Lame
 

Ok , my turn to ask for opinions.
We have a vet appointment tomorrow morning but I would like your opinions today!

Skeeter, 5years old and very much overweight is limping. He doesn't seem to want to put his right rear leg down or put pressure on it. At its worst he keeps the leg straight and slightly out to the side. The severity of his limp varies. Sometimes his walking is very close to normal - he continues to run when that is the case. When I pick him up and hold him like a baby (his favorite position) that foot is totally relaxed and turned in. In a human that indicates a hip problem....???? There is no painful response to ANYTHING I do to his foot, knee, leg or back. His urinary and bowel functions are normal and he comes running (sorta) at mealtime. Stairs don't seem to scare him but he does hesitate before he starts down. He hides when I get the leashes out for walks, obviously not wanting to go but he doesn't especially like walks anyway. LOL.

So, any ideas?

Gosh, I don't know but will be thinking of Skeeter and praying that it's nothing serious. Maybe he sprained something?

Thanks Tracy,
I know! my gut tells me it is a muscle because that dog will cry at any little sudden pain he experiences. So no response to any manipulation really makes me suspicious.

Watch - all symptoms will be gone tomorrow and we will never know.

Keeping Skeeter in my prayers...

Could be an injury or arthritis in one of the limb or hip joint, back or maybe even something in his paw. Have you ever gotten those tiny clear thin little shards of something in a fingertip? We used to decorate at Christmas with Angel Hair & I was always getting little clear broken-off pieces in my fingers for months after - hurt like the devil! Hopefully an exam, x-rays & even blood work to see if there is an internal situation pressing on something internally will get your a diagnosis & treatment plan. Poor little baby - I pray it is nothing serious.

I don't have any advice or words of wisdom Lou, but I pray it turns out to be nothing serious.

Sending prayers for Skeeter that this will be the case.

I'm appreciating the prayers everyone! Thank you! He seems to be better tonight but still not acting normal and still limping. I'm not seeing severe limping though. I'm more sure of it being a pulled muscle or something. We'll see tomorrow.

Hard to say...could be a few things. Good luck tomorrow! I will keep Skeeter in my thoughts and prayers.

Thanks so much!

Praying for Skeeter how's he doing today?

Checking in on Skeeter this morning..hope the vet finds out what it is.

Poor Skeeter!

Don't forget to check for lymes disease. Always like to point it out just in case.

When Jackson was limping, completely holding his back leg up for 2 days, he tested positive for lymes. Once meds were started, he was 100% back to normal.

It was the same thing... I touched everywhere, nothing seemed to hurt him, etc.

Here was him walking:

I'll keep Skeeter in my prayers. I have no idea what it could be, because it could be many things. Try really hard to bring his weight down. I also agree with Brit. Lyme disease is always a possibility. An acquaintance of mine has their little one in the same hospital Kacee was in and they are treating her for Lyme disease. She went lame in both hind legs.

Surprise Surprise Surprise!
It is a Grade 1 LP! How did I miss that????

The vet gave us some meds to reduce swelling and said there wasn't anything else to do unless it gets worse. She also showed me how to get it to go back in place. And oh yeah, He NEEDS to lose weight!!!! Think dh will learn to abide by his diet now?

Thanks again everyone for your help and prayers. You rock!

My Jilly had that, though she never limped. We treated her conservatively & she never had to have surgery. I hope your baby lives with it as successfully as Jilly did.

My yorkie dxd with collapsed trachea in October 2011 needed to lose weight. I began feeding him vital essentials - small, frozen RAW beef patties. I thaw them in a baggie in hot water placed in a mug for awhile and add his asthma drops. (he does NOT get treats, human food of any type. a teeny amount of fruit or veggie - once in a great while).


He lost three pounds with no exercise. He's a new dog! More energetic. Slimmer. And can finally breath without wheezing.

Good luck to you and your baby, sending healing vibes and wishes to you!!

Happy to hear all went well, Lou! I have two pups on diets right now...they are on diet food and I give them frozen green beans so that they think they are eating more. It is working well...they are looking so much better.

Ido too. Thanks.

Thanks - it sounds expensive for us us though. We have five dogs and a cat. All six of them think they should have what everyone else has.

Thanks LJ! Everyone but Cassie is on a diet. We are feeding them Blue Buffalo's Healthy Weight. We put it down for one hour each morning. Three to four times a day they each get a piece of Science Diet oral care dog food. My big problem is my husband feeding them people food. Even after the vet looked him straight in the eye and told him that loosing weight would help a lot I still caught him giving the dogs bites of his french fries this afternoon. It's next to impossible to get him to stop. I've written about this problem before. I may just have to get rid of him. (The husband - not the dog.)

Keep a container of green beans in the fridge...and encourage him to give them those as treats! Some people just cave in to begging...better to keep something safe to give.
If all else fails....he can go outside to the dog house. :D;):p:)

For LP, weight is essential. I hope DH comes to understand saying no to those big brown eyes is the best thing he could do for Skeeter. I have the same issue here. Kaji has grade 3 (almost 4) LP and my parents and big brother can't seem to say no when Kaji asks for food. :facepalm:

Maybe we can send all of these peeps to an island where they can live together and feed each other! :D

:thumbup:

When we eat dinner I usually put 6 tiny pieces of meat or a vegetable on a separate plate for him to feed to them. But then he feeds them from his plate when I'm not looking. I started crying one night and told him he was going to cause one or all of them to die from pancreatitis if he didn't stop. That worked for a little while but he right back to it. Maybe if the vet cost a lot more he would react the the pain in his pocket!
He has fed Skeeter so much that Skeeter knows when he is cooking a microwave pizza. He starts demanding a bite. AND gets it! grrrr
That doghouse is sounding really good isn't it.

I didn't thank you for posting the video of Jackson. Thank you! His limp is quite different from Skeeters. How is he doing now? Doesn't Lymes disease cause long standing problems?

Well for me how I handled things; for my Maine Coone with a heart condition; I just laid down the law; I am the ONLY one to feed him. Does every-one hear that? No treats, no extra meals when he whines/cries for them. I f I am away one person will be the delegate feeder. I have a dish and show what amount for the WHOLE day he is to have.

For my dogs; yeah I am a bit of a control freak. I pre-measure their meals. So if and or when I am not home; their pre-measured container goes into their food dish.

I do allow a very very tiney bit of dinner food for a treat. Everyone knows, nothing with gravy, or sauces; some nice meatey bits for Magic(who I need to limit veges) and some Veges for Razzle our Yorkie.

I also am a pretty adamant person over weight on dogs. I feel my boys at least twice per week; and I also adjust their food dependent on their activity levels. Summertime is now here, and with swimming and hiking, each get about 25-40% more food on our big activity days.

I also always travel with food/treats when we hike and swim. Razzle at a healthy 6.5 lbs I don't worry about hypoglycemia, but the boys need their food. Also I always have lots of water for the pups. That is important in warm/hot weather.

Oh, I would be livid. I don't know what you can do about that one.

You are welcome! That's why I posted a video because a limp can be so many different things, and different kinds of limping, etc. I always like to throw the lymes thing out there because I remember I was shocked that was the diagnosis - the last thing I expected!

Nope, he's had zero issues since. I think we caught it soon enough. But he now tests negative for it, and we will do the test every year. :)

Your DH sounds like my dad. He loves the dogs to death with food. I know he means well, but it's soooo hard to get him to understand. Their Dauchsund/Spaniel mix is very overweight. When we adopted him, he was about 14lbs and he was at 21lbs at the last vet visit. He is a lazy dude and doesn't exercise much at all, and even though he only has been getting 1/4 cup of kibble per day with a bit of wet... I think the added snacks from daddy are adding on a lot. Plus my stepmom continues to buy those milkbone nuggets? I have told her a gazillion times that they have around 20 calories each or something like that, and with someone like my dad around who is constantly giving the animals treats... not a good combo.

I go over there and put a bag of Zuke's or Buddy Biscuit's out and write 'JACKSON' on it, and put it next to the treat jar, LOL. So my dad feels like he's giving him a lot more than he is (I also break up the buddy biscuits). It just sucks because you can only do and say so much.

Diets for everyone BUT Skeeter are going great.

At the risk of sudden death he has learned how to steal treats from everyone else! AND dh still feeds them from his plate. I don't know how to stop him short of divorce.