Teagan - Sudden Severe Limp, No Apparent Reason... Hi Everyone, I don't post on the forum that often, but I'm always lurking and reading the posts...anyway, my 7-year-old Yorkie girl, Teagan, is having some trouble and I really don't know what to do. She seemed out of sorts exactly two weeks ago - it was a Friday night and I was home with her all day. She was completely normal, but then later on in the evening I noticed she was just sitting in the middle of the floor and staring blankly at the wall. She would respond if I petted her or spoke to her, but she didn't acknowledge me if I just walked into the room or stood near her - that is NOT normal. She would also sit and stare at nothing with her back to me, something she never does. Anyway, I thought she just wasn't feeling well and didn't worry too much. She was scheduled to be groomed the following morning and I kept the appointment. Teagan was still acting weirdly, but didn't seem to be in pain or anything. I mentioned to the groomer that she wasn't herself when I dropped her off and asked her to keep an eye out for anything unusual. When I picked Teagan up, the groomer said she seemed depressed, but that she didn't notice any physical symptoms. I took Teagan home and she perked up a bit - she was on the couch with me and she spied her toy. She leapt off the couch and grabbed it off the floor, then started to shake the toy back and forth when I noticed she was limping. She was NOT limping at all prior to this. Since then, she has been limping consistently on her front leg. It's almost like her leg occasionally buckles under her weight, making her stumble and stagger around. It's particularly bad after she wakes up. If she has to bend low to the ground, for food for example, she will lift that leg and sort of tuck it underneath her - it's in the air with her paw pads facing her belly. She doesn't always do this, just on occasion. Her front legs have always been bowlegged, but this leg now looks especially bowed to me. It seems like when she does walk, she steps on the outside of her paw, which sometimes makes her lose her balance and fall on the outside of her leg. Does that make sense? It looks a bit like if you placed your palm flat on a table with your arm extended, then bent it at the elbow to collapse. When she is sitting, her paw is often turned almost completely inward. I have also noticed that lately, if she is sitting on the couch with me and moves around some to make her nest, she will sometimes take a few steps with her bad foot with her toes turned under, like she was walking on the tops of them. (Just her toes - she doesn't bend her entire foot that way.) I'm sorry - I know this post is getting long. Thanks to anyone that's read this far! I took her to the vet on 9/25 and she said her knees looked fine - she saw no sign of luxating patellas. She thought it was probably a pulled muscle and gave me 7 Rimadyl tablets, told me to keep her from jumping and/running, and to check back in a week if there was no improvement. She also said Teagan was too fat and that could be causing a problem. She said give half a Rimadyl every 12 hours, but I have been reluctant because of the bad press I've seen AND because when I do give it to Teagan, she starts tearing around the house looking for toys and leaping away from me like an idiot when I try to slow her down. It makes me laugh, but then her leg will buckle and she will suddenly stagger and my heart flies into my throat - that part is not so funny. I know Teeg needs to lose about 1.5 lbs, but the primary cause of that is her inability to take her daily walks, etc. She is typically a very active, high energy dog, so I've never really had to police her food intake. Now, of course, she wants to eat her usual amount of food, but with no exercise, that's a problem. But she hasn't been fat prior to this, so I don't think her weight has anything to do with her limp. I can't think of any incidents that happened recently that would cause this to happen so suddenly - does anyone have any experience with this? She showed some improvement earlier this week, but then she heard someone at the door on Wednesday and bolted off the couch before I could react. :( When she landed, she kind of froze in place, lifted her paw to take a step, set it down, and then just laid down under the table. I felt like such a moron for not catching her before she jumped that it brought tears to my eyes. I don't allow her on the couch with me since then, which makes her (and me) feel even worse! During all of this, she hasn't yelped or whined or made any sort of sound to express that she's in pain, but if I judging from the way she limps, I feel like she must be! Is it possible that she isn't? I'm calling the vet Monday to make another appointment, but I am really dreading that I will just be sent home again with another prescription. |
It sounds like it could be something neurological to me. Possibly an injury to her spinal cord. I would have the vet do a neurological exam and check her reflexes in her legs. She could also have damage to a nerve running through her front limb..possibly the radial nerve |
I'm not sure what it could be, so I'll be sending prayers your way. |
Sorry to hear Teagan is having problems. I definately would have them check her neurologically and maybe xray that leg. One test they have done on my dogs is to hold them up and then start to put them down front feet first and they should put there legs out to prepare to land. If they do not or are slow to do it it can indicate a neurological problem. Hopefully she just has a sore leg. |
Thanks for the well wishes, Patti! I took Teagan to the vet the day after I posted this - it was a Saturday, but the vet agreed to fit her in after I talked to him on the phone. He still couldn't find anything conclusive. We went for x-rays Monday and the leg looked totally normal. She's still walking strangely, though, and when she lays down, she folds it under herself at such a contorted angle, it hurts me to look at it. She doesn't mind when I straighten it out, though. At this point, I guess it's just a wait and see kind of thing. The vet doesn't think it's spinal or neurological...so she's on restriciton for two weeks until our follow up visit. That's misery for BOTH of us - she has so much pent up energy, it's driving me nuts! I do have one BIG concern though - the vet prescribed 1/2 of a 25 mg Rimadyl per day for two weeks. They seemed to be helping her with the limp, but I was reluctant to give them in case they were just masking her pain and making her use the leg and cause more damage. He told me they weren't pain killers, so it was okay. She has had several bouts of diarrhea today and they were noticeably bloody. She's drinking normally, not overly frequent, and she's had no food/treats since her first episode at about 9:30 this AM. (I did give her about 1 oz of plain boiled chicken at about 9 PM because she was desperately pushing her food plate around the kitchen.) I did some reading about Rimadyl a couple of weeks ago and even more today, so we're headed to the vet again tomorrow after what I saw about the side effects. She's in good spirits and otherwise acting totally normal except for the diarrhea, but I don't want to take any chances. I've been looking through past threads on the forum for anyone's experiences with Rimadyl, but if anyone happens to read this post and has anything to share about its use that's specific to Yorkies, I'd love to hear it. Thanks again, Fash |
I'm so sorry your little Teagen is having medical problems. I will say a prayer for her. Maddie and Libby were both sent home with Rimadyl after their spay. They both did fine on it. They had it for five days, though, with Libby, I stopped hers at day 4 because she didn't seem to have any pain. I do know someone whose dog was on it for too long, and ended up with kidney failure. My daughter's yorkie has a ruptured disc in his back and is on prednisone and a pain killer that is supposed to have less side effects than Rimadyl, but I can't remember what it is. I think it starts with a T. I'll find out for you and let you know. It's too late to call her tonight. Maddie, Libby and I send get well wishes to Teagan and hugs to you! |
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