Injured leg on my lab

[EXTREME]

I have a question for you guys. On Sunday morning my 4 month old lab came up kind of lame. She put on plenty of miles on Saturday playing with the kids and was way wore out. I put her to bed on Saturday night and she was fine...on Sunday morning she couldn't walk on one of her front legs. I figured that she sprained it and it must have seized up overnight. It is swollen right about where a human's wrist would be. She puts very little weight on it and she yelps when you touch it. I hate to bring her to the vet just to tell me it is sprained....plus I am on a tight budget. My question is this...is this stuff common? If it is sprained, how long does it take to heal; if it isn't sprained...what is it? What else can I do? I iced it a couple of times today, but nothing else. Any help would be appreciated.

[Ryan_V]

you can give a baby asprin for pain, but I'd lean twards taking her in. Young dogs are pretty resilliant (my 8 month old gsp just got run over by a front tire of a car) and dogs in general are smart enough to not use something when it hurts. But the way you are describing the swelling, i'd take her in, just to be safe.

[DOC33]

My lab had the same thing after a good weekend of running at the farm. It took a day for the swelling to go down and a couple of days later no longer limping.

[EXTREME]

Well this morning it is a little better. I iced it a couple of times last night and the swelling has went down some. She is putting a little bit of weight on it this morning, but not much. If this dog was 8+ years old I would be less cautious, but at 4 months...I thought they were bullet proof. She was way wore out that day, and had no signs of anything wrong. Amazing that when you wake up, you are gimp. Kind of amazes me. If she is not better by the weekend, I will have to bite the bullet and bring her in.

[Harmonica Bear]

Has the dog had any exposure to ticks? Lameness in a leg can be a symptom of Lymes.

see below

a bit scary

[Walleye Widower]

Post deleted by person who wrote it…

[EXTREME]

I agree with you widower. Got her out this afternoon and she seems to be about 80+%. I am pretty happy as I thought the worst. I think that she was just overworked...even though it was just a busy day. Must have caught up with her I guess. She hasn't had a vaccination for about a month now so I know that isn't it. Just a reminder that they are still babies and need their rest. Thanks for all your opionions.

[jeffreyd]

My vet told me not to work my labs hard for the first year. Normal play and running is fine but limit hard work and jumping til they are over a year. My year and half old has a bad knee now so he comes up limping after playing and then laying down. Vet gave me some vetformin for him seems to help along with gluocemean. both labs get that.