Limping dog recovery question...

[chops86]

Hi!

About three weeks ago our 4-year old, 120lb lab mix dog fell at the dog park while running with some other dogs. He didn't yelp or seem hurt or anything, but later that night he was limping. we thought it was no big deal and he was still running and playing like any other day for the next two weeks.

About a week ago we took him to the vet and they put him on anti-inflammitories thinking its either a sprain (taking longer to heal because we didnt rest him and his weight is about 10 lbs heavy) or a torn ligament. We've been resting him since then with just normal walks to try and keep him tired.

Since we got him on the AIs, he has been doing much better with no limping and minimal stiffness. He seems to be stretching more, but that could also be because we've been resting him and he's been lying around more often.

He doesn't seem in pain at all, but I just wanted to see if I should be hopeful that we're going to be OK, or if he would seem better one way or the other?

We also have just started him on gloucosamine, chondriton and MSM to help with his joints to hopefully help more in the future.

Thanks so much for any advice... we are scheduled to go back after the AIs are done if he is still limping. Hopefully that's not going to happen!

[mrsgrubby]

Sounds like you are doing everything right.

[Spiritus]

What exactly is he on? Just wondering if there is a pain med too that might be masking his pain....

But, if he's just on an anti-inflammatory and he's not limping, chances are it was just a sprain. If he had actually torn something, I would think that he would still be limping, even with the medication.

Another thing that you can do with him to help tire him out is teach him some tricks. I had a puppy on crate rest for about 5 months... teaching tricks does wonders for them mentally.

[chops86]

Originally Posted by Spiritus

What exactly is he on? Just wondering if there is a pain med too that might be masking his pain....

But, if he's just on an anti-inflammatory and he's not limping, chances are it was just a sprain. If he had actually torn something, I would think that he would still be limping, even with the medication.

Hes on Deramaxx for 10 days... been on about 5/10 days. He seems better as far as scratching his head and stuff which he wouldnt do at first.

Any thoughts? Am I being paranoid in thinking its a tear? I am just crossing my fingers I get good news when we take him in this week!!!

[chops86]

Update:

Well we took Chops in today for x-rays and the drawer test. The vet said the x-rays were perfect (we looked at them too) and the drawer test she detected very little movement and she said she wondered if she was even imagining it.

She said the fact that he's getting better is a good sign and that he's putting a lot of weight on the sore leg.

So I'm really hoping we dodged a bullet and its just a sprain. She said it can take weeks to heal since its essentially stretching the muscle, and that we just have to wait and see if he gets better.

Any advice on things to watch for, how to progress in his activity, etc?

We also need to get him to lose 10 lbs because that might be complicating the speed of recovery since hes so big, so now we need to switch from Iams to Evo to something with weight control!

Anyway... any advice would be great. I really am hopeful, although I know we're not out of the woods yet!