I am at a loss so here is some background info....

My sister went in to labour wednesday evening and had a healthy baby boy wednesday night. I went over to be with her and stayed the night. When I got back yesterday it had gone past midnight. My husband informed me that one of my girls was limping when he came home to check on them during the day and he thought it was linked to her allergies (she sometimes starts licking her feet when she has flare ups which I usually deal with and stay on top of). I put some sudocreme between her toes and although they were a little red and yeasty there wasn't anything there to make me think it was why she was limping. She didn't really get up to greet me when I came in and I just thought I would wait and see how she was this morning. I gave her some piriton and although she was a little shivery hubby thought she might be thinking she was in trouble and reacting this way.

This morning she has refused to get up and although she looks tired and sad, she isn't whimpering, whining or showing any signs of pain aside from this hind left leg slipping underneath her. With my back still not 100% and having recently come out of hospital, I can't lift a 42kg dog off the floor, so I put a strap around her belly and walked her to the living room. She struggled to get up as though she wanted to go out so I used the strap to help her but she went outside, turned around and came back in. Since then she is lying in front of the sofa asleep. I haven't offered her food in case she needs drastic help (surgery etc) I don't know if it's stress related licking with me being away for a week and then suddenly leaving again, If she's pulled something or slipped on the flooring while I was away, It can't be a tick bite because they haven't been anywhere since wednesday morning when I took them for a walk on the school playing field. She came in to season which is most likely why she's flared up with the itching and we have decided she will be spayed if this can lessen the reaction.

Feeding wise, we feed raw and I balance the meals myself. I have managed to book an appointment with my preferred vet but it is at 6pm tonight. She is quiet and still so not sure if this is an emergency...any ideas?

GSD?   I immediately went to Hips.    Shivering - pain (amongst other things that cause shivering).    We can but offer guesses so if you have booked her in to be seen by your vet, best you can do would be to keep her quiet, warm and give her NOTHING.   If just because the vet needs to be able to examine her 'warts and all'.   If she's being 'masked', it may well confuse the issue.   And if she's going to need x-ray, as was the case last week with my Basset, she should be nil by mouth.

I have read, I seem to remember in the back of what's left of my brain (!) that occasionally the hormonal changes when a bitch is in season, can lead to being 'lame'.   

Of course, depending on what the vet finds, she should be spayed, but just know when I had to have one of my hounds castrated (prostate problems) where he'd never had skin problems before, he certainly did afterwards.

Emergency or not?    Well as long as she's not crying out in pain, I think I'd wait.

Give your Vet a ring if you are worried and see what they say. Remember that dogs 'hide' pain as best they can. Shivering and feet licking is a sign that your dog may be in some pain. Don't give any more meds because you do not know what is wrong with her and may make things worse.

cruciate ? I would keep her comfortable and quite as  you say don't feed just in case and if you have some arnica it wont hurt to give some. Arnica won't interfere with anything the vet will do
If it did turn out to be cruciate I would do some research on the differing treatments as some can be resolved successfully without operation. Managed this recently on vets advice with my cat as fortunately it hadn't completely torn

Going on what my boy's symptoms were when he was xrayed, I don't think this is cruciate. If she stand she won't put her foot down and if she tries to walk, her leg goes under her and she ends up sitting on her side. The shivering was only for a few minutes last night and she hasn't shivered since. I haven't given her anything medicine wise or even food wise since last night.

She hasn't tried to move, is sleeping and has been all morning. I have manipulated her leg, hip and foot and she only pulls away when the foot is squeezed. If it were the cruciate she'd be much more vocal as I remember my boy's partial tear and how sore he was.

The vet has simply said, that as she is quiet and it is unlikely to be tick related, she can be kept quiet and wait for the appointment.

Thanks Mamabas. I too remember reading about a bitch that went lame during her season but can't remember the outcome.

She does tend to have the odd flare ups due to hormonal change and I was intending to talk to the vet as we are going away and she needs ear drops and cleaning which I doubt the employees will remember to, or more likely, fear they won't do. So looking for alternatives.

I prefer to have the girls done after 5 years and she will be five by december for the health benefit to girls but may now question the skin issues as I hadn't heard of this before. I knew of coat changes, urinary incontinence and weight gain among other things but this is new to me. Might look into the various techniques and procedures then...

Right now she is content to sleep so I will leave her to rest an not stress her anymore than necessary.

May be something in her foot has she cut herself out walking at all.

Just to add that with castration, the male hormones are 'removed'.   With spaying the it's the female hormones that go - so re what happened to our boy re his skin following castration, the same may not happen with your bitch if she's spayed.   And far better to get her spayed in any case.  The more seasons she's allowed to have, the greater the risk of mammary or other female-related cancers, plus the ever present risk of pyometra.   Most all our bitches weren't spayed until retired which meant not before 6 and although we only had one develop mammary cancer, this is still something I'd not wish on my worst enemy.   But get what's going on with her being lame sorted out first - obviously!!

Could she have picked up a grass seed? If it has gone right under the skin it can't be seen but is very painful. My daughter had a big problem when, years ago, her Border Collie had one, nothing could be seen and the vet couldn't find it when she operated only the track where it had been. She was finally given silica and it popped out further up her leg. It can take a day or so for it to start hurting so she could have picked it up when out before.

My immediate thought would be foot related, unlikely I think to be hip as they seem to hitch up the hip when moving and CDRM is not painful, have you checked her claws really carefully, a cracked or split claw is very painful, if there is swelling in the toe then maybe a knocked up toe, also super painful. Good luck and let us know what the diagnosis is.

Any update gsdowner? Thinking of you.

How is your girl doing? what did the vet say?

Sorry for the late response everyone - needless to say I was upset last night and trying to console the husband too .

The vet thinks that at the least she has a ruptured disc in her spine but it could be much, much worse and likely to have happened whilst playing or simply slipping on the flooring. She has very little pain response in her toes on that side and no feeling higher up that registers. We have been referred to The Willows where she will have an MRI and CT scan before going in for surgery. The success rate is variable and could be as good as 80% or as little as 30%. We now need to find  £5000.....

I feared it might be her spine. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome gsdowner

Oh dear!!! So sorry to hear that.

so sorry , I do hope for a good outcome. I don't know the willows personally but I gather from others they are excellent

Nearly £3000 so far and the vet has no idea what has happened to my girl. the MRI has come back clear. There is no ruptured disc, no damage to the spinal cord, no signs of meningitis. The only outcome he can come up with is that she has possibly had a stroke, however, he says there is usually something to show this and this time there are no apparent signs on the scans. She also had a lumbar punch and a CT, along with bloods drawn.

He has sent us home with antibiotics called Antirobe - these are for a bacterial infection, something beginning with 'N' but I can't remember now. He told me over the phone but everything is such a blur. I shall try to google it and see if something comes up. She has been given these in case her bloods come back showing this bacteria although he says it is unlikely to be this - he just wants to cover her now in case it does turn out to be that and then at least he has a head start rather than waiting for results. However, like he says, the possibilities of it being this particular infection are extremely low.

He wants us to observe her over the next 10 days to see if she has any other signs of having another stroke but again this is unlikely as if it were to happen - then 36 to 48 hours is the window really. As she went lame wednesday afternoon, I think we are out of that window. He has given me his personal mobile number in case she deteriorates over the weekend as there aren't any neurologists on call but aside from this there is nothing more we can do but monitor her.

She is eating and drinking ok and eliminating - although with A LOT of difficulty as she cannot brace herself and therefore refuses to go especially for number 2's. We have to carry her around or support her belly with a towel. I am struggling as the wound on my hand is still sore and not 100% healed so feels like it might split open when too much pressure is put on it.

If this has been a stroke (she is only 4 and will be 5 in november) what do we do now? He says her recovery will be up to her and has suggested hydrotherapy at a later stage. Is there anything we can start doing now? I do not want her to lose her leg if we can get her moving and have more feeling in it.

Not neospora by any chance?

I hope you get it sorted, it's not easy with a large dog and paralysis.

I think that's it pedlee, thanks.

Oh, I am so sorry to hear this but I always try to look on the bright side and hoping with everything that she will be ok and make a full recovery, so many difficult decisions to be made, our thoughts are with you.

So sorry to see this.if it is neospora it is worth doing your own research on treatment as it seems early treatment gives the best chance of recovsry and there are particular treatments to help also there are some tests that can be done it seems . As I probably know it's from a parasite that lives in beef .sadly its be  coming more.common in the uk and beef needs to be frozen before feeding  .it can also be contracted from affected cattle in particular if  there is access to placentas. I really hope she recovers . I understand that vets who are in a reason of the country where there are high numbers of cattle may have better experience than most vets.might be worth contacting some or specialist.

neospora is not a bacterial infection it is parasite, so could he have said something else. I urge you to find out and do your own research t

All I can say is I was quoted £2K for mylogram/MRI for my Basset and then a further £3K, potentially, for surgery.   His spine is basically shot and hips not good - sub-luxation with MRI really needed to be done to see what the blur at the top of his spine is (cervical spine).   But as my vet says, and he ran upwards of 9 plates on him, what then.  What indeed at justunder 7.

These dear animals do tear at our heart-strings and I hope you can at least make your girl comfortable.   My lad is on Metacam and Gabapentin which is a pain-killer and so far, with no exercise either, seems to be working for him.

He may have said something else FF but to be honest I don't remember. I spoke to my own vet today and he suggested we give her vitamin B12 as it has shown to be beneficial for stroke patients and to slowly manipulate the foot, leg and hip joint. We need to get her some booties to prevent her from turning her foot on itself and cause abrasions. His biggest concern is loss of feeling and ultimate amputation of the leg....

Right now, as selfish as it may seem, all I can think about is WHY US?

Can anyone suggest a good brand of dog walking booties that come up to the hock please? The vet has suggested her wearing one - forcing her to keep the toes righted and not curl under her weight. I think waterproof and breathable would be best as I am hoping to keep it on her all day and remove at night so that she isn't dragging it around under her.

We have been advised not to crate her but she will insist on following us around when we get up to go to the kitchen or bathroom etc. I am supporting her to go out toileting but she does have sneaky moments and tries to go off on her own.

She is now trying to stand - even if it is on the other hind leg and sometimes the foot is the right way up so that she will stand on both. She isn't dragging her back end along the floor now - just the toes. Any progress is progress though right?

any progress is good , think human stroke patients. please double check the neospora as it would be a different regime to a stroke and although not an easy one to resolve I am sure you would feel better knowing more about what's wrong .

Although neospora isn't a bacterial infection I mentioned it because one of the symptoms is paralysis.

Would a mctimoney practioner see her?
Would the vet Ok that? I think it could be beneficial,  even if it was a stroke it could only do good to help her being aligned...

I have been thiking the same - having left a message for my own osteopath - asking for advice. She went out and toileted on her own today but dragged her foot behind her. I am pleased she is trying to walk and have bandaged the foot to try and prevent wounds although this is easier said than done with 2 pups running amok. Will be glad when they leave next friday. As much as I love them and understand my duty towards them - could really do without the stress...

I will call the specialist tomorrow FF :)

Would they be able to tell if it was a trapped nerve?
I remember the stress when my lovely dog had a cruciate go and six weeks later had 2 discs go in her neck. She only had one good leg to walk on. I found the video of her trying to walk recently and it still made me cry. £7k+ hydro and loads of tlc later she was fixed.
Hope you get some answers and your girl improves.

Our dogs chiropractor has been & still is invaluable to us, her hands have been as good as any X ray & less traumatic. She's seen them annually or whenever they've had gait concerns. When one had his second slipped disc, she was not impressed that I put him through an M.R.I, but had the last laugh as her diagnosis was exactly the same but £1,350 cheaper!

Didmt mean to nag but I felt it was so important to know what they are treating as if it is neospora it will need targeted fast treatments. If so I may be able to find out more pm if u wish

Can anyone suggest a good chiropractor in the leicester area?

I spoke to the specialist this morning and he doesn't think it is neospora. He also doesn't want to start any rehabilitation until next monday when he will see her next. I just can't help feeling as though there should be more happening and being done. I understand that she needs time to rest but the fear of her losing a leg is tearing me apart. The specialist feels that waiting will not make any difference as she will either recover or she won't.

As a working dog I know she would struggle to switch off, retire and live with 3 legs....

Try and see a Mctimoney chiro if it at all possible, mine comes close to working miracles.  

link will let you search different areas         http://www.mctimoneyanimal.co.uk/index.php?route=information/storelocator

otherwise you could even contact   http://www.mctimoney-college.ac.uk/about/about-chiropractic/for-animals/ and ask for anyone in your area.

mine is in Norfolk and does people and animals so me and the dog book a double appointment

ETA - hope things improve for you both.

Well no neospore is good but definitely aeeing a mctimony.theu often pick up things vets can't and removing a leg seems.rather drastic and early in rehab especially when they arnt sure what it is.aurely even with strike u wait and see how recovery goes andd what the disadvantages are

I had a look at the links sent and phoned 3 of the closest practices. I left message on 3 machines with a brief outline and a contact number. I haven't heard back from anyone :(

On a positive note - I could have sworn I saw her hip joint move yesterday as she went out for her bedtime wee. when she hops on the other hind leg her right hips is coming outwards as though to help her balance.....am I seeing things? She is also hopping better and dragging her foot less but not sure if this is improvement or just her figuring out how to work on 3 legs....

Any further improvement yet ?