limping

[cowdog]

Hello all,
I am new here, just had a question maybe someone can help me with. I have a 3.5 yr. old australian/queensland mix. one day we were on one of our hikes, and she bolted after a jack rabbit. on her return we walked a little further, and she started with a slight limp. (front leg) after about an hr or so it went away, she was fine for about 2 wks. and then during excercise started limping again, and after a bit it went away. So I gave her a couple wks. no excercise, she was fine, and then another 2-3 wks. during one of our hikes she started again. she does'nt seem to be in any serious pain while she limps, and it always subsides. I have recently (today started her on some gluco./condr. pills to see if they may help if it is a joint/ cartlidge problem. any suggestions...thank you

p.s. I did call my vet, and they said if it becomes an every day occurence I would probably want to have it x-rayed, or if she seems to be in alot of discomfort for sure bring her in.

[Dangels]

Hmm, i'm not really sure why she would be limping. I agree with your vet, if the limp doensn't go away.... it would be a good idea to have it x-rayed. Sorry that I can't be of more help!

I wish you the very best of luck!

[Rivsky]

I'd probably be inclined to look at some sort of muscular damage. Do you have a recommended chiro/physio in your area that's qualified to work on dogs??

My sister's border collie had a bit of a limp at times but like your dog was fine most of the time. She went in to be checked by a chiro and found out the poor girl had a torn hamstring - but 99% of the time she was still running around like normal.

[Ritz459]

I was going to suggest that it could be a sprain, but if it is recurring, it probably isn't. Rose sprained her wrist chasing a rabbit and it took her about a week to heel it up. But she was seriously limping and needed help getting around when it first happened. Her wrist was also really swollen.
(She's fit as a fiddle now.)

[aquarian215]

I remember a couple of years ago I had to bring a friend and her dog to the vet because she was concerned about him limping, and they did some general blood work and he turned out to have lyme disease, which causes joint pain, which caused the limp.

[haylotx85]

My next door neighbors lab mix started limping a few weeks ago. When my neighbor brought her to the vet they found a tumor by her joint causing her to limp.

[Doggedly Determined]

We had a similar issue with Dublin, an 85 lb golden. He limped with increasing regularity. Finally, we brought him into the vet and xrays showed a problem with his bones in the lower joint (front right leg). This is a long story, and is the reason why we started our own site to gather information from owners so others with similar problems could have a place to go to get information. We call them "Dog Tails".

The diagnosis was an aggressive cancer. We sought information and found very little. After MRIs, more xrays, a biopsy (negative), and a recommendation to immediately amputate his leg, we found a vet who felt it was residual trauma from an earlier injury.

After all that, thousands in vet bills thinking he had cancer and only months to live, and being scared senseless, we lowered the inflamation with NSAIDs and then got him off the drugs and on to glucosamine. We reduced his weight and changed his excercize so he didn't put too much pressure on the leg (fetching balls or chasing squirrels).

What started out as a huge scare, ended up being ok. Thats our story. Hope it helps.

[Doggedly Determined]

BTW, the glucosamine and chondroitin work. We give Dublin 1600mg gluc. and 1400 chon. each day. It took about 4 months to see noticible improvement.

[cowdog]

well with a little more description that I provided my vet, I told him that she occasionally will drag her left leg as it comes forward, like she is stumbling. He decided to measure her front two legs, and her right leg is a bit shorter than her left. Causing an irregular gate, and added wear and tear on her front left wrist, thus causing what he said to equal a "bum knee". the gluco has helped, along with an occasional asprin, The only thing that is now causing the limp is when she goes on a full out sprint, which I try to eliminate, but as you know, we cant always do that. So its just a matter of keeping her in control and limiting her running, and she seems to be doing better....thanx for all the replies.

[Dangels]

I'm glad that she's doing better!

Best of luck!

[haylotx85]

My neighbor ended up having to put her labrador mix named Tequila down.

The cancer spread very quickly. 2 weeks before Tequila was put down was when my neighbor first noticed that something was wrong (the limping) and brought her to the vet. Quickly after they discovered it was cancer she went down hill fast. She began to have open sores on her body that would bleed. My neighbor said one morning she got up and went into the kitchen and Tequila was laying in her blood from her sores and hemorrhage. She said she couldn't stand to see her suffering like that and chose to have her put to sleep.

She is very sad so keep her in your prayers!

[KidneyBeaning]

Glad she is feeling better!

[King Pup]

Sometimes a limp can be unexplainable. I used to walk a Belgian shepherd/chow mix who would, every 4 months or so, develop a serious limp. The owner would take her to the vets for x-rays and tests and in 3 years of this they never ever found anything wrong or got to the bottom of it.

[Doggedly Determined]

The bone cancer can spread so fast. Its terrible.