My 8 year old lab often limps for no apparrent reason. He is in excellent general health, in weight and is walked in the countryside 2/3 times a day. He will play readily and when touch examined does not demonstrate any sign of pain/distress. It would appear that it is his front left leg. He has sustained no injuries that would agravate this. Any suggestions please?

My guess would be arthritis. Only way to tell for sure is for the vet to do an X-ray.

Stacey

How much exersise is he getting - it sounds like it might be too much? I would stop exersise as such until he has been sound for a week - just lead walking to do his business and ask John on this site for advice re exersise once he is hopefully sound again. If he is not sound after 3 or 4 days of complete rest I would take him to the vet. Its really important not to over exersise young Labs and to keep them fairly lean. If he is overweight at all - get it off. While he is resting for the next few days reduce his food anyway I would give him half what he normally has and make up the volume with plain boiled rice, until he is sound.

As Stacey says, arthritis sounds the most likely. And again as Westie Lover says, keeping the weight off and resting will help with the recovery. If it is arthritis then obviously there is no cure as such although there are several products which can help. With care and common sense he can live out a long happy life but this could be the wake up call to organise his life for the future.

Regards, John

hi im a lab lover too my two oftencome back from there various treks with aches and pains limps and hops and i treat them with some arnica a6c tab every 15 mins for 3 hours then one tab hourly for rest of day after one tab 3 times a day for 3 days and so far we have never had to taken them to the vets afterward.Im not a hippy or any thing like that but ive had a dogs who were helped enormously with heomopathyand with something that could not be disputed ie a massive heamatoma(ear flap swelling) if it is arthritis there always alternative if you dont want your dog on steriods or anti immflamatories for the rest of his life may i suggest a book by richard allport ;heal your dog the natural way. as a former patient of his(or at lest my dog was) I can only say that i wish all vet were as caring as he was with my molly. and the book is very helpful/
dawnbee

Another book I find interesting is:- "Natural Health for Dogs and Cats" by Richard H Pitcain DVM Ph.D and Susan Hubble Pitcain. I must admit I'm not big on alternative medicine although I do occasionally use some of the old time remedies

Regards, John

Hi John, didn`t know you had that book! :) I think it`s great, one that I turn to quite a lot.

Christine, Spain.

hi there rakki another idea my 2 year old lan was last year always a bit stiff in the morning and looking back at her now alot slower than she is now, the thing that seem to make a big difference was that i changed her bed, she used to have a oval typebed like all the ones you see in the pet shops any way for one reason or another we changed over to a bean bag type and now she sleeps streched out rather than curled up and as i said eariler the chage in her was quites dramtic before she could hardley jump up at peaople(i know she shouldnt) now she positivly bounds and jumps everywere i would say her fitness has improved no end. just another idea that midht help