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)
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)