So Sad
 

I just got my male Yorkie in October 2012, his name would be Benny. He was born on August 10, 2012. I met this lady at a county fair and she was carrying a small Yorkie around. Me, the dog lover I am, noticed her (more the puppy) at first glance. As the story goes, we started to talk and really had a joyous conversation. I told her, I never had a Yorkie, but had several chihuahuaes. Some mixed some full blooded, but none the less, I sure liked that Yorkie. Well, she told me she charged around $350.00 for her males, but she had a little one at home that had some issues, that she would just give me. To make a long story short, I went and looked several times at the dog and he was just adorable!!! Fell in LOVE!!! One problem, he was crippled in one hind leg and the other was a little crippled, but as he got to be about 6 weeks of age, he kinda started using it. Since I had no ideas about Yorkies, I felt like it was something we could probably correct enough, that he could at least walk on 3 legs, if needed. He has been to the vet for his first check-up and he suggested, I let this puppy grow to at least 5 months, before we make any diagnosis. So, that's where we're at right now...only problem being...it seems the bad leg has got no better (dragging the ground) and the half way decent leg, seems to be going bad to. What should I do? We thought once, of having the bad leg taken off and forcing him to walk on the other. What if we do that though, and the other leg goes completely bad!! This little pup is so playful and so loving, hate to have to have him put down....any suggestions?

What has your vet said? Plenty of dogs live on 3 legs, but I would talk with your vet about why the leg is lame.

Bless you for having such a kind heart to take in this little baby :)

Have you recently taken him to a vet?

I wouldn't wait any longer and take him to the vet and see what he/she says!

Please keep us posted.

We are having him spayed when he is 5 months and at that time will discuss with vet, some choices we may have. Until then, we will keep him excerising and pray that he does not have the joint problem, that we have heard about. The lady that gave him to me, claims he didn't have enough space in the womb and he was born with his legs sprawled out behind him. We do love him very much, but do not want him to be in pain and suffer...so far, so good with that!

I am sorry I have no advice. Perhaps one of our other members can help you out.

Hello and welcome to YT. It was wonderful that you took this little one in. I think this breeder is a byb that has no care for the puppies she has breed. I would take him in and talk to the vet about what is going on with his leg. What is causing it. Then you can make a plan. You might have to bring him to a specialist. There is many dogs with 3 legs that get around pretty well. Please post a pic of Benny. Would love to see a pic of your cutie. He is so lucky to have a caring mommy.

You may want to ask for an apt with a specialest. There are many dogs that live well on 3 legs and there are many that live well using a 2 wheeled cart.

I will keep him in my prayers. I think I would take him to an orthopedic specialist and get there opinion.

I really believe God had me read this. I have just gone through the same thing you have described. It is called swimmers leg. It is caused when they grow too big in the womb. I took in a little boy about a month ago. He is now almost 17 weeks and over 3 lbs. He had the same exact problems, in a month I have been able to take him from not being able to use his back legs to walking and playing with the other puppies. He still can not run, but he has come a long way in a short time. I used a number of techniques I learned from researching. The first thing you need to do is to make sure until he can use his legs he is on something soft. We have hard wood floors, so I got a baby surround for him and covered the whole floor under it with a blanket. He started off leaning against the side and walking around it and as he got better we made the soft area smaller and smaller until he was walking on the hard wood. I also used water therapy and massage. When we first got him he could not even stand without falling and he laid with his legs splayed out to each side of him. Now he walks all over the place and lays like the other puppies. He has also stolen all of our hearts. I wish you the best of luck. Please PM me and keep me updated on his progress.

It seems like the vet should be able to tell with an x-ray just what is wrong with the legs. I don't see why you should wait until 5 months to get the diagnosis. You might better know what you are facing right now and decide if you are able to deal with it. You said you were getting HIM spayed? That would be a problem. You have other dogs?

There are a variety of things that could cause the problem you describe. The sooner you decide what to do about it the better. Waiting is just postponing the therapy that animal needs now.

Benny does need to be spayed, I have 4 female dogs in the house. The reason the vet wanted to wait until 5 months for the leg problem, is he wanted him to get more muscle and become stronger, to see if he could pull his leg up under him, himself. We do alot of excersising with the leg, some stretching. It does sound like he has the swimmer legs as described above. He was borned this way, not enough space in the womb, with legs sprawled backwards. I would love to post some pics of my baby, but have no way of doing that here at work and no computor at home. (Sorry:() We hope that we can get things straightened out for him and if not, we'll LOVE him anyway. He doesn't seem to be in pain and he doesn't mind us stretching the leg and working with it!! That's a plus!!