So my pup is 10 months old, male, about 82.5 lb. Eating significantly less recently as he does not seem to be going through any major growth (I mean I am feeding him less, his appetitie is the normal ravenous)
Right now he seems to be having some VERY mild lameness. I saw him taking some bad steps yesterday, but I could only see it trotting on a left hand circle (it is left front), trotting straight was fine, and it seemed to be aggravated by stepping on gravel. I felt heat in the left front paw pad vs right front was cooler. I wondered if h e hadn't just bruised his paw pad, he does run through the forest like a wild man sometimea.
I took him on a short leash walk yest., no toy throwing ect. Today he seems better although I thought I did see him take a bad step earlier, but it was a left turn where he happened to step on gravel again. I had hime out at a shopping center for training, and letting him jog breifly on pavement I saw nothing.
I should add that I spend 20 years working with horses professionally and a pretty big amount of that anaylzing sales horses and schoolies for soundness....I *probably* notice soundness more than the average person.
In his life I can think of this happening 2 other times. One was a similarly super slight front end lameness that I barely saw for a few days and resolved after a week of mildly restricted exercising and no toy throwing. One was where he was running around in the woods, ran down to me and held up one front foot for a minute, limped rather dramatically for about 30 seconds and then ran off as if nothing ever happened and was fine afterward.
So my question is: ormal puppy wear and tear or should he see the vet to see if there is something wrong with his front end joints? Parents were bothed OFA good hips and elbows and between them had 6-7 OFA'ed offpsring either good or excellent. Unfortunately I can't remember which foot it was the other times, just that it was front end
Can't tell without xrays but it's possible it's panno(growing pains).It resolves when their bones stop growing and can stop,start,and move to different legs.Pain meds and restricted exercise during episodes is the usual treatment.No way to know without the xrays to diagnose though.
I agree with Dogma that it could be pano. I also think that your idea that he could have stepped on some rough gravel that struck him between the toes is also right. Since he is doing better today, I would wait and see - if it comes back, I would take him to the vet. It may help to keep a record of the incidents when he is limping. If there is a heath guarantee, you may want to have him x-rayed before the age limit on the guarantee. With HD, it can skip generations, so his pedigree could give you some idea if there are no elbow/hip ratings for the grandparents, and back.
I thought of pano but I guess I thought that would be more severe.
Its weird, I just took him for another leash walk (normally he has an offleash walk every day). On the driveway I thought I saw him take a few bad steps but not again for the whole walk. I even let him offleash for a few minutes on the straight stretch kind of just to see him trot. I did not see a bad step.
He is a little bananas from not having his daily runs. That's why I decided he would be better with a leash walk than nothing because he will explode and act a fool and probably hurt himself a lot more than a leash walk might.
I just can't justify rushing him off to the vet for this, I almost don't think they woukd even see it if they trotted him on a smooth surface, I don't. If it doesn't go away promptly like the other one, I will take him. If it is pano, there is nothing to urgently do anyway, right? I definitely don't think he is in enough pain to warrant NSAIDs, and anyway I have carprofen if he was
That's my understanding also about pano that rest and maybe some pain medications. I also think that pano affects different legs so he wouldn't be favoring all the time the same one. I guess I would just get him back to his normal routine and see how he does.
Well he is still occasionally limping. Only on gravel. On grass he trots fine. I thought I felt a bit of swelling on the paw pad, so I asked my husband to look at it without telling him that and he thought he saw it too without my suggesting it. So this put off the vet one more day...if it is only his pad no big deal...I feel like I am rushing off to the vet every other week.
Last night we soaked his front paws in betadine and epsom in case it is a bruise or thorn or a little infected puncture of some kind.
The only limping on gravel thing makes me think it MUST be the pad, that just doesn't make sense for anything else, does it?
I have still only leash walked him but unfortunately he is getting kind of explosive when I let him out to potty in the yard (like explosive zoomies), so I am not sure that is even really helping.
I can't see anything on his pad. nor can I get him to react to my squeezing it. Well, twice he did pull his foot away quickly but when I tried to repeat it he didn't care so I am not convinced her was saying it hurt or he just wanted me to stop frigging with him.
Anyway, I can still go all day not seeing it and then let him on the driveway and he hits that gravel and head bobs a little. I am very torn. Hubby NOT on board with running off to the vet again. I will over ride him eventually if I can't get it cleared up. kinda sucks!
That's too bad Since it is the same paw, I can guess it is a bruise from a sharp stone on the gravel - maybe hit a nerve. So when he trots on gravel, it hits that nerve. None of my dogs liked to walk on gravel for any long length- maybe for that reason. That would explain why you can't see anything. What I would do if I though that, would be to let him have his normal routine and if the limping gets worse, then call the vet. The only thing, is that, being as your around horses, I could understand you being concerned about a small puncture wound. So, then I would suggest calling the vet and inquiring about a tetanus shot.
I called the vet. No appointments tomorrow, fri or sat. She said to call in the morning to see if there was a cancellation. So I will keep checking & if it hasn't gone away by the time they can fit him in, I will probably go drop another fortune on ex rays :/
We are going to soak him again tonight when my husband is home to help. It couldn't hurt
I swear I can't catch a break with this kid! I already had abdominal x rays the time I panicked and thought he ate part of a toy & Was puking with diarrhea....sigh....it was just a belly ache from eating wild turkey poop. That's my boy!!
That's understandable. I would have acted the same if I thought he ate part of a toy. And what a relief it wasn't! I bet he doesn't want to go anywhere near any turkey poop Hope he is feeling better today or you were able to take him to the vet.
So this morning I was all excited because he trotted sound on the driveway (gravel). And this after I let him run offleash yesterday because he was going bonkers. Tried again an hour later, still had not seen the limp in more than 24 hr and this was the first two times trotting sound on gravel. So I thought hooray he is all better and didn't call vet.
So we went for our walk this afternoon and he came barreling down to the driveway and I saw him pick up a piece of sharp gravel in that paw, hop, then limp a few steps, I bet this is how it all started. I should have leashed him before the driveway, when he runs in the woods it is that nice soft leaf litter. I think he zinged himself again. We are still soaking him and he is being a pretty good sport about it. So I am dissapointed that we ended the day like that. When I walked him in the woods yesterday I did leash him towards the end because he has a habit of running headlong down this one hill. Today I went the other way and thought he wouldn't do it because we didn't come down his favorite hill but I underestimated how pent up he was
So if only I'd have leashed him at the end. But it was definitely an improvement over yesterday.
That's good news that you did find out that the gravel was causing the problem. Maybe applying some Mushers Secret to his paws would help protect them . Changing the route was a good try
No limping yesterday!! I will be taking extra care not to let him do zoomies near the driveway (gravel) I think he is so excited he can't make the connection that the gravel gives him owies when he runs on it too hard. Once he goes to zoomie land in his head, he is invincible, he can fly, and gravel does not hurt at top speed :/
His alter ego is Adventure Boy, he even has a theme song (face / palm)
I actually joked to my husband that I was going to make him a cape that said Adventure Boy lol
It doesn't help that he is a big boy and not especially all that graceful or light on his feet from time to time. I mean, he has a beautiful fluid trot sometimes...other times? 80 pound wrecking ball
If not cape, perhaps he would wear a bandana with adventure boy on I know what you mean, my Sting is a big boy also. At 10 months, he was 109 lbs. (he matured at 126 lbs, 30" height) and was quite a klutz at times. But, when it came to chasing rabbits or playing the fetch/tug game that he still loves, he could turn on a dime and smoothly changed leads.
I used to walk a GSD about that size. Hard to believe unless you've been up close with one. I don't think my kid will get that big.
The first time I let myself into his house to walk him he ran up and put his paws on my chest and barked in my face. Good thing the horses taught me not to lose my cool under pressure! It was the first time anyone outside the family had let themselves into his house. He may have put a gray hair on my head that day lol.
You were lucky he didn't knock you down! I agree with you that having been around horses does help to get along with a big dog especially for someone like me when the big dog outweighs me Like when Sting shies away from the street sewer grates, I just turn him in a circle. I think your boy will top out at mid 90's - like Sting's dam, his sire was 85.
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