My dog's limping

[Nikko]

When I came home from work today and fed my dog I noticed that she would keep lifting her back leg. The whole evening she was limping and won't put pressure on it. I looked at it and massaged her whole leg, but I can't see anything wrong. It didn't bother her when I pressed on it either. Do you think she just sprained it or something?

[Jade]

She may have a knee injury, they often won't demonstrate pain in that case. Either way, if it didn't resolve in a few hours, she should see a vet.

[jennawing]

Check her pawpad for any cuts or thorns or other punctures or foreign bodies. Check the shape of the pawpad itself against the other foot. Try to figure out where it is hurting her- on the foot, the knee, etc- by gently palpitating and seeing where she reacts to clight pressure. Also check her nails- they can get them caught or pulled in something- and that will be very sore to walk on. Most likely, a cut would be something you can clean and care for yourself- if it were very bad, you would have noticed already I am sure. Look for bruising under the fur, swelling in a joint, too. I agree with Jade, though- if you can't locate it and she's still favoring the leg in a few hours- you'd want a vet to have a look.

[Nikko]

Well, she had a good nights sleep, but she's still lifting her leg. I looked everywhere on her foot and leg. I even rubbed it for like 30 minutes, anywhere I press it doesn't seem to bother her. She still runs around and jumps and eats and drinks and doesn't act like she's in pain at all, but something must be wrong.

[Nikko]

I called the vet today because Phoenix is still limping. I told them that I looked for sores and bruising on her paw, leg and hip and they said I should wait it out a few days unless it gets worse. What do you guys think?

[Jade]

If it were my dog, I'd take him in, but it's up to you.

[jennawing]

I would say- it would depend on the ammount of pain she is exhibiting. If she is whining or yelping when forced to use the leg/foot- like when she gets up from lying down, jumps, climbs steps, etc- then that is pretty severe pain even if there is no swelling or obvious injury- and it might be something that worsens or does not heal properly without vet attention.

[Mallory]

Sometimes Dakota slides around on our wood flooring, and trips or whatever and ... well, gets a boo-boo and limps for a few minutes.

While it never lasts very long (days like you're saying Phoenix is) she is basically just taking it easy on the leg/foot she hurt.

Perhaps your poochers is just favoring the leg that hurt and doesn't realize that putting pressure on it won't hurt now??

I'm no vet, and I'd be more likely to take the suggestion the Steph (Jade) offered, and get her to the vet as soon as you can.

[HappyDancer]

my dog has arthritis and limps from time to time...sometimes lasting days, but we did take him to the vet and hes on meds...but he has also hurt his nail, pad and paw before...it was hard to tell till we took him to the vet with some of his owies but its always best to take them in if you can't see any visible sign of injury...just to make sure could have just bruised something or culd have torn a muscle or so on...I will keep the poor aby in my thoughts...good luck

[Nikko]

She doesn't appear to be in pain and I pressed hard on her paw, leg and hip and she didn't care. The only thing different with her is that she's really laid back. If she's still limping on Saturday I'll be taking her in. Thanx everyone!

[kathydip]

How is she doing? My Frankie damaged his hip when he was a puppy. The poor little guy steadily got worse. Although at first we thought it was his knee and just a sprain. We had xrays done that showed no visable damage to the knee. After spending a couple of months resting it and on meds we finally found out it was his hip. I was mad b/c the vet that took the first xray missed it.
If this should happen with your baby and the regular vets cannot figure it out just go to the specialist. The vet that Frank saw took one look at him walking and knew it was his knee.
Now Frankie has no knee in that leg and he is much better. Funny though he still picks it up from time to time. He skips when he runs.
Silly doggie.

[Nikko]

I didn't take her to the vet because she seems to be getting better. It must not hurt very much because yesterday I took her for two walks and she was running in the yard and in the pool that I filled up for her (it was really hot out, I wanted to cool her off). I'm thinking she just sprained it, because she's not limping very much anymore and she's a lot more lively now. I keep everyone posted if it suddenly gets worse. Thanx everyone!

[asksm1else]

Hello all! I'm new to the site. I just wanted to thank all of you for answering the post about the limping dog. My baby is having the same problem and I was freaking out until I started reading the first post about the limping dog and all of the responses. My baby just started limping out of the blue. She let me touch all over her leg and foot, I guess because she knew I was just trying to help. I read what someone said about checking the paw really good for objects or a hurt toenail. When I touched one of her toenails she kinda jerked her foot so I moved the fur back and looked closer. Sure enough her toenail was slit like it tried to break but didn't quite break all the way. I just wanted to thank all of you because until I read all of your post I had no idea what to do. She's so little (9 lbs.) and it kills me to see her hurting, she's my baby! So thanks again!!!

[mulder]

glad phoenix is feeling better!!!