Lab Leg?

[fishin58]

My parents have a springer/black lab, after the last hunt she has been limping on her front leg. She has done this before but will get better after a couple days. It has been over a week and she has not gotten much better.

She holds the leg out to the side and tries not to use it. She has no pain in her paw, elbow or leg in general. I can rub her shoulder and she has no pain but if I move her leg across her chest she has discomfort in her shoulder. She will walk with it sticking out to the side.

My Dad talked to his retired vet and said labs have a bad nerve in there shoulder/leg? And that this nerve can be removed? Anybody heard of this?

[caseymcq]

I am not a vet and by no means an expert on health issues in dog but it sounds like it might be Osteochondritis Dissecans(OCD)? It is a problem with the cartilage in the joints. Hopefully that isn't what it is but I think the only way to diagnose it is to get an x-ray.

[blarkey]

Lets hope its not an ACL or something if after a week its not any better take it in to the vet it can only get more expensive the longer you wait

My parents have a springer/black lab, after the last hunt she has been limping on her front leg. She has done this before but will get better after a couple days. It has been over a week and she has not gotten much better.

She holds the leg out to the side and tries not to use it. She has no pain in her paw, elbow or leg in general. I can rub her shoulder and she has no pain but if I move her leg across her chest she has discomfort in her shoulder. She will walk with it sticking out to the side.

My Dad talked to his retired vet and said labs have a bad nerve in there shoulder/leg? And that this nerve can be removed? Anybody heard of this?

[brittman]

Make an appointment with a good Vet.

[CJH]

Ditto. If she's still in pain, I would do it as soon as I could.

[trailratedtj]

im not gonna hijack the post but maybe help expand it.

i have a 105lb choc. lab(maybe 110 with winter wieght) and he has almost the same symtoms. I was told my dog had abnormally large joints at 10 weeks at his first vet visit. Around 4 months we bought our first house and the pup gained a yard meaning i could run him alot harder and stretch him out a bit. one night me and the beast(about 8 months now) were wrestling in the floor for a good solid 15 minutes, after he bowed out i jumped on the couch and he took to his bed for a nap. 2 hours later he came walking into the living room limping favoring his front left leg. I analized the leg and saw that any movement i put on the leg caused him no visible pain. a couple days passed and it dissappeared. a few months later and it happened again after a training session. Since he was getting neutered in the couple days i figured id wait it out again. While he was down the vet performed x-rays for OCD. We had previously discussed OCD when the first problem came about. The x-rays ended up coming back negative. My dog is now just shy of 2 years old and this problem has accured on every leg since the first one. Everytime it nomally last 2-5days and it dissappears. When its going on he has no slow in his step and you can only tell when he stops running or walking or while he's eating. right now as we speak the problem is going on again with his passenger side rear leg(my wife describes it this way).

have any of you guys every had this accur in your dogs?

its seriously getting old and is making no sense at all anymore. last year was already totaled over $1000 dollars in vet bills and i dont want 2009 to be the same. Plus its getting to were its interfering with hunting alot.

[311Hemi]

Trailratedtj....these dogs can take a lot of pain and it's possible that on any given Sunday one joint on one leg is hurting more than the other and thus he is only show symptoms on the one that is worse. Who ruled out the OCD, your normal vet? If so I would recommend getting a second opinion. Sometimes elbow issues can be seen on X-rays...and sometime it's very difficult to really tell anything. We suspected same thing in our lab at around 1.5-2 years of age and ended up taking him to the U of MN. They were not able to definitively tell anything by the x-rays but had a good idea that it was that joint. My only option was exploratory surgery and they went it arthroscopicly to visually inspect the joint. I ended up having them inspect both joints at the same time as it was cheaper than having to go back at a later date if something was by chance wrong with his other elbow.....even though he had no symptoms in that one. End result....one elbow was bad (the one he was lame on) and they had to remove fragments from the joint (FCP). The other elbow looked good. He is now 3.5 years old and has shown no lameness on either elbow. I know it's a matter of time until arthritis starts setting in....but hopefully it's a ways off yet. My dog has been VERY expensive but those expenses have helped his quality of life so it was worth it to me.

Fishin58....I would get a second opinion before removing any nerves. I have never heard of that but I would make sure they rule out joint issues before doing any surgery.

Either way...second opinion is always worth while, and I recommend a vet school or orthopedic vet who has a lot of experience in dealing with this issues. Also....I would pass on a recommendation from two surgeons at the U of MN to have the dogs on a good quality Glucosamine + MSM, and a good quality fish oil (Omega 3's).

[fishin58]

I called several Vets, we did take her in and they xrayed the shoulder and everything was pretty sound. The shoulder blade was slightly turned and she is turning it more to relieve pressure. Also she had some swelling in the muscle, the Vet believes she fell or was hit somehow? She is in a cone and has the leg aced to her side until this Friday, we are hoping the swelling is down and the shoulder blade has turned backed to normal.

Trailrat.. I talked to 3 different vets, some thought it could be a pinched nerve and that is why, they sometimes come out of it after a few days. They suggested rubbing the shoulder to relieve some tension. Also the one Vet place I called also had a chiropractor availabile.

[trailratedtj]

thanks hemi and fishin58.

hemi, this was my normal vet that has been seeing my dog since we moved to the west metro. The vet is really good and has treated a ton of OCD patients. She and her Husband both hunt and have retrieving breeds. The husband is a vet also. The female vet did the diagnosis the first time the problem came about and after the second episode both he and she diagnosis and examined the x-rays. The both came up with the same conclusion.

They ruled out OCD but not totally. the said it could be a "flap" and not a fragment. My problem is this is not occuring in just the front legs but yet all four. maybe i should talk to the the U of M. Maybe it is soreness and fatiges easily.

fish58, i have tried massaging his legs and joints and it seem to help sometimes but only temporary, this is another reason i believe its a soreness.

on another note, he woke up walking just fine this morning, this happens alot, by the time i get home though he maybe favoring it again. It seems to help him sometimes when he rest it for a while and sometimes he wakes up and its worse than before he went to sleep.

my dog is a jigsaw puzzle.

[311Hemi]

I called several Vets, we did take her in and they xrayed the shoulder and everything was pretty sound.

I talked to 3 different vets, some thought it could be a pinched nerve and that is why, they sometimes come out of it after a few days.

So did your dog see at least two different vets...or did you just call them?

So your dog has been to two different vets?

They have ruled out any elbow issues?

Trailrated.....I personally believe the U of MN is a great option for a second opinion. Yes, you do have to spend money but in the end I feel they are very good at what they do. I am just going to say this for the sake of saying it (nothing again yours, anyone else, or my vet)....but it seems most vets people use are "very experienced" in diagnosing all issues. While I agree there are many good ones out there, including my own which has diagnosed everything properly based on second and third opinions from different facilities, I still feel second opinions are worthwhile. Aside from a few I know in the metro....one being a surgeon that does the majority of surgeries in the metro and another having recent retired from Stillwater Vetrinary Clinic.....I think the U of MN is the best option if you can't pinpoint a diagnosis.

Have they ruled out Lymes disease? With pain shifting from leg to leg that is certainly a possibility.

[fishin58]

I called several vets, but I took her to my local vet. She is my parents dog and I am just trying to help. The xrays were helpful, he said everything else looked completely normal.

[trailratedtj]

they havent mentetioned nothing about lymes disease in any of the blood work thats been done. could you email me the name of the person i should talk to at the U?

dnelson @ oaconsulting com

[311Hemi]

I believe is a specific test just for Lymes that most likely is not a part of the normal blood tests they perform....something to at least ask your vet about.

I can email you if you have any more questions......but just call to make an appointment if your going to go to the U of MN. I don't have anyone specific that I use, but I have seen a couple different ortho surgeons there. They will get you to the appropriate person. They do require an normal examination for the first visit.

Fishin...all I can say is personally they should get a second opinion before going into surgery. I don't know anything about removing nerves or cost....but they better be sure if it was my dog!

[fishin58]

311hemi that was just My dads retired vet friend that had talked about that. None of the other vets had heard of it either. Kind of strange...the nerve was not the problem this time. But I think that is what has slowed her in the past.

[fishnhooks]

My Lab occasionally has had the same type of problem. It was more frequent this spring and summer. I had him to two Vets and two different sets of x-rays. I had the first vet also test for Lymes and the results were negative. He was on some anti-inflammatory pills, was not suppose to do any exercise, running, etc. for a month and I was supposed to keep the new pup away from him (no playing, chasing rabbits, squirrels, etc ). Didn’t seem to help, tried a few weeks more, no help.

I brought the x-rays from the first vet to the second one, they looked at them and they took a couple more at different angles. What I found out before I ran out of money was that he has a couple of discs that are a little too close together up by his shoulders, his joints were fine and no arthritis. He was on steroids for about a month and we had to do some exercises to get his front muscles built up. Seemed like it might have helped a little, but not a lot, tried that for another month, results where about the same. However, he has been fine this fall and winter for bird hunting and tearing around with the younger dog. Heck, maybe it worked. At this time it almost appears that not enough exercise or too much exercise aggravates the problem. Since I was told that it appears to be disc issues, I am thinking of bringing him to a doggy chiropractor if it starts acting up again. I am sure that I will get a response out of some of you with that one.

"hooks"

[LABS4ME]

One other affliction I have seen many times in 'bigger' labs, and almost always between 8-14 months of age, is a condition called Pan-osteitis. It is a traveling lameness that moves leg to leg. It is in essence nothing more than growing pains. It just takes time for the bones to catch up in growth and the dog has episodes of pain and lameness. They generally outgrow it at around 12 months of age.

Many dog owners spend a lot of money trying to diagnose their dogs lameness at this age, only to never come up with a true reason why. The dog eventually outgrows it and never shows signs again. The "pan" will baffle many vets. The 1st time I had a confirmed diagnosis was at the U after two other vets were left scratching there heads. I was told it was nothing to worry about and soon he would putgrow it and all would be fine. They were correct. i have seen it at least a half dozen other times since.

Just another question to put in your arsenal.

Good Luck!

Ken

[311Hemi]

Ken....I would agree also on Pano if his dog was younger. The only reason I didn't mention that is Trailrated said his dog is just shy of 2 years old. I guess the original poster didn't mention any the lameness changing leg so it didn't seem to fit there, but I don't see if he mentioned how old the dog is.

[fishin58]

She had a check-up yesterday after having the leg immoblized for a week, the vet was not happy with the progress. She is now in a aluminm boot of sort. It is round at the top and has a rod going down each side of her leg. Hopefully this helps straighten the shoulder out. She will have this apparatus for 3 weeks and then a check-up. Pretty sad day for my parents and me, they said if it does not work out with this, they talked of amputation.

[LABS4ME]

oops sorry... I was refering to 'trailrated's' dog. I thought I read his dog was 14 mo. old.

Boy Fishin... sounds like a tough bind to be in. I wish you and the pooch well, but do give serious consideration to a couple of ortho vets advice before pulling the trigger on something as serious as amputation.

Good Luck!

Ken

[fishin58]

Definately will, talked with mom this mornin and Lena is getteing around the house pretty well. So that is a plus, I just hope she bounces back.

[311Hemi]

What did they give for a diagnosis? I would assume if they talked about considering amputation they know whats wrong?