Hi
Arnie, my gsp has now in the space of a week suffered with what I can only call a "dead leg", i.e been resting, gets up and no feeling in his hind leg for about 30secs. The first time it happened ( last saturday) I massaged his leg and he was soon putting it down on the floor again. Apparently tonight, whilst I was at work, the exact same thing, with the same leg. He gets up and the leg is tucked up and just hanging. OH massaged it and he was putting full weight on it again within a minute. Arnie doesn't seemed distressed by it, I don't think he even realises there is a problem but it worries me that this has happened twice within a week. Any thoughts????

back or front,

back leg terri, both times

My dog did this in the early stages of a torn cruciate ligament. Probably best to make a vets appointment and not allow any free running for the time being. They probably won't be able to feel much even if it is (my dog never showed the classic "drawer" sign in the knee as the ligament's not totally ruptured) so they'll probably just advise the usual anti-inflammatories and rest/lead walks - hopefully it won't be ligament and that will sort it!

Would agree that it may be knee injury may be cructate or slipping patela, think a trip to the vet is called for. Sorry if my spelling is incorrect but guess you get the message.

This is what my dog has been doing and seeing as the lead walking hasn't helped I'm gonna book him in for an xray and probably op next week :-(

He could run about on it like a lunatic with no problems to be seen but then after a period of laying down would just hold his back leg up.  It then usually gets better and he'll walk on it but for the lenght of time its been going on we've decided that conservative treatment won't work so more drastic measures are unfortunately needed. 

If you do go down the pain killer route be careful (sure you already know all this :-)) because as the pain and inflammation had gone George was even harder to keep from running about full pelt.  In the long term this may of course cause a dog to do more damage.

I'll be posting again soon asking for ideas on how to occupy his little mind when he needs rest if he has an op.

My dog showed similar symptoms georgepig, and they were on/off for many months - sometimes the symptoms could disappear for weeks at a time and then the next day we could seem to be right back at square one.

I think it was March last year it started. One day after having a rest following a walk he was very stiff in the leg, held it for a few seconds and then seemed completely normal. He's had a few injuries before (he's a total loon for sprinting after squirrels and rabbits) so I just did the usual and gave him some anti-inflammatories (okayed with the vets) and kept him on the lead for a week. He then seemed fine for several weeks once let back off, but the leg then went again. Kept him on the lead for 3 weeks this time and he was then fine for pretty much the whole summer. Then the leg went yet again! The vets then advised a much longer bout of rest and lead walks than we had done so far as a final last ditch attempt before further investigations. We did 10 weeks this time which took us up to last December. He'd been back off the lead for 2 weeks, had chased a few squirrels and everything seemed fine. Then one day he did a particular hard run at a squirrel in the distance - the squirrel ran across his path and then did a sharp turn followed by my dog doing a 180 degree turn on the spot at top speed. He then stood there and held the leg high in the air for about 3 seconds before setting off after another one! He walked home completely normal but after resting seemed to have no strength in his back end at all and had to first pull himself up into a sit before he was able to haul his back end up.

He was then admitted for investigations and referred to a specialist. He has a tear not a total rupture hence the on/off symptoms and the ability to still walk and even run on it without apparent problem (other than lifting the leg for a few seconds after the squirrel sprint, the only time you ever really "saw" the injury was when rising after rest (I was told that's because the swelling/fluid in the knee takes time to build up after trauma to the knee which is why the dog settles down to sleep completely normal and then wakes up with a problem).

We saw the specialist in January (2 weeks after being back on the lead again) and he couldn't detect anything wrong with his movement at all (the xrays showed inflammation and fluid, though this was undetectable to the touch). He advised us that there is a small chance that the knee could restabilise itself with scar tissue but that it would take many months of rest and restriction. Seeing that he improves so rapidly after each reinjury this is the option that he advised us to take. It is very hard as I have to keep him on lead in the garden and even in the house as he dashes to the door to bark at the postman, newspaper boy etc or the windows if he thinks he hears/sees something. We're over 3 months in now and up to 20 minute lead walks (he could quite happily go for miles). For all intents and purposes he is completely fine, but I certainly won't be letting him off lead for at least another 3 months. We do hydrotherapy lined up but haven't started that yet.

Surgery is definitely not the only option. I think there are 3 or 4 members here who have got their dog over a cruciate ligament injury without surgery and I know of an excellent website by someone whos dog totally ruptured both ligaments and also opted not to have surgery (5 years on the dog has not had another problem and shows no signs of arthritis despite being told that severe arthritis will set in without surgery). I can get the web address if you are interested.

Hi

I think the vets also think of it as more of a tear than a total rupture so I a bit stuck as to what to do as it is no fun for him at the mo being on the lead but I totally understand that if he does have an op then he will have to be restricted then before gradually building distance etc up.

I don't know whether to leave him a bit longer then if there is no improvement then have him investigated further.  He is only 18 months old and most likely to have done this hurtling round the park.

Yes, the websites would be great!

I will dig them out for you. Certainly gave me a lot to think about. I don't recall the names of the members on here who opted not to have the surgery on their dog but do remember that one of them had a boxer.

I was fortunate in that the specialist we saw was all for attempting to "rehabilitate" the dog without surgery wherever possible. He said that he would not be happy to do TPLO on what appeared to be such a sound dog (TPLO can go wonderfully right, but also horrifically wrong), but that he would do it if that's what we decided. Ultimately he said it was a judgement call on whether we thought our dog could cope with 6 months heavy restriction and then potentially several more months heavy restriction if he did end up needing surgery. It was very difficult in the beginning, but 3 months in we are in more of a routine. I've found it very useful just taking him out in the car visiting friend's houses as it gives him a break from the same boring scenery.

It is difficult to know what to do I know. If you do give him a bit longer and then let him off again and the symptoms come back (I assume they go away during the lead confinement?) I would then get him in asap as you want any swelling/fluid to be present when the xray is taken (the ligament itself won't show up) - our vets were unsure so forwarded them onto the specialists.

Thanks for that.

It is a difficult call but the situation described by the OP sounds very similar to my dog.  I know if I took him out and threw a ball he's be chasing it like there was nothing wrong.

They didn't recommend the TPLO as the initial treatment when I talked to the vets about it but rather two other methods which he thought one would suit particularly well due to age, probable method of injury etc etc.  and all the dogs he has seen with this have done very well (except 2 where the owners failed to follow the rehab correctly and let their dogs free run almost straight away )

>I know if I took him out and threw a ball he's be chasing it like there was nothing wrong.

Mine was like that as well, which is why I'm having to keep him on the lead all the time (nightmare!). I swear he would still run with 4 broken legs! In the beginning, although I confined him to the lead when out, he was still dashing round the house which is where I initially went wrong I think. Hard to restrict them though when they seem right as rain.

PM'd you some links :-D

Thanks for your replys. I think I will make an appointment with the vet next week. Just a tad nervous now............

My three top thinkings are:
Luxating Patellas
Hip Problems
or
Circulations problems/pinched nerves

Any news Ottoman?

If the vet is unsure, before going down the x-ray route try a chiropractor, im seeing one with Alfie at the moment and she is working wonders with him :)