[Jesco]

My 11 month old puppy, Hazel, been having issues walking for awhile now. At first I thought it was just her being a puppy and she would grow out of it but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. Hazel tends to occasionally scrape her toenails while on walks, even on short ones, and doesn't seem to pick up her feet all the way because most of the time she walks I can hear the pads on her back feet hitting the ground. She has already been to see the Vet, who did and exam and x-rays of her hips and spine. The spine looked good as did the hips, he also checked her ears which were good as well.

I've been trying to get some videos for the Vet to look at of her walking because as usual when at the Vet's office she seems fine. I need some fresh eyes to look at them and tell me if her walking seems off or not. I've been watching her walk for too long it all looks the same to me now. To me it looks like she's limping on her hind end on both sides and I can't tell if her front seems off or not. I've asked family and friends but they are no help, most think I'm crazy and nothings wrong. In their defense, I do have the tendency to overreact a bit when it comes to my animals.

These were taken around the end of July:

- Short leash, right side

- Short leash, left side

These were taken a few days ago:

- Loose leash, right side

- Loose leash, left side

Sorry the quality of the videos isn't the best, they were taken with my digital camera.

So what do you think does this look normal? Also, do these videos seem good enough for me to send to the Vet? If not I have about 2 dozen more videos I've taken that I can choose from.

Thanks in advance.

 

[spotted nikes]

Send them to the vet.
It could just be her conformation, but it almost looks like she is walking like she has abdominal pain.

 

[zeronightfarm]

Send them to the vet.
It could just be her conformation, but it almost looks like she is walking like she has abdominal pain.

I agree, If she walked that way at the vet, I would say that she is just built under herself more than she should be. Since she is walking diffrent at the vet though, it sounds like pain. A lot of dogs will hide pain at the vet, my old dog, when he was starting to have HD problems, was falling down, and limping. Brought him to the vet and like magic he was fine.

 

[RoughCollie]

Has she been tested for Lyme disease? My dog, Aidan, was recently diagnosed with it, so it's been on my mind. He was limping because the disease caused pain in his joints. Mind you, Aidan has been on Frontline Plus, had the Lyme disease vaccination nearly a year ago, and has been checked daily for ticks all along. With all that, he still contracted Lyme disease.

 

[Jesco]

Thank you for your responses.

Send them to the vet.
It could just be her conformation, but it almost looks like she is walking like she has abdominal pain.

I never even thought of an abdominal problem. When I got her at 8 weeks she the shelter had already had her spayed, way too early for my liking but what can you do. Less then a week later we took her to the Vet with what we thought might have been a surgery hernia that ended up being a raging infection and she had to have emergency surgery to clean it all out. The Vet figured that she might have been allergic to the sutures the shelter had used and had mentioned having to remove some of the surrounding muscle and tissue. I wonder if that might have anything to do with her problems now.

I agree, If she walked that way at the vet, I would say that she is just built under herself more than she should be. Since she is walking different at the vet though, it sounds like pain. A lot of dogs will hide pain at the vet, my old dog, when he was starting to have HD problems, was falling down, and limping. Brought him to the vet and like magic he was fine.

Believe me I know way too well how dogs hide pain around the Vets. My old dog, Moira, limped around the house for weeks and every time we took her to the Vet she acted perfectly normal and would be jumping on and off the seats while we were there. She ended up being diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in her front leg and the vet said that he has never seen a dog with Osteosarcoma not yelp or whine when manipulating the joint or feeling around, which he did both everyime we were there and before they took the x-rays and Moira just laid there giving no indication that anything hurt.

Has she been tested for Lyme disease? My dog, Aidan, was recently diagnosed with it, so it's been on my mind. He was limping because the disease caused pain in his joints. Mind you, Aidan has been on Frontline Plus, had the Lyme disease vaccination nearly a year ago, and has been checked daily for ticks all along. With all that, he still contracted Lyme disease.

No, she hasn't been tested for Lyme disease yet. She's never really been anywhere that she could have picked up ticks and to my knowledge has never had a tick on her. But I'll be sure to ask the Vet about it when we go back in.


After the last Vet visit she was put on Deramaxx because the Vet had thought it might have been Pano. However the Deramaxx didn't seem to help at all, in fact I believe she was on Deramaxx when the first two videos were shot. So I'm not sure if it's pain related or not. I know the Vet mentioned that he did the "turning the foot over to see the reaction time for them to right it" test (I sorry but I have no idea what the medical term for that is) and he mentioned that her reaction was a bit slower then he expected. However Haze was really freaked out being at the Vet's office and was rather reluctant about being handled by the Vet, something we are going have to work on, so we weren't sure if her reaction time was correct or not.

It's not just the possible limping, her shuffling feet and scrapping of the nails that bother me, it's also the way she sits. I understand she's still a puppy but I personally have never seen a dog sit like this before:

I don't know maybe I'm just being overly paranoid about the whole thing but my gut tells me that there's something not right. I'm going to try to drop off the videos tomorrow, thanks again for your help.

 

[spotted nikes]

I wonder if she could have abdominal adhesions from the abdominal surgery. They would possibly pull and cause pain when walking. Adhesions are when scar tissue inside the body forms, and actually can attach to nearby structures/organs/etc. They would be potentially painful when the body moves in a way that stretches that site. Talk to your vet about it and ask if ultrasound would show if she has them. Or could a gauze pad had been left inside during the 2nd surgery?