Leg issue

[mcclinj]

I have an intact female GSP who is just shy of 2 years old (Dec. 4th) I have been dealing with occasional limping for about 3 weeks now. We were grouse hunting and I was working my way through a rocky, laurel and greenbrier thicket when I heard her groan in pain. It wasn't a high pitched yelp...more like the sound a beagle makes running a rabbit. I made it through the thicket and called her back to me. I put her up on a picnic table (luckily we had just come to a handicapped accessible camp site in a state forest) looked her over, and she seemed fine. We hunted another 2-3 hours with no problem. I let her out of the truck when we got home and I noticed a limp...which lasted a few hours. We had hunted over some pretty rough terrain for about 6 hours so I figured she was sore. I gave her a week or more off, and then took her to the park one day and ran some retriever drills for half and hour or so with no problem...went over to the dog park to let er run with some "friends" and after an hour or so yelped and held up her right front paw....I gave her another week off and tried a pheasant hunt last Saturday and had the problem crop up within the first 10 minutes....killed one rooster and put her back in the truck and got out my buddies springer. She still wants to hunt, because she tried to crash thru the kennel walls and break out.

I took her to the vet yesterday (we had the appointment before this problem crept up) I told the vet what happened and that I initially thought it was a toenail issue because she had one split. The vet checked the nail out but said she didn't think it was the problem because she paid no attention to it when being inspected. The vet next really worked her over good, feeling up and down each leg and foot. The vet said all her bones, ligaments, tendons, are in tact / no muscle pulls, and all feels fine. She said it is likely pano and that since it is happening so late (almost 2yo) it should disappear soon. The vet recommended switching from Purina Pro Plan Performance to Pro Plan Adult for a month or so. And if it's still a problem on 12/15 we can x-ray or see an orthopedist. We are set to leave tomorrow morning for a pheasant trip to Kansas Monday - Wednesday and the vet gave us Metacam for pain. She said as long as the dog wants to hunt she sees no reason to keep her from it.

At this point, I am trusting the vet, but the original groan while grouse hunting keeps registering in the back of my mind. Does anyone else have any ideas or went through something similiar?

-John

[ultracarry]

Switch her to loyall high performance and see if they helps

[Cajun Casey]

Get an x-ray. There could be a hairline fracture, torn cartilage or a grass seed causing this.

[marysburg]

Has your vet tested the dog for Lyme disease?

[proto1]

Had a similiar problem with my Brittny. An orthopedic specialist diagnosed it as bicept tenosynovitis. It required about five weeks of confinement, and she had a full recovery.