Any experiences with this?

[MadeToFly]

I apologize as I'm really coming off as a newbie here with these questions, but all past animals have *never* had health issues (except occasionally 'hot spots') so I'm at a loss with how many bad things keep happening.

My puppy broke her leg back in November (4 months old) when the tibia shifted halfway off the growth plate (of her 'ankle'), there were a few small fractures in the tibia, as well as an odd bone growth off her fibula that also chipped (chip could not be found). At the time surgery was much too expensive and the risk of infection was very high, plus very invasive. We opted to splint it (after it got adjusted) and limit her exercise/movement for the next 5 weeks. She received weekly vet checks and was healing at a great rate - the vet was VERY happy about the healing rate. She received x-rays every other week to make sure everything was syncing up.

Fast forward, splint came off, we took time trying to build up muscling and she was as rambunctious as ever. Nothing bothered her. However, after a while we noticed there wasn't as much muscle built up as we expected, but the vet explained that since the leg fused straight she wouldn't be able to physically build up the identical muscles on her good leg. Okay, that's fine.

Fast forward again and up until now she's been fine on it. Very energetic, bouncing around a lot, goes out on daily walks and had lately been my jogging partner (not long distances.. I'm a bit too out of shape!). Again, still not significant muscle growth there but it didn't bother her so again, we didn't worry.

But last weekend she woke my dad up one morning (my mother and I were on vacation out of the country) and had her leg hiked up and wouldn't put weight on it. My dad waited about 30-60 minutes to see if she was just having a cramp but still wouldn't put it down so he took her to the vet. Vet palpated it and couldn't find anything abnormal. With a little massage she straightened her leg again and was fine, and the vet flexed it without an issue and nothing that concerned him at all. He said it didn't feel like anything was broken and obviously not dislocated. They went to get an x-ray and (this is my luck) the machine was down. So he gave my dad liquid pain meds (Metacam?) and said when it runs out to book an appointment to come in for an x-ray or if things get worse.

This has been happening on a daily basis (without the meds) where she can run, bounce and maul my other dog without an incident and then be walking around normal and suddenly get a startled look, hike her bad leg up and scoot towards me as if something bit her in the butt. I massage that leg for about 30 seconds and then she relaxes, and all is fine again. When she finally gets the pain meds (we have to wait til she eats) it doesn't happen at all. But yesterday, even with the pain meds she hiked it up, etc. It seems to happen about twice a day now. Oddly enough it never happens when she's running, bouncing and hopping in the snow but when she's walking calmly.

The meds should be done today/tomorrow so she'll be going to the vet's soon but I was just wondering if anyone has had this type of experience before or any knowledge on this?

** The reason we didn't just take her to a different vet is the only other one local to me is not one I'm ever impressed with. They're extremely expensive and don't seem to be very knowledgable with anything out of the ordinary. They once tried to tell us that pyrometra was just a UTI (on an old unspayed cat.. we went to another vet for a second opinion)

 

[MicksMom]

From your description, it sounds to me like your pup might be getting muscle cramps or spasms. If she were my pup, I'd try to limit the amount of running around she does for awhile. At least until she sees the vet again. And no more jogging. Besides the injury she had, jogging isn't a good idea to do with a growing pup.

 

[Amanda885]

yeah, sounds like the muscle just needs some rest. keep an eye on it and see if it improvse over the weekend. if not, call your vet just to know for sure whats going on.. keep us posted!

 

[MadeToFly]

My first thought was a muscle cramp simply because she scoots like someone bit her in the butt, and with some gentle massaging she's fine again. She's not sensitive to any area of her leg getting massaged and often will come hopping over to me to get it massaged and then scurries off again. I just get concerned because it seems to become more frequent (it's happened 3 times so far today).
Jogging would be jogging around a city block or two - was that too much for her? I figured it's less than letting her go nutty at the hilly dog park. We haven't been to the dog park in about a month and a half (friend's dog got attacked there and a dog chased Maddie into a wheelbarrow once) and we haven't gone 'jogging' in about 2-2.5 weeks.

I'll lay off the exercise, perhaps she pulled a muscle goofing off with my other dog (or my dad) and it's simply protesting. I've been keeping her on a leash in the backyard when going out to pee (instead of giving her free reign to have hyper moments), it's in-and-out and I'll play lightly with her in the house so she doesn't get too loopy.

She uses that bad leg dominantly for things like scratching herself, so that's why we don't think anything is broken/dislocated.

The other thing that came to mind (it popped out at me when I was typing the OP) was that a piece of bone had chipped off the bone growth on her fibula - what if that bone chip is floating around and causing problems? I figured it'd pop up when she boots around though (which almost never happens). But there's no swelling and no tenderness that she's showing me. She has no issue with me probing her leg.

With bone chips in horses (in my experience) there's always been noticable swelling, the horse is lame and shows up a lot more when active.

Bah.
I'll definately update you all as we go, I might give the vet a call tomorrow to see if the X-Ray machine is up and running and we'll just bring her in before the meds are done.

 

[Romy]

There could be some scar tissue or deep tissue swelling that is pinching a nerve when she's had too much activity. Massage is good, it can break up scar tissue and help it reabsorb more quickly along with relieve tension.

You might consider putting her on this stuff in addition to having the vet figure it out:

Level 5000 Equine/Canine

It's liquid and absorbs way better than glucosamine pills, plus it has shark cartilage, MSM, and other things to help support soft tissue health. A friend of mine's puppy blew out his anterior cruciate ligament so badly it had to be completely removed. They did a total reconstructive surgery of his knee, and she was told he would always walk with a limp and probably get arthritis.

He's 6 years old now. His gait is beautiful, no limp whatsoever. No sign of arthritis. He jogs every day for a couple of miles with no problems. She's been supplementing him with that stuff every day since the injury, but you might only need to supplement with it until your puppy is done growing.

 

[colliewog]

I'd be curious if she's dealing with patellar luxation, either caused by improper use of the leg while splinted, or maybe even congenital. She was splinted during a major growth phase, so the leg would have been at a funky (yes, that's the technical term ) angle while healing in the splint.

 

[Camirab]

Hi there. Hope the vet gave you an answer.

It sounds like one of two things.

1. Muscle cramping because she is using a previously immobile limb and it's not used to the activity. If that's the case, you just need to limit her activity a bit and rehabilitate her slowly.

2. It could be muscle regeneration, kind of like "growing pains". Mot much to do about that, and it's completely normal.

 

[MadeToFly]

Update:

The vet visit was inconclusive
She got multiple x-rays and was palpated, checked over and he even had me jog her up and down a section of the hallway to see if it spurred anything.
The x-rays were fine, she does have some scar tissue built up but he doesn't think it's affecting anything.

The best conclusion he could come up with was that because her leg healed so straight (dead straight), the muscles are struggling to re-adjust themselves. He also thinks she's going through a growth spurt (she's 7.5 months old) and her muscles are struggling to keep up and keep re-adjusting, which is causing muscle cramps/spasms.

He just gave us more of the pain meds and said to give it to her if she's looking sore/uncomfortable, and he was going to call around to some collegues to see if they're run into anything like that and he'd get back to me. Until then, she just gets the meds if needed and he actually encouraged us to let her run around a bit (in the backyard) so that the muscles can figure themselves out, but don't overdue it by going for walks just yet.

He said to call him in a week or so to update him on anything, or if things get worse/we get concerned, to bring her in asap.

I don't know if she's improving or not because I get worried everytime she lifts the leg. But I've noticed if you ignore her that leg magically stretches out again. Outside she was finally enjoying stretching her legs (HUGE hyper moment) and stopped to hike her leg. She hobbled around for a about 40-60 seconds before stopping, putting the leg back down and continuing to harass my other dog.

Does that sound like just muscle cramps/spasms to you, or is there anything you disagree with the vet for?

I have 2 pictures that sort of show her bad leg (left hind leg).

I've just noticed recently (those photos aren't THE most recent) since this started that the bad leg toes out a bit more. Is that just a sign of muscle trying to develop and adjust?