg forward I slowly bring it all the way up to the shoulder then back the other way as far as it will go without pushing.(about a 100-110* angle if you lined a protractor up to the spine)

Then flex the knee and ankle both until the knee is pushed up to the level of the spine and the ankle is tucked in to the flank, The ankles and elbows, I rotate them slowly in a 360* motion in both directions.I also flex them in a back and forth motion.

I should also mention that all of this is done with virtually no pressure. it's just as far as the joints would naturally stretch.

I don't know whether this would be good or not for Uallis as he's still growing. You should ask your vet about that. My dogs seem to like it when I do it though.

Mdawn

I will ask my vet about doing it with Uallis. I already worry about his joints because of his size. I give both dogs massages just about everyday. It relaxes them. If I can do it with Uallis also, I can incorporate it into their massages.

Thanks for all of your information!

setterlover4

Hi. Sometimes leg pain can mean bone cancer. But don't worry, usually cancer pain is WORSE and the type of cancer are very uncommon. Is it one of the front legs or the back legs?

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