Any Ideas As To Cause Of Limp?

[Guest Doggone]

Autumn started limping, favoring her left front leg, a couple of weeks ago. I took her to the vet where she had extensive x-rays taken, but nothing showed up. The vet put her on Rimadyl and limited walks for about a week, feeling it may have been a soft-tissue problem.

The limp abated somewhat, but now it has begun again, even more evident than before. She has never been very active, so I doubt it's from movement. Initially, I thought "arthritis" (she just turned 8), but having it myself, I've thought of it as a gradual onset, not this quick change from non-limp to limp.

She's not making any "pain" noises, either in moving or in getting up and down; she's just limping .

Do any of you have any suggestions of possible causes that I can share with the vet next week?

Thank in advance for any responses .

[inugrey]

have you considered a corn on her foot?

[Time4ANap]

have you considered a corn on her foot?

 

Was just posting the same thing. make sure to check the paws for a cut, corn, sprained toe, etc.

[Guest Doggone]

Her feet were checked by the vet, especially since the x-rays were clear, plus I've been checking them just to make sure that nothing was missed. And no, there's no sign of any problem with her foot, nor does she seem to have any sensitive areas when I'm examining it.

I'm guessing that it may be arthritis, and that she may need to go onto anti-inflammatory meds. My worst fear is that the x-rays were misread, and that it's more serious.

Autumn is my first greyhound, and although I've had dogs (4) and cats (2), I've never had to deal with any real health conditions. She is also such a sweetie that I hate seeing her having problems .

[dmswartzfager]

Front leg limping could also be a sign of neck pain.

[Guest Doggone]

Front leg limping could also be a sign of neck pain.

I didn't realize that, but it's something I will mention to the vet.

Thank you.

[silverfish]

Everything should be investigated, but I'd like to tell you Sid's story.

About a year ago he began having some difficulty with walking from time to time. It's always hard to diagnose limping in Sid, because he's a tripod, so everything was looked at: back,hip, hock, front legs, toes, muscles, neck, everything we could think of. He had a certain amount of arthritic change in his hip but not so much that it would account for the amount of trouble he was having. We also found some stiffness and cramping in the muscles of his back and figured that it was largely that he was a rear leg tripod and getting knotted because of his strange gait. He was put on painkillers, which seemed to help.

Over the past year, I've noticed more and more that he was preferring to walk on grass when possible, though he'd walk on tarmac quite OK if not. As time went on and he had more and more episodes of cramping, I began to feel that a foot was the problem - I couldn't tell which foot, but I felt it was a foot. He went back to the vet numerous times. They looked at everything, including his feet, and nothing was to be seen. I was advised to get a massager, which I did, and it helped a lot! So on we went, and we added in hydrotherapy to relax his back.

But the cramping episodes continued. It got so that his back end would collapse when we were crossing a road, or at seemingly random times. More convinced than ever that it was his foot (his back foot) I took him back. Again, nobody could see anything amiss. His painkillers were increased.

It was only during the last month that, after a hydrotherapy session while I was helping to dry him, that I noticed a faint, darkish circle on the third toe of his back foot. It appeared to have a tiny pinprick at the centre. Thinking maybe he'd got something in there, I had a look when we got home, while it was still wet. I dug at it, very gently, with a very large flat sided needle, and I discovered that I was removing shallow layers of keratin. Yep, he had a corn.

The vets took some convincing - despite the fact that they are the track vets and see a lot of greyhounds, both racers and retired - because when it dried out, it became invisible again. It took two more visits before I asked them to refer us to the nearest vet school. Even then, it took a general medicine guy, an orthorpaedic surgeon and a neurologist to decide that that tiny little corn - barely visible to the naked eye and completely flat - was probably the cause of the problem. He went in last Tuesday for corn removal and they took out a corn of between half and one centimetre deep. Only the merest tip was visible on the pad surface.

 

Sorry to spin such a long yarn here in your thread, but even though you can't seen anything on the pad surface, I would go around and pinch each toe, firmly, at the sides (not on the pad surface) to see if you get a flinch.

 

It may not be your girl's problem, but it's worth bearing in mind that corns can grow huge below the surface before they show. I so wish we'd discovered Sid's corn earlier, because he's already SO much less painful, even though he is still in the early days of healing and hasn't even had the stitches out yet. We've cut his painkillers down by half (going gradually) and he's happier, walking easier and NOT cramping up the in back as he has been doing.

 

Good luck with Autumn. I hope you find her problem quickly, and that it's something simple and easy to fix!

[Charlies_Dad]

There are many possible causes of a limp. Very importantly IMHO is that the films are reviewed by another radiologist or savvy vet. Did the films include her shoulder area as well or just her leg?

 

I agree her neck could very well be the issue or a soft tissue injury that can take a while to heal, a corn that you cannot see, etc. I hope it's nothing serious for Autumn.

[MP_the4pack]

Sometimes limping shows up before something shows up on xray..........praying that's not the case.

[a_daerr]

Very importantly IMHO is that the films are reviewed by another radiologist or savvy vet.

 

Ditto. Praying it's nothing, but I've known several osteo dogs who needed two and three films before anything was conclusive.

I'd get a second opinion on the x-rays just for piece of mind.

[Guest Doggone]

Thanks to all of you for your responses (even the ones that I'd rather not contemplate). I'll definitely mention all of these next week. My biggest fear is osteo, of course, but I'm hoping it's something less.

As far as her foot is concerned, I've done the pinching, the prodding, the spreading of toes, etc. and she has no reaction other than boredom if I take too long, so I don't think this is a foot problem, but instead, something higher up.

Yes, the x-rays encompassed the shoulder area, but I'm not sure if they also encompassed her neck.

She's less "limpy" today, but that's nothing new........it seems to be inconsistent and I cannot pinpoint what starts it; she really doesn't do much but lie around ( and that's been the same since she came to me about a year ago).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's "just" arthritis, or maybe a pinched nerve.

[AZGreyGirl]

In the SW or if your dog has been through the SW, there is always the possibility of a Valley Fever. Limping is how it often reveals itself. A simple blood check will let you know. Quite common here in AZ.

[Guest Doggone]

I would guess that Austin is considered the SW (?)......I've never heard of Valley Fever, so that's another thing to discuss with her vet.

The one thing that's puzzling is the inconsistency of Autumn's limping........one day yes, the next day no, half day yes, half day no. None of my past dogs were anything like this......I heard that greyhounds have different physiologies, but this just seems weird. Plus, she doesn't seem disturbed by it at all; I'm the one who's concerned.

[Guest mrs]

My greyhound, Smitty, started limping on Christmas day. X-rays were clear and like you we did pain meds and rest without much relief. He saw an orthopedist a couple weeks later who redid x-rays and did an ultrasound. He has supraspinatus tendinopathies in both legs, worse in the one he is limping on, and arthritis in the leg he is limping on. Right now he is going through some rehab with exercises and cold laser therapy. Good luck.

[Guest Anya]

I'm having the exact same problem with Lara who is five. The limping comes and goes, even within the same day, and the x-rays (evaluated twice) were clear. The vet referred us to NC State's veterinary program, but the earliest they can see her is March 19. In the meantime we will be trying cold laser therapy and continuing with NSAIDs. I really hate the vagueness of this problem, and though the x-rays did put my mind at ease about osteo, I am still somewhat worried about it,

 

Doggone, please keep us updated on Autumn - I'll be very curious to see what it turns out to be. I would love for both our sweeties to just have a case of stealth-corns. I will also post any updates about Lara.

[Guest Doggone]

Well, the vet still feels it's a soft tissue problem that just needs time, and since she's been limp-free for a couple of days, I'm inclined to agree with him. Her new issue is a low t-4 level (below 0.5), so now they're performing an additional test to either confirm or negate hypothyroidism . There aren't other symptoms, but he (and I) want to be sure.

She's scheduled for her dental next week, with probable extraction(s), but the t-4 level won't preclude anesthesia. The rest of her blood work and exam was excellent .

Now that she's considered a "senior" (8), the exam was more inclusive, and other than the one anomaly, she tested as a "much younger dog" . Yaaaay Autumn!

Edited February 27, 2014 by Doggone

[Guest Anya]

Thanks for the update - I hope Autumn continues to be limp-free. Is she still on Rimadyl?

 

Lara went to a different clinic that has cold laser therapy, and the vet there reiterated that it is probably a soft tissue problem - he thinks it's in the elbow. She gets her first laser therapy tonight, and two more this week, and then it tapers down over the coming weeks. I really hope it helps because I don't want to be giving her NSAIDs and restricted walks for months on end. She really gets insistent about her walks. If she doesn't get enough walking in, she burns off the extra energy by running around the house and up and down the stairs, which kind of negates the effect of not taking her for walks.

[Guest Doggone]

Thanks for the update - I hope Autumn continues to be limp-free. Is she still on Rimadyl?

 

Lara went to a different clinic that has cold laser therapy, and the vet there reiterated that it is probably a soft tissue problem - he thinks it's in the elbow. She gets her first laser therapy tonight, and two more this week, and then it tapers down over the coming weeks. I really hope it helps because I don't want to be giving her NSAIDs and restricted walks for months on end. She really gets insistent about her walks. If she doesn't get enough walking in, she burns off the extra energy by running around the house and up and down the stairs, which kind of negates the effect of not taking her for walks.

Autumn is pretty much limp-free, so I think the vet was right. She only took Rimadyl for a week, but it didn't seem to make a difference.......the shorter walks and time were probably the best treatment. I've increased the distance of our walks a bit, and if the weather here ever stops roller-coastering, I'll gradually increase them to our old ones, about 2-2 1/2 miles.

I don't have any steps in my townhome, so that may have helped some, too.

She's never been a prancy-dancy kind of hound to begin with, so she's just back to her sedate matronly way of walking. Because of her age, I do give her glucosamine/chondroitin supplements to help prolong the onset of arthritis (the vet felt it was beginning in one rear joint).

I do hope it's just a minor issue with Lara and that she feels better soon. Good luck

[GeorgeofNE]

If your vet never took x-rays (I'm sorry, I didn't read every reply) you need to consider a different vet. Any vet worth his or her salt knows that with the scary-high incidence of bone cancer in Greyhounds, any unexplained limp needs x-rays.

[Guest BlueCrab]

I may have missed this in one of the other posts, but if the limping seem more pronounced on hard or rough surfaces and less-so on grass and carpet, then you almost certainly are looking at a corn - even if you can't actually see it. If it's equal on all surfaces, then you can probably rule out a corn and move on to something else.

[Guest Doggone]

If your vet never took x-rays (I'm sorry, I didn't read every reply) you need to consider a different vet. Any vet worth his or her salt knows that with the scary-high incidence of bone cancer in Greyhounds, any unexplained limp needs x-rays.

Autumn is still limp-free, and since the x-rays were clear, I think the vet was correct.

She also has been checked for any paw problems, so we're going with a soft-tissue problem that has healed.

 

Today she is recuperating from yesterday's dental cleaning/surgery.........she had six extractions, mostly rear molars, and two "packings" (anti-biotics packed into deep pockets, hopefully to prolong the life of those teeth). Other than occasional swallowing sounds, she's been eating, resting, and otherwise back to her usual self.

So far, I'm feeling quite satisfied with her care under this vet.

[Guest Anya]

Awww... poor Autumn with all those extractions, but yay for still being limp-free. Lara is still limping on and off. She's had three laser therapy appointments so far. It's hard to tell whether it's working or not yet because I still give her NSAIDs on an as-needed basis. They said we wouldn't even start noticing until after 3 appointments anyway.

[Guest Anya]

I may have missed this in one of the other posts, but if the limping seem more pronounced on hard or rough surfaces and less-so on grass and carpet, then you almost certainly are looking at a corn - even if you can't actually see it. If it's equal on all surfaces, then you can probably rule out a corn and move on to something else.

 

Thank you for mentioning this! I had looked at Lara's foot before and didn't see any corns, and the vet also checked for corns, but didn't see any. Well, after reading your post, I decided to check again, and there was a corn clear as day! I guess it finally worked its way to the surface. So the problem may finally be resolved. I'll take her in tomorrow to get it hulled.