Gun Dog Forum

one of my friends has a nice french britt, anyway we were out and about in the fields just letting the dogs have fun. bolting around. his dog all of a sudden started to whine and we noticed his rear right leg lifted up "locked". nothing stuck in the paw, no visable wound...we got worried and thought we had to rush off to the hospital but after about a minute or so his leg came back down and he started to run off again. but we got him and he leashed him up and went home.

he's concerned now since he's unsure what happened and wanted to call the expensive vet... but he says his dog acts as if nothing happened and is trying to run.

this sounds like either his dog pulled a muscle, dislocated a joint!? i hope its not HD but it did not seem like it at all.

thoughts?

What you described could have been what's called medial luxation of the Patella (knee cap)...it's where the knee cap slips to the inside of the leg. It's more of a mechanical lameness then a painful one. If the dog is still limping and non-weight bearing, it my be possible that the dog damaged his ACL or meniscus in the joint. It was be a good idea to have your vet take a look at it if he's still lame.

I would get a hip xray and rule out HD or a dislocation of any kind:(
that is the first thing that comes to mind if there is no cuts stickers or other visible cuts

yeah i think he will be bringing him to the vet for xrays but his dog did get xrayed for HD a few months ago and hips were in excellent condition. Right now the dog is normal and active. boy i feel bad for him, he is bummed, its a new dog he has been working with and will be taking into the fields come october...

I might suspect HD or a ligament issue.

I would hold off if the pup immediately returned to normal activity. There's a zillion things that can be acutely painful that are not long lasting nor indicative of any deeper issue.

If the same thing reoccurs though I'd head to the vet and start looking for answers. CR

thanks guys, i'll let him know.

my first thought was the same as birddogdoc's, a dislocating knee cap. your vet should be able to dignose it pretty easily, and it can be fixed surgically if it becomes a chronic problem.

dog dr wrote:my first thought was the same as birddogdoc's, a dislocating knee cap. your vet should be able to dignose it pretty easily, and it can be fixed surgically if it becomes a chronic problem.

well my friend said his vet told him he "felt" nothing abnormal in the knee area. he said to hold off on xrays. he said if this happens a few more times (gosh!) then they would put him under and do some xrays. The vet did not seem concerned because he said the dog is his normal self and is very active and is running like nothing happened.

But wouldn't you be concerned? I mean things happen for a reason. He swears nothing was stuck in the paw... pulled muscle? If it is the knee cap issue wouldn't the vet want to just do the xray now? Why wait?

I told my friend to get a 2nd opinion but he said its too expensive. Oh well.

I think the vet gave him good advice. Whatever it was , it isn't life threatening so wait and see if there really is a problem or if that was just an unknown circumstance that won't be repeated.

Ezzy

an x-ray wont diagnose a dislocateing kneecap unless it is currently dislocated. those are diagnosed by the ability of the vet or whoever checks it to physically move the kneecap out of its normal spot or groove. if he can move it to either side, it may stay dislocated (worst kind) or it may move back on its own (not so bad). AND, i may be totally wrong and its something else, and may never cause a problem again. i hope so! regardless, i dont think it will hurt to wait and see at this point. good luck!

Could have just been a simple cramp. I'd imagine dogs get them too. Doesn't sound like something to get too woried about, unless it happens again. A second opinion might not be a horrible idea though, just in case.

its too bad dogs can't speak a language to tell us what it might be! my friend is sorta paranoid but not really. he's put in a ton of time with his dog and is looking forward to october and i don't blame him. but there really is nothing he can do. if it happens well it happens. its out of anyone's control.

I have a male Britt that this same thing happened to, he yelped and limped toward me. I could not see any cuts or scrapes. Sat down for maybe 3 minutes with him just petting and talking. When I stood up he took off like nothing ever happened. I think he might have sliped or turned on it wrong and it scared him for a minute. But he was fine and has no problems to date.