Intermittent Limping

[Lisa S]

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Hi, I wonder if anyone has any idease please? my boy is five and a half and he limps on his left intermittently. He has done it on and off for quite a while now and I am wondering if he has a bit of arthirits in his shoulder but surely he would be too young for that? He can get up on a morning and not limp at all and then suddenly start limping even if he has not been out for a walk. This may last for a few days and then go away perhaps for a month and then happen again. He started again a couple of days ago but i think he may have knocked himself into our other dog when running. Today for example he was not limping until we came back from our walk and then he has started limping tonight quite badly.

I did take him to the vet but he was pretty unhelpful and said that he could not help if he did not limp all the time. I do not like to think he is in pain although he does not cry or demonstrate that he is in pain and does not flinch when i touch his leg and shoulder but he must be in some pain to limp.

Any ideas?

 

[FeeFee]

Your vet doesn't sound very helpful. It does sound as though it could be an arthritic thing, but he's quite young for that. I'm surprised they don't want to x-ray to see what's going on.

At any rate I'd have thought it was worth trying him on some sort of pain relief/anti-inflammatory like Metacam to see if that helps him. If he doesn't limp all the time you could give it just when it's needed to keep him comfortable.

Silly question, but he doesn't have corns does he? I've heard of so many sighthounds having all sorts of tests for lameness when the problem turned out to be a corn.

Good luck, I hope you manage to sort things out for him :luck:

 

[moonlake]

Your vet doesn't sound very helpful. It does sound as though it could be an arthritic thing, but he's quite young for that. I'm surprised they don't want to x-ray to see what's going on.
At any rate I'd have thought it was worth trying him on some sort of pain relief/anti-inflammatory like Metacam to see if that helps him. If he doesn't limp all the time you could give it just when it's needed to keep him comfortable.

Silly question, but he doesn't have corns does he? I've heard of so many sighthounds having all sorts of tests for lameness when the problem turned out to be a corn.

Good luck, I hope you manage to sort things out for him :luck:

Not a silly question - it's often corns. To find out if he has one (vet should have checked immediately, I'd find another one if I were you, Lisa S) scrub the pads of that foot with a nail brush until they are ultra clean then look for a faint circle on one with a dot in the middle. If you can see it, that's a corn and make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing to remove it or it will keep coming back. I wouldn't give metacam on an on/off basis as it just masks symptoms.

Gay

www.moonlake.co.uk

 

[Lisa S]

Is it a high or a low limp?By that I mean does he carry the leg high holding up his paw or is it a low limp whereby his leg is held relatively normal but as he moves he show a disturbance with his stride.

Have you observed if he limps on all surfaces e.g. grass, carpet, path, pavement etc or is it only whilst walking on certain ground?

Hi, thanks for the replies. It is a low limp and he does not hold up his paw but when he moves there is definately a pronounced limp and he does limp on all types of ground which makes me think it is not his paw. He is not limping now and has not limped for around a week but i know it will happen again so i need to be vigilant to see if there is a trigger when it happens. regarding the previous post and using metacam i understand that it may mask the root of a problem but would it be ok to use this now and then and is it only available from a vet?

Thanks

 

[lurcherman]

id say it was a corn i had the same thing 7months ago, i didnt have a clue at fisrt, you do the normal thing rest and beach walks for the salt butwent down vets and she was great said what it was and had it cut out the next week, cost was 68 pound. :thumbsup:

 

[lurcherman]

also mine limped more on concrete and uneven roads and ground. when for find out letus know.

 

[Macha]

could it be tendonitis rather than arthritis?

problems with soft tissue won't show up on xray

I agree that a greyhound vet is more likely to know what to do

 

[meddling]

could it be tendonitis rather than arthritis?problems with soft tissue won't show up on xray

I agree that a greyhound vet is more likely to know what to do

Can you tell me more about Tendonitus?

 

[TillynPip]

Sorry, can I just hijack this to say love all the seasonal signatures at the moment and especially Wild Whippies on here. Am not computer savvy enough to do this, still can't upload plain old pics! :luck:

 

[lurcherman]

any news on your dog lisa? mine pulled up over xmas after a wee run so down to the beech i went for some good old salt water and today seems fine,

 

[Lisa S]

any news on your dog lisa? mine pulled up over xmas after a wee run so down to the beech i went for some good old salt water and today seems fine,

Hiya, no news really as he stopped limping just after i posted and has been flying around like Linford Christie ever since. i have walked him on pavement and hard surfaces and we have been out in the fields where he has been running quite hard but does not come up lame at all??? I did scrub his pads but could not see anything but i think if it was a corn then that would not be intermittent and he would limp constantly on harder surfaces.

I feel a bit useless really and am at a loss of what to do so I am now keeping a diary of when it happens and going to be more vigilant to see if there is a trigger and then i can be more coherent when i next take him to the vet because the vet will not do anything without me being more specific.