[LogansRun]

fellow lab owners, i need your advice here. this guy is so important to us. he's our first dog, and we have been super focused on getting him exercise, watching what he eats, training him, etc. basically, he is our life. he is now 10 months old, and we go out to the parks twice a day where he runs with all the crazy dogs and he plays like what i believe would be the behavior of a typical labrador (hardcore!). well, 2 days ago he was rough-housing with another lab and came away with a limp. i rested him all day yesterday and he seemed ok this morning. once he got engaged in play, he started limping again. i'm not sure if this is something i should just wait out, or something i should see the vet about. months ago, after playing like a maniac, he limped as well, and we took him to the vet and she had no real answer for it except to put him on rimadyl. we did that, and after a few weeks he was back to normal. the thing is, it seems like we are at the vets all of the time. he caught pnuemonia when he was fixed (that took a month to get over), he got attacked by another dog and had puncture wounds in his head (that was ugly), he slashed his paw up on some ice (that took ten days), and the list goes on. i'm with this little guy just about 24/7 and i hate keeping him unexercised, and needless to say, he hates it too. he goes crazy couped up in the house. so, without being too much of an alarmist, i just wanted to know if your dogs have come away with limps after rough play and if they are something to worry about. i'm sick of going to the vet, so please let me know! thanks for your time.

also if you think there is a better place to post this, let me know because i'm unfamiliar with the territory here

logan's page is here www.myspace.com/loganthelabrador

 

[imported_zoezoe]

crate rest for several days, leash walks ONLY for potting and aspirin for any pain. I know it seems cruel not to let them exercise when they stop limping, but you need to give whatever is wrong time to heal.

 

[therapydawg]

crate rest for several days, leash walks ONLY for potting and aspirin for any pain. I know it seems cruel not to let them exercise when they stop limping, but you need to give whatever is wrong time to heal.

I agree...sounds like he played too hard before it was really healed. Please check with your vet before giving the aspirin so you get the right dosage (and only used buffered aspirin, not ibuprofen (Motrin) or acetaminophen (tylenol)...they can be very dangerous!) Watch him closely...if he continues with the cylce of limp, no limp you should probably go back to the vet again. Most likely it is just a sprain, but sometimes it can be more serious.

 

[TimC.]

Run your hands over his legs and see if you can find any swelling. If you can use ice packs for 20 minute periods 3 to 4 times a day. I would give this two weeks of nothing more strenuous than walks on a leash. If it doesn't go away before that its time to see the vet. LABS LIE!!! He will try and convince you that he is all right and to let him back into the game, but you might have a problem that will correct itself with a bit of rest. If you let him go at it hard right away you might be looking at a major vet bill and or an injury that could impact him for the rest of his life. After the two weeks are up you go back to exercising slowly. If there is someplace he could swim that would be ideal.
A few years ago Oona hurt herself in a similar manner. I called the vet and asked them how much aspirin I should give her. It turned out to be nothing serious but we had to go in for an appointment later that month for something else. The vet thought I was there for the injury, when I told him no and the regimen I put her under he looked at me like I was Moses coming off of the mountain. ;D
Olie

 

[Sadies Paw]

I am/was in the same situation with sadie who is just over 12 months. Her front right leg started limping a few weeks ago. I checked her leg's range of motion with no signs of pain, nor' did she react at all when I rubbed and felt her shoulder, leg, foot and toes. She seemed fine in that regard. So we went almost a full two weeks of very little excercise. On leash walks only, and kept them very short with the first few days having hardly any excercise at all. She got better by the day pretty much which makes me lean towards the idea of it being just a sprain or strained muscle. But since returning to a more normal excercise routine, there has been a couple mornings where she has shown small sgns of favouring the leg, but not really limping. Overall she seems fine, but I think I may have let her back into the game a tad early. Overall I'm not too worried now, but I am still a little hesitant to go full bore on continuous daily hardcore playing/running. So if I get I get a good session of excercise in (though I try to keep the time of excercise shorter than normal) and she has no signs of limping later on or the next day, I'll still wait a day or two before letting her go again. Just on-leash walks in the meantime.
Anyways, keep her on-leash with only mild walks. I know it sucks. Sadie became an over-energized brat in very little time with being stuck inside the house. Just hold on and try to take it slow. It took Sadie nearly 5 days of very little excercise to prove to me that I didn't need to take her in for X-rays. Though I was really tempted too, I am glad I dind't now. Mind you, if she were to get it again, I won't hesitate to take her in.
Kepp us posted!

 

[LogansRun]

thanks so much for all the feedback! i have not attempted an icepack yet but i believe it will be quite an adventure if i do. and yes, i too believe that labs DO lie (haha) or at least forget that they have an ailment in order to get some play in. it makes him hard to read. as you can assume, at 10 months, he is bursting with energy at all times and right now, he doesn't show any signs of limping. i know that if we push it though, he will go back to the limp. we have kept him away from the dog parks, the problem is, our cat will not stop antagonizing him so basically he just chases her all over the house (which can't be too good for his legs). i really want to avoid keeping him in a crate but this might be the only way to regulate how much he works his legs. thanks again for the advice, and if anyone else has any input don't be shy.

good luck with your dogs, and i'm very happy that you all took the time to respond.

 

[GunnyandRuger]

Boy, this hits close to home for me! Gunny was just a year old (and this was only four months ago) and sometimes when he was playing he'd all of a sudden come up lame on his back right leg. He'd get over it pretty quick and then take it easy for a while, but then go right back to playing. Long story short, after repeated episodes and several trips to the vet it turned out that he had a luxating patella (knee-cap moving out of place). His knee-cap would slide out of place and he'd be still until it would slide back in. We elected to do the surgery and then did some rehab work with him, and he healed up in record time. Yes, I understand . . . tell a Lab he has to rest for a few days . . . It sure does feel like cruel punishment, but it's necessary for the healing. I actually had to sedate Gunny for a while so he wasn't up walking around. Keep an eye on Logan's limp. The luxating patella isn't common in Labs, but damage to a cruciate ligament is!

 

[turtleheadfred]

Hi Guys! I found you on the internet because I was searching for help on my girl... Coco... who's also started limping. She's a 12 year old former DEA agent olice: who went into the back fenced area one afternoon perfectly fine, and came back in with a really bad limp on her back leg.

We took her to the vet within 2 days (because it didn't get better). She too doesn't seem to mind us fooling with or searching on it - but just doesn't put it down much. He thought it could be her hip and gave us some joint pain medicine, but honestly after talking with some K9 guys, I think it's more of a strained/pulled muscle. It's SLOWLY getting better... and she's NOT slowing down at all... but still limps - though not as badly.

Upon advice, I got some Glucosamine for her tonight (which she LOVES by the way) and am going to see if that along with her regular food will help her through this. It's hard for her to be totally calm (though she is a calm girl) because we also have a black lab, and an old stray basset that wandered up and we kept. Plus the "kids" next door come to play (they're great danes!)

I don't know if you've tried the glucosamine tablets, but I thought I'd mention it. Good luck to you and your furbaby!

 

[gerst001]

turtleheadfred - that sounds like it could be a torn ACL. Is she holding the leg in the air or really far back with no pressure when she is not moving?

 

[turtleheadfred]

At first she was just holding it up really far off the ground... but now she'll let it touch - and each day she seems to use it more and more. It's now been about 2 weeks I'm thinking. I worry about her. She's my oldest and it's just strange that she went from perfectly fine - to limping. And she's never done this in her entire life. ???

 

[gerst001]

Sounds like a partially torn ACL or fully torn ACL to me. I would go to an ortho vet for sure and have them look at it. 12 years is old, they may say its not worth doing anything at the point due to the risks of surgery.

 

[turtleheadfred]

Thanks Gerst. I said something to my hubby last night about it possibly being her ACL - and he was like, "REALLY?!?!" I don't know if we have any ortho vets in our area... but I'm definitely going to look for one. Probably one of the K9 guys will know of one. She is getting better, and even if they say not to do anything, I still want to check. Sorry to hijack the thread - but thanks so much for the info!

 

[gerst001]

Is this close to you? http://www.vet.utk.edu/

You can ask your doctor to make a refferal than make an appt with their othro department. I am sure there are others in your area, but schools are usually great.

 

[turtleheadfred]

Boy you DO know the best places! No... Nashville is middle Tennessee (which is where I am) an UT is in Knoxville, upper east Tennessee - but they do have a FANTASTIC Veterinary school and clinic. It's specifically known for people who have cats with leukemia and strange illnesses. I've known people to drive there (about 4 hours or more) every weekend just to have their cats treated... it's THAT good!

I did find a guy who I know his clinic and he's in my neighborhood. They've been around FOREVER, and they are also very complimentary of our vet as well. (They all went to Auburn together, which is the school where ALL Vets in this area of any merit attend.) They suggested I might want to go back to Doc (my guy) and have her x-rayed, put on Rimydyl (?) for an extended length, or I could bring her in for a consult, whatever I want. I've been there before in emergency situations and I really like them - so I'm going to talk to my hubby tonight about it and see what he wants to do.

Thank you again for the info. I'm also looking into the RAW diet again. I really hate meat personally (ick) but if it helps my kids (the furry ones) I would do it. Thank you again - I'm SO glad I found this site! You guys are great!

Just fyi - here's what my bed looks like right now... and only 2 of these belong to me! Oh - and Sally's back there too - so it's REALLY crowded... she's not mine either!


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