My puppy is limping, favoring her back left leg

[sad-cafe]

I have looked it all over and see no thorns, twisted nails or anything.

She is not crying, still gets up and moves all the time, nothing appears to be broken.

any ideas?

[Mr.Bill]

1. Thid happened to my dog once.

We had moved to a house with hardwood floors, and she had been used to carpet she jumped, landed and yelped then started limping. We took her to the vet and he said her knee was damaged, just by prodding and poking, no Xrays. We could not afford surgery at the time so we took her home and pondered what to do. I a couple days she was fine. I suspect it was a slightly pulled groin muscle.

Lesson learned - don't go with the first diagnosis of one vet. Get second opinions and give things a chance to work themselves out before acting. Provided the animal is not in great pain, of course.

Another time she had a lump (tumor?) in her groin the size of a golf ball. Once again, expensive surgery, possible loss of use of that leg was the prognosis. When we pressed the vet for alternatives, he said in rare cases it could just be an infection and we could try antibiotics. We took that course of action and the lump went away in less than a week.

Best of luck with your pooch.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. I had a cat who had this problem

and I couldn't tell what was wrong. The vet found that one of the pads had a tear where it was attached to the skin. This was a spot that was hidden from a cursory visual exam, and was compounded by the cat constantly licking it so that there was not blood visible.

I am not saying that this is your pup's problem, but I am saying that you should watch very carefully to see if you can find out where the problem is. Is your pup licking at a spot on the paw or leg? Is there any place on the leg where the dog will react when it is touched, even if you have to push on spots on the leg to tell?

I would not panic, but I would watch. I would do a more careful exam of the foot. It could be a bruise or a sprain that will get better over time, or it could be something more serious that will not get better. If it seems to get worse, go to the vet, or if it lasts for over a week.

[sad-cafe]

3. thanks guys

that is what we were thinking as well, she hits the stairs at mock speed and maybe she bruised or sprained something.

We will look at her foot more closely and watch her. If it doesn't get better in a couple of days we will take her to the doctor. I think I mainly wanted reassurance that seeing if it works itself out wasn't being horrible or cruel.

[TorchTheWitch]

5. oh boy, I know what you mean!

Especially when my beasts were puppies I worried over every little bump, anything unusual about their gait for even just a few steps, etc. Puppies are so exuberant I swear sometimes they're determined to mangle themselves. They fly around the house at warp speed, crash into things, go so fast down the steps they both look and sound like they're falling down the whole flight, never seem to look in the same direction they're traveling, etc.

As others mentioned, poke around the whole foot, leg and hip and look really well at the foot and all in between the toes. If it's nothing to worry about it should start to at least seem improved within a day or two. If it improves but isn't gone in a few more days then something more major could be wrong.

Personally, whenever one of my dogs seems to limp without improvement by the end of the day I'm calling the vet. Especially after Boo and his bone cancer, anything the least bit strange about my current dog's gait scares the hell out of me. Mostly I think I tend to run to the vet at the first provocation is because I can't live with the wondering... way to much anxiety for me to let anything go for more than a day without having it checked out or at least calling the vet. Probably most of the time I've been lucky and it wasn't much to worry about, but other times I wasn't so lucky and it was something serious where bringing him in right away made a big difference in successful and cheaper treatment. I also know that if I let something go for a few days and find a problem has gotten worse before bringing him in, I end up kicking myself that I didn't do it sooner and ended up having to spend more money for certain other treatments than I would have had I brought him in at the first sign.

All that said, it's often just a crap shoot, and it's really really hard to tell what things may be important and what things turn out to be nothing or nothing much. I'm famous for calling my saintly vet for nearly every little thing. Most conversations with them on the phone start out as, "This is probably really stupid, but...". However, most of the time with the calls and explaining symptoms in detail, etc. they can tell me something I should be doing to see what happens before bringing him in with maybe an over-the-counter remedy or some other kind of home treatment, and it sure does ease my anxiety over whatever little thing I called about. Thankfully, my vet is also very gracious and always assures me that there are no stupid questions, and it's always better to at least call just in case.... many times they can tell what something is just going by a good detailed description of the symptoms as well as anything I can tell them about what I noticed before the symptoms started, like he started limping after he crashed into the coffee table or he started having the runs X amount of time after he ate some gross unidentifiable thing on the ground, etc.

If you have a good and trustworthy vet a call to them for advice might be a good idea. They might also have some ideas of what specifically to check for and how, home treatments or over-the-counter remedies that might be helpful even if trying them doesn't work (if they don't work, that's better info for them, too). After all these many years with dogs I still learn home treatments and over-the-counter remedies I never had a clue about before just talking to the vet on the phone about some strange thing I'm freaking out over with the pooch. More than anything else though, a phone call is priceless for piece of mind.

[OnyxCollie]

4. Take it from someone who has paid for his vet's kid's orthodontics:

Wait a day or two before you choose to go the vet.

Puppies (and my dog in my sig pic) are rambunctious and may bang themselves up. Keep an eye on it and see what happens.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Could be one of many things. Here's a link to figuring it out....

http://www.2ndchance.info/limping.htm

Why Is My Pet Limping?

The Pet-owners Guide To Limping Dogs Cats And Ferrets

[hamsterjill]

7. I don't know if dogs can get it, but kittens can limp from having a virus.

I'd wait a day or two and if not improved, call the vet for an appointment.

I hope puppy feels better soon!

[sad-cafe]

8. thanks again guys

she seems to be doing a little better today.

After reading all your replies, we checked her foot very closely and when we were done, she spent some time licking her foot.

We will take her to our vet in the morning if she isn't much improved but she seems better today.

[sad-cafe]

9. she seems to be coming out of it

barely a limp. Maybe still a little sore but seems to be working itself out!

Thanks for all your advice

[laundry_queen]

10. Good to hear

My puppy injured herself a few weeks ago just playing around in her little bed. She just started yelping like crazy, then refused to put weight on her back leg. I mean the poor thing wouldn't even touch it to the ground to pee. The vet talked about x-rays, but instead she gave her a pain killer/anti-inflammatory combo since she didn't feel anything out of place. We had a week's worth of meds, and it only took one dose and the next day puppy started limping around. In 2 more days she was on the mend and a week later she was 100%. It was scary though, I've never had a dog not put any weight on leg for that long (3 days total). We were told to wait a few days and if there was ZERO improvement we'd do x-rays. Thankfully she improved each day after the meds.