Gusto came home from hiking last Saturday with a limp. I couldn't find any marks, or swelling, or heat or anything, so I figured he'd taken a bad step and just tweaked something. He certainly had no interested in letting the lameness slow him down at all. I've never dealt with lameness issues in a dog (although I could write a book about my experiences with it in horses!), but figured I'd rest him a few days and see what happened.
He improved noticeably every day, getting to the point Tuesday where I could only kind of make out a limp right after he'd hop off the bed or a chair. Wednesday, I couldn't even see that. He was clearly losing his mind (he's used to at least an hour of off-leash running a day), so I brought him to agility practice figuring I'd let him run a few tunnels and do some focus work, but keep him off contacts and jumps. Well, one run through a tunnel and he was noticeably lame again. I had a few people look him over - again, nobody can see anything.
All of this is made worse by the fact that the constant vet issues I've been dealing with for the last six months or so are ongoing. The vet I had started using...well, for a variety of reasons, the dogs are being moved. I don't know to where. I figured I'd have a while to work it out since both got their heartworm/lyme tests and exams done already this spring.
A friend got me in with her vet, who is certified in chiro. She saw him on Friday morning, and said she absolutely doesn't think it is a broken bone issue (I went in, among other things, to see if he needed an x-ray), and couldn't find any heat or anything in the leg. His neck was apparently really out on the side he was lame on, and she said she suspected there was an irritated or trapped nerve there that may have been causing the lameness. She thought it might be fixed, and said to rest until Sunday and then try doing a bit with him to see how he was.
And I know it is only Saturday - but I don't think he's any better. He still looks fine wandering around the house most of the time, but has moments where he moves quickly or something, and is really gimpy for a minute or two after. I don't see this magically being fixed by tomorrow. He's also starting to go nuts. He doesn't care that he's lame, he wants to DO SOMETHING. We've worked so hard at getting him 'in the game' for all training, that even the more mellow stuff we do is fairly high impact.
I'm partially venting, partially stressing out loud, and partially looking for advice/ideas. If he's just pulled something that even a vet can't get him to react to while manipulating his body - would he still be like this a week later? I thought about trying to get a referral to our local orthopedic vet - but I really think it is soft-tissue, so is that even relevant? Plus I still need to call and get the records transferred to another vet, and holy crap I hate making calls like that and having to deal with the inevitable questions.
Someone wave a magic wand and set my puppy right again, please?
He improved noticeably every day, getting to the point Tuesday where I could only kind of make out a limp right after he'd hop off the bed or a chair. Wednesday, I couldn't even see that. He was clearly losing his mind (he's used to at least an hour of off-leash running a day), so I brought him to agility practice figuring I'd let him run a few tunnels and do some focus work, but keep him off contacts and jumps. Well, one run through a tunnel and he was noticeably lame again. I had a few people look him over - again, nobody can see anything.
All of this is made worse by the fact that the constant vet issues I've been dealing with for the last six months or so are ongoing. The vet I had started using...well, for a variety of reasons, the dogs are being moved. I don't know to where. I figured I'd have a while to work it out since both got their heartworm/lyme tests and exams done already this spring.
A friend got me in with her vet, who is certified in chiro. She saw him on Friday morning, and said she absolutely doesn't think it is a broken bone issue (I went in, among other things, to see if he needed an x-ray), and couldn't find any heat or anything in the leg. His neck was apparently really out on the side he was lame on, and she said she suspected there was an irritated or trapped nerve there that may have been causing the lameness. She thought it might be fixed, and said to rest until Sunday and then try doing a bit with him to see how he was.
And I know it is only Saturday - but I don't think he's any better. He still looks fine wandering around the house most of the time, but has moments where he moves quickly or something, and is really gimpy for a minute or two after. I don't see this magically being fixed by tomorrow. He's also starting to go nuts. He doesn't care that he's lame, he wants to DO SOMETHING. We've worked so hard at getting him 'in the game' for all training, that even the more mellow stuff we do is fairly high impact.
I'm partially venting, partially stressing out loud, and partially looking for advice/ideas. If he's just pulled something that even a vet can't get him to react to while manipulating his body - would he still be like this a week later? I thought about trying to get a referral to our local orthopedic vet - but I really think it is soft-tissue, so is that even relevant? Plus I still need to call and get the records transferred to another vet, and holy crap I hate making calls like that and having to deal with the inevitable questions.
Someone wave a magic wand and set my puppy right again, please?