Hi everyone,

At the end of december we were out in out local park, our 15 month old Dobe was running round like a loon and skidded on some ice. She carried on as normal but later in the afternoon after her nap she found it difficult to stand up as she wouldnt put weight through her back right leg. She would limp for a few seconds and then it seemed to ease up and she would happily trot off.

We have tried as much as poss to limit her to lead walks and restricted off lead time for the past month in the hope that it might heal itself. Even now, say she has been having a nap on the sofa and she jumps down onto the floor, she will only put weight through her back left leg and not her right, though the limping has stopped. Also if i put her in a down stay she doesnt like to sit in a typical 'lion pose' as if it hurts to have her knee bent at such an angle. She has to slump her bum to the side to be comfortable.

I took her to the vet last week who checked her over and said he couldnt find anything obvious, he said that there was a slight click possibly in her hip and that it could be early signs of dysplasia. However i wasnt particularly convinced as it seemed to come on so suddenly after a slip in the park. Her mum and dad had good hip and elbow scores, but she is a loon and has tonned about since a young age with my other two dogs so i suppose there is a chance that her hips could be squiffy.

Any insights from you fellow dog folks on what you think the cause might be? muscle? ligament? breaks? Should i bite the bullet and go for the xray?

I should add that when we are out walking she shows no sign of any discomfort or restricted movements, it only seems to be after naps as if something seizes up?

Any input would be appreciated, cheers!

I would be thinking ligament damage. If you do a Google sitesearch (using the box below) for "cruciate ligament" quite afew old threads come up. If it is that an xray won't show the actual ligament, though may show fluid/swelling in the joint, so you'll probably need to be referred to a specialist.

Good luck!

At the beginning of December my dal suddenly started limping on his left back leg. After a few days of less exercise and anti-imflammatories it suddenly got much worse, and he couldn't weight-bear on it at all - he could only move on three legs. His muscles were resistant to the vet's manipulation (he's a strong, fit dog) so we sedated him and x-rayed and manipulated while he was relaxed. The upshot was that we couldn't find anything wrong at all; his x-rays showed very healthy bone - no arthritis, no HD, no tumour. The tendons and ligaments all seemed strong and intact as well.

So all we could do was give him complete rest - on-lead toilet breaks only - with additional painkillers to keep him reasonably comfortable. At all times he was able to roll and wriggle around on his back in complete comfort and also use the leg to scratch himself - he just couldn't put any weight on it.

To cut a long story short, after 5 weeks of this he started to be able to put some weight on the leg if he was walking very slowly - by this time the thigh muscle was extremely wasted through lack of use - and since then he's made steady progress. When he's walking you'd barely know that it'd had been bad; he still skips a bit when he tries to trot though. We've gradually been increasing the length of his on-lead walks and are now back up to several 20 minutes lead walks - today we're going to try off-lead in the fieldfor the first time in 8 weeks!

All we can think is that he'd damaged a ligament somewhere which has gradually healed with the rest - hopefully yours will do the same.

A dog I bred walked and run as normal with no problems but when in the ring moving correctly and at a pace would do the occasional limp which appeared to be on the front leg.
Owner had him looked at by a chiropractor (breeder /dog show person) and said that he isnt limping he has slightly twisted himself and his shoulders  were out of line consequently forcing  his hips out of line just a minute amount, after a tweek here and there and rest he looks longer and is moving perfectly.
So I would suggest having him looked at by a chiropractor as not all movement ie limping is to do with the leg itself esp when no sign of injury is obvious.

Hiya Zarah,

Yep i am starting to think that she has either torn or ruptured her cruciate.

At the minute she seems to have no discomfort whilst walking, trotting or running but i have noticed a slight change in the way she twists. As i mentioned before she doesnt like to lay down with her knee bent and always flops and puts her weight through the unaffected size so she can have her poorly knee slightly extended. Ive also noticed that she when she sits she sits with her poorly knee out to the side. She also cant push up off her bad leg when getting into the car/onto the sofa etc.

She is booked into the vets tomorrow for her boosters so i'll talk to him about it then. How did you find TPLO and the recovery? I am expecting a baby in july so i'd hope to have her back to full throttle before then!

I had a similar problem with my dog.  I got some supplements from www.cmsupplements.co.uk - vets choice

Hi Hilly,

How did the vet appointment go? Your Dobes symptoms sound just like mine. The lazy/puppy sit where they roll back onto the bum or onto one side is a classic symptom of cruciate damage. Some dogs do seem to naturally sit like that but as it has coincided with her injury I would really be thinking along the cruciate injury lines. TPLO recovery is not much fun to be honest but rest/restriction with bigger/bouncier dogs just does not seem to work in the majority of them. I think there is a newer procedure but I am not familar with it. My Dobe had about a 6 month recovery before being allowed back off the lead and then the build up to full length walks was done gradually.

Some TPLO threads:

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/124170.html
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=1172179;hl=cruciate#pid1172179
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=1185591;hl=cruciate#pid1185591

Hi all,
       my dog had a problem recently and it appeared to be his hips that were causing him problems, he's a german shepherd so obviously the first thing you think of is hip dysplasia. Fearing the worst, I bought a rehabilitation harness. This harness helped my dog tremendously. It turns out that he had damage to a tendon. But through buying this harness it has helped this condition too. The harness helps you to take the weight of his joints a little making walking and even going to the toilet far easier.

If anyone is interested in using one of these harnesses, you can get them from www.hkgear.co.uk i think they are about £40 ish! I'm not on commision by the way! ha ha!

regards

Max