Limping-front right shoulder

gdog · Post by **gdog** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:37 am

About two weeks ago I noticed my Pudelpointer was limping. Not too bad, but enough to notice. She's a little over a year. As you know the type, she is always running and jumping off something, but I am not sure what she did to cause the limp.

I didn't take her out traing for about a week. I took her out Tues and come Tues night she was limping pretty bad. Wed. am took her to the vet. No xrays. Vet said soft tissue damaged doesnt show up on xrays. She is now on Rimadyl and Cosequin.

Basically said she needed to rest and hope it gets better OR it could be a few things like OD or OCD (Osteochondrosis dissecans) which he gave me a printout on. There were a few other ailments on the sheet, but it mostly pertained to "long bones and elbows" which doesnt seem to be the problem.

I am basically going to keep her in her crate for a few days. Only way I can keep her calm.

Anyone have experience with this or been through a similar situation?

Thanks in advance!

kiddcline · Post by **kiddcline** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:46 am

Sorry to hear about your pup. Sounds like it may take a while for it to heal. Good luck. I'd say just take the vets advice and hope for the best.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:50 am

How old is your pup/dog? What are you feeding?

Could be just PANO. She could of pulled somthing and rest will heal too. Time should tell.

gdog · Post by **gdog** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:57 am

She's 14 months. I'm feeding Purina Pro Plan.

What's PANO?

Thanks!

Edit: Found this regarding PANO:

Pano is a process in which the fatty marrow inside the long bones degenerates and is replaced by bone cells. As the blood flow inside the bone becomes congested, the tissue covering the inside of the bone (endosteum) and the tissue covering the outside of the bone (periosteum) can also become involved. Eventually the new bone cells are resorbed, and the marrow is restored. This buildup of bone cells can sometimes be seen as darker patches on the bone in a radiograph. Once a bone has been affected, it is unlikely to be affected again - but remember, each leg has 3 long bones.

The dog normally limps on the affected limb and only rarely holds the limb to prevent any weight from being placed on it. It is often easily diagnosed with an x-ray; the lesion shows as the tell-tale dark patch on the bone. Pressure applied on the bone elicits a pain response. Currently, treatment consists of reduction of the percentage of protein in the dog's diet and pain management through the use of buffered aspirin, Ascriptin, or Rimadyl, or steroids in severe cases. Restricting the dog's activity has not been shown to have an effect on the healing process.

Theresa · Post by **Theresa** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:15 pm

I had one jump off the bed, slipped on the floor when she landed - she strained the shoulder muscles. She healed up, but just as soon she did it again and same deal. I took her to a doggy chiro and there were bones out of adjustment. I could hear them *pop* back into place during the adjustment. Once she got adjusted she was fine.

My large breed lurcher here really slipped this winter just playing in the dog yard. He come up limping coming and going. I didn't bother with the vet this time, went straight to the chiro, and that did the trick.

I am not saying its the cure all -I am just saying its one thing to consider.

stumpy · Post by **stumpy** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:27 pm

I have had a similar problem with my GSP. He is 20 months old and seems to favor his right rear leg after a hard exercise. He limps around the rest of the day, then the next day he is fine. I have finally set up an appointment with my Vet. for hip x-rays. He wants to rule out hip problems and then procede from there. Good luck to you and your dog, I know how this can wear on you daily!

gdog · Post by **gdog** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:59 pm

Well..its been a week since I last ran her. I can still notice a slight limp now and then. I am going to give it another week and then see how she's doing. If still showing, then she is going in for xrays.

I thought it would go away in a short amount of time, but I don't believe it has at this point

gspguy · Post by **gspguy** » Wed May 02, 2007 7:01 am

Could also be osteochondritis. I'd go to a vet.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:33 am

If you did not have blood work for a tick borne disease you should return to the vet and have that done ASAP. Although it is more likely this is some kind of injury, the tick borne diseases such as Lyme's can show the same kinds of symptoms, and failure to treat can result in permanent damage. Am no expert on Rocky Mountain, which would be more common in your area than Lyme's I think, but I understand it can also manifest in flaky ways, including joint inflammation.

I had a dog that went through a protracted bout of Lyme's a few years ago, it would hide and then come back months later (the Lyme's, not the dog), and no longer take those tick borne diseases lightly.

gdog · Post by **gdog** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:34 am

Talked to vet this morning. He is suggesting to wait another week or two, prior to x-rays(?)

Lyme's is not prevalent here in UT and this dog has not been hunted out of state. Vet has not heard of local dog contracting lyme and is calling around checking up on this. Will get blood test done next week if not improving to rule that out.

Thanks for the replies. This really stinks as we were making good progress in training.....

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Wed May 02, 2007 9:57 am

I did not make my point very well. Lyme's is what I have experience with,so that is what I used as an example. However, I read an article recently about general tick borne diseases, including Rocky Mountain and some others, many of which show as symptoms similar to soft tissue injuries. On of the points of the article is that vets often do not think of the possibility of tick borne disease until more severe symptoms develop. Here is an article (not the one I read, that was in the American Field):

http://www.minden.com/nowhereelse/canin ... isease.htm

The article in the Field pointed out that lameness is one of the symptoms of the tick borne diseases. In my experience, that is particularly true of lameness that just "shows up" without an identifiable cause.

Good luck. Just passing on the info. Hope it works out well, is just a mild strain, and goes away.

gdog · Post by **gdog** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:03 am

John,

Thanks!

I am going to pass that along.

bobman · Post by **bobman** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:07 pm

I have a shorthair that had a tick borne lameness and the strange thing was the laneness moved from leg to leg. My vet put her on antibiotics and it went away.

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:25 pm

Mine did also, it moved from shoulder to shoulder. However, two treatments with antibiotic did not cure it, the Lyme's just went into hiding and relapsed later. The third treatment took care of it. I gather that Rocky Mtn., erlichia and richettsia may do the same.

Ironhorse77 · Post by **Ironhorse77** » Thu May 10, 2007 9:52 pm

My chocolate lab pulled up lame like that last fall. I even posted it on here just like you did. Turns out I just ran him too hard and fast through some tall sagebrush while I was out on an oil rig in Wyoming. He healed up just fine. It took a few weeks for him to get back to 100% too. Heck, I sprained my finger last summer and its just barely getting back to the point of not hurting me anymore. Things take time to heal, be patient. My advice is to not become a hypochondriac but be smart about it. Start with the most obviously basic diagnosis and move up from there. Occam's razor applies at times like this. You'll go broke if you always assume the worst. Like I said though, BE SMART too.

Just my humble $.02

gdog · Post by **gdog** » Tue May 29, 2007 7:33 pm

I finally took the dog in for digital scan of her front shoulders and had her hips done at the same time.

Vet says the scans didn't show any sign of OCD or any other bone issues and her hips look great. I am sending a copy of the pics to a local dog surgeon guru to check out and confirm for a 2nd opinion.

Best they came up with was that she has tendinitis in her shoulder and that I need to keep her completely low key for a bunch of weeks. Their opinion is that time will fix the problem(?) and that I have not allowed long enough time to heal before running her.

John....when your dog had the tick related issues, did the dog exhibit the limping all the time or just after being run hard? Was there a relation to the lameness and exercise or was it just random?

bobman · Post by **bobman** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:54 am

With the ticks its random and moves around to different legs or it did in my dog. My dog didn't have lyme it was some other "goody" they pick up from ticks.

Its most likely a soft tissure injury which can be real hard to get to heal in an active bird dog. I had a similar experince with a brittany and she kept reinjuring it. She would show no sign of lameness then I would let her run and I was back to square one.

I ended up walking her on a leash for almost 6 months to get it to heal.

I would recommend you do the same for at least 2-3 three months.

Unfortunately ligaments and tendons get real poor blood flow and are hard to cure. If you could identify the joint in question iceing will also help but thats another thing thats real fun with a squirming bird dog.

The upside is my brittany hunted another 11 yearsa after that with no lameness but those 6 months were no fun, she drove us nuts.

winchestermodel50 · Post by **winchestermodel50** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:11 pm

Several years ago I ran 2 bitches together that were littermates. They were very competitive and one dog in particular would intentionally T-Bone the larger female when we would go on a nightly run. The larger female pulled up lame on the front shoulder and I knew what it was from. Absolutely nothing showed up on X rays and after this went on for 6 months the vet was without a clue. I decided to breed this female and in the process she stood up and posted her front legs on the kennel fence. A large relatively inexperienced male dog came up on his hind legs and pretty much body slammed her into the fence. There was no doubt the experience hurt her at the time, but she stopped limping almost immediately. That dog had thrown her back out and a misaligned vertebrae was pinching a nerve. I'm just saying this is an outside chance. I don't know of a chairoprachtic practitioner for dogs, but if you ever come up with a bum leg yourself, you know what to do.

bobman · Post by **bobman** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:05 am

I decided to breed this female and in the process she stood up and posted her front legs on the kennel fence. A large relatively inexperienced male dog came up on his hind legs and pretty much body slammed her into the fence. There was no doubt the experience hurt her at the time, but she stopped limping almost immediately. That dog had thrown her back out and a misaligned vertebrae was pinching a nerve. I'm just saying this is an outside chance. I don't know of a chairoprachtic practitioner for dogs, but if you ever come up with a bum leg yourself, you know what to do.

If thats how chiropractors do it they must have a great job! But I think I'll just keep limping

Gun Dog Forum

Limping-front right shoulder

Limping-front right shoulder

Tough break

Did she slip?

limping from front shoulder