Hi,

I wondered if you could advise:

Our 7 month old Goldie pup has a limp. It started about mid July and was VERY VERY slight. But I could see his trot was not quite right. Since then it appears to have got worse and some days its quite pronounced usually after running around too much-playing with our other Goldies.

Now its got to the stage where its there in the trot most of the time, not all the time though and its most apparent after rest when he can hardly walk for a few paces then he's fine.

We've given him Metacam and have been restricting his exercise to on the lead walks for 30mins as recommended by the vet.

But his hoble after rest looks worse than ever and were really stuck about what to do. He's been the Vets so much as a pup for various accidents he'd had so really don't want put him through any more trauma there. Should we just keep resting him and it will improve?

The Vets checked him over and given him the all clear.

He's not over weight, comes from parents with below the average hip scores and we have been careful about not over exercising him- he's still not been for a good walk!

He has lost all his fitness and some muscle tone, he's also out of breath at trot- not nice to see in a pup!

What should we do?! When will it ever improve?!

Which leg is affected?

Has the vet Xrayed him?

Its his front left and appears to be the wrist joint, but we can't be certain.

They Vet has not done any X-rays yet, he just told us to carry on with the light exercise and such. He had a good feel, couldn't feel anything wrong and Fergus did not appear to be too distressed by this.  

Its just gone on for such a long time now with little improvement.

Hi LS

I'd be inclined to suggest your vet considers two conditions, one called Panosteitis (Pano for short) the other Osteochondritis (OCD for short).  Perhaps run these suggestions by him to get some feedback - there's every possibility he has considered these and ruled them out with whatever investigations done to date but worth a mention IMO in case he hasn't gone down that route yet (especially as the latter would require x-rays).

I hope your lad's diagnosed and made more comfortable soon :)

Regards, Teri

As well as what Teri's said, he could also have a soft tissue injury, like ligament or muscle - and they can take ages to settle. But if it's not resolved you do really need to go back to the vet and get them to investigate it further - at least, that's what I would do. :-) If that helps.

Hi  - I got 2 lab pups in May 2007, from a reputable breeder - found through the puppy register section of the West of England lab ret club. I checked histories of the dam and sire -saw hip and eye certificates, saw all the pups with the dam on 3 seperate occasions. Basically I went about it the best way I could. However, when my black lab was about 5 months old, we thought for one day only that he seemed slightly lame. It quickly resolved, but recurred here and there. About 2 months later we had him checked by the vet who found nothing wrong. Basically it took about 3 visits to the vet, and he was around 9 months old before he was diagnosed by x-rays with severe hip dysplasia - the vet said that he has never seen hips that bad -one of his hips is worse than the other, and the hip socket is barely formed at all. He is presently booked in for a hip replacement at the Liverpool vet school shortly. He is a great dog, on metacam, running around and jumping up everywhere like a typical mad lab! I think it is worth you asking about x-rays just in case - my vet was shocked at the state of my dog's hips, more so because he is simply so active and appears so well - worst case scenario expected would have been a mild problem only.

Incidentally, the hip scores for the sire were 5/6, and the dam were 1/2(i think) -I remember the dam's were extremely good.
Best of luck to you.

2 lab pups together?  Do they play a lot, jump a lot, exercise each other a lot?

I would ask for X-rays, if it is OCD the sooner it's treated the better the outcome. For his fitness try hydrotherapy or swimming.  Good luck.

> They Vet has not done any X-rays yet, he just told us to carry on with the light exercise and such. He had a good feel, couldn't feel anything wrong and Fergus did not appear to be too distressed by this.  

My pup started with a limp, vet sent him home with Metacam as nothing appeared to be wrong on a physical exam, not much improvement, so I insisted on xrays - 10 days from 1st seeing the vet we had the diagnosis - UAP a form of ED. I thought the limp was coming from the shoulder and hips (!!), but it turned out to be from 1 elbow, it took an awful lot of effort on a physical exam for the vet to get any indication of a pain response from pup - (we both thought it looked like he might of flinched at a certain angle and that was with his leg yanked out in front of him with a lot of effort).

There are so many reasons for a limp, some of them are nothing to worry about and will go on thier own, others can be managed with ocasional pain meds and the right exercise, with others the earlier corrective surgery is used the better, it is best for you pup that a diagnosis can be made rather than the symptoms managed.

Good luck with pup, it's horrible seeing them in pain :(

Could siimply be a soft tissue injury which can take absolutely ages to repair. However, you mention hip scores but were the parents elbow scored? The Vet that does my X-rays said that he believes that we have more of a problem with elbows than we do with hips now. Hope it isn't that severe, but I would get X-rays done to rule it out.

Thanks for all the advice, it has really opened our eyes as to what could be causing him the pain.

We will mention Panosteitis and Osteochondritis to the Vet, but it doesn't seem to be Panosteitis as it doesn't switch from leg to leg.

We hope its just a ligament injury which is why its being so inconsistent. It has probably got worse because we did not rest him enough (hard with a puppy) when it began. But now he has been on limited exercise he is not a fit as before and is not doing as much running around so is resting now.

I know hip scores can differ in litters, but this does seem to be in his front leg. His parents were not elbow scored.

X-rays are our next course of action, but after his on the lead walk today his limp is not showing itself. The Vet told us to bring him in when he's at his worse which at the moment doesn't seem to be right now!

Why don't you see if you have a hydrotherapy pool nearby that you could exercise him at, at least he will burn some energy off without hurting himself.

> X-rays are our next course of action, but after his on the lead walk today his limp is not showing itself. The Vet told us to bring him in when he's at his worse which at the moment doesn't seem to be right now!

When my pup had his limp it did come and go, most of the time at home he would be very bad, but as soon as he was in the vets it dissapeared or he refused to walk atall and some days the limp appeared to vanish. I used my camera on the 'video' setting to take some footage of him limping at home to show to the vet, that helped me convince him that xrays were needed.

Hydrotheraphy is great, but as you don't know what the condition is I would personally err on the side of caution and keep him to limited exercise untill a proper diagnosis has been made, if it is something like OCD or FCP then exercise can aggrevate the condition, UAP can be managed by exercise alone (depending on severity) but this needs to be very gradually built up. Fingers crossed it's something minor.

If you haven't allready got your pup on them, then a good quality Glucosamine HCL suppliment can really help, the vets will sell these but they are very expensive, you can get it much cheaper shopping about.
I use Synflex Original, it's a liquid glucosamine made for humans, but is also suitable for pets. It made a huge difference to my pup :)

Thanks for all the advice, I will keep it in mind when we go the vets and hope his condition improves.

I would also conside seeing a chiropractor as he may have jumped and twisted himself slightly that could cause a limp.

I don't know if anyone was interested to know, but my boys limp has been investigated under x-ray and appears to be OCD in one shoulder. Nothing of which I suppose we could have checked for with elbow and hip scoring.

Bit annoying, wish dogs could be x-rayed and such all over to check for defects before being bred from!! All the x-rays today cost £400 then there's the possible OP to factor in too! Pedigree dogs= very expensive!

On the metacam, my boy doesn't have a limp and is as bouncy as ever, but apparently this is making everything worse so he now has to be on cage rest for 10 days to see is there is any improvement. The vet has only seen this 13 times in her career. Typical!!! 

Thanks for all your advise it prepared us for the outcome!

It's good that you know exactly what's going on with him now and can give him the appropriate treatment.

10 days cage rest, you'll need plenty of tricks up your sleeve to keep him occupied. Things to shred (ie cardboard), if you don't mind the mess & he doesn't eat it, a kong with frozen contents (there are recipies on the web for things to freeze inside), chew toys etc..

Best of luck for him, I hope the cage rest helps.
xx

Oo a kong is a good idea! We were already thinking of what we could entertain him with- i.e meat filled bones and stuff!