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My Greyhound Is Limping On Her Back Left Leg


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My dog had a small limp for a couple of days and then splayed out on our floors last night and suddenly could not use or put weight on the leg that she was limping on at all. We took her to the vet last night and had an x-ray done of her back left leg. Vet said everything looked fine except her enlarged heart and heart murmur. After going home I looked up enlarged hearts for greyhounds and realized the vet might not have any clue at all what is wrong. He ordered a blood test to see if she has enlarged heart disease(sorry, forgot the name). Test is called PropBNP. Our greyhound is 9 years old and does have some sort of un-diagnosed focal seizures of some kind that happen once or twice a year(eyes dilate, circles to the left, scared to walk down hallway). The vet was trying to link the enlarged heart and neurological issues to the limp but I am not convinced at all and upset that we didn't find out what is wrong with her leg. The vet seemed concerned that her good back leg(right one) was extremely weak and shaking from having weight on it. Vet said that should not happen and is a huge concern. During the exam she made no whimpers and gave no signs of pain. She would occasionally slip her paw from pointing backwards with top(fur part) touching table to touching the exam table with her toe pads during the exam. She is now on Tramadol, Gabapentin, and minocycline. Vet said she couldn't "feel" the leg. We had previously made an appointment for Thursday at our usual vet and have decided to keep it even though we will be paying for everything again a second time. We are thinking of also getting an x-ray of the neck and now i am wondering why the vet last night didn't ask us if we wanted an x-ray of her neck while she was under the anesthesia. She could have a pinched nerve in her neck and the vet didn't even mention that. Last night when my husband raised her leg (when she was on her side) she whimpered. He is convinced the issue is in the hip area. Now our girl is not eating. We are getting down the meds with cream cheese but she won't eat and drink as of last night. Last night when going through what the vet gave us I realized we didn't even receive a paper of the results of our $850 emergency exam and x-ray. It is hard to remember everything that he said. This may have been an over-cite because we were there as an emergency after hours until 9pm. We sill don't have any answers and we are very upset.

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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I can't help you with an opinion, but am sorry that you are going thru this and your girl is in pain.

Irene Ullmann w/Flying Odin and Mama Mia in Lower Delaware
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Definitely get her in to see her own vet, as soon as you can, if possible, but definitely keep the Thursday appt. It could be so many things - related and unrelated, serious or not - that could be sorted out by a vet more familiar with greyhound issues (or even more familiar with your individual dog).

 

FWIW, if it's a soft tissue injury, or something involving muscles/nerves, the meds she was given should help. Try giving her small portions of a bland diet until she's feeling better (low fat protein like rinsed ground chicken/turkey), and a easily digestible carb source (overcooked rice or pasta, sweet potatoes).

Chris - Mom to: Felicity (DeLand), and Andi (Braska Pandora)

52592535884_69debcd9b4.jpgsiggy by Chris Harper, on Flickr

Angels: Libby (Everlast), Dorie (Dog Gone Holly), Dude (TNJ VooDoo), Copper (Kid's Copper), Cash (GSI Payncash), Toni (LPH Cry Baby), Whiskey (KT's Phys Ed), Atom, Lilly

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I am so so sorry you are going through this. Call the e-vet today and ask for them to email you all the records - they may send them over to your other vet but I like to have them in hand so I can read them. I would also want the leg x-rays to be sent to your vet so they can review them. Can you call your regular vet and see if they can fit you in today? The meds could be affecting her appetite. If she normally gets kibble, a can of wet food or cooked chicken and rice could be more appetizing. But not drinking water is a bad sign. Unfortunately the kinds of symptoms she has are kind of generalized and hard for vets to pin down. We were in a similar situation a few years ago with our pup Batman. We never got a conclusive diagnosis.

Edited by muddgirl

8409816506_4027b1afc8.jpg

Batman (racing name CTW Battle Plan) adopted May 2011, passed away July 2017

Buffy (racing name CTW Bathsheba) adopted Oct 2012, passed away March 2022

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She has eaten some chicken, cream cheese(with meds) and dog biscuits. She got up around 3pm on her own and got water and went out to go #1. She has not yet gone #2. She is walking with 3 legs and the back right leg is shaking horribly and exhausting her. I carried her to her kennel but she would not go in and I decided to let her just lay down right outside of it. Her left leg when she is laying on her side is almost weightless and has zero resistance to me moving it any way. I don't think she can feel her left leg. It is less warm than the right leg. I am getting yesterdays x-rays tomorrow before her appointment and will go from there. I don't know what to do at this point with her being unable to stand more than twice a day for less than 5 minutes. Frustrated and I am going to be on my own carrying her everywhere tomorrow. She isn't panting now but her heart is beating really fast. It could still be a pinched nerve but might be one in her back or leg area because the back legs are the issue and not the front legs.

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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When laying down i noticed that the opposite leg up front doesn't extend properly when she is laying on her side. Left back leg not working and front right leg not extending fully when she is laying on her side. I know that I have seen this mentioned somewhere but can't remember where.

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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My dog has been battling an iliopsoas injury (hip flexor), the vet told me it is frequently experienced if a dog splays out. Jack has been in significant pain, not weight bearing on right back leg, yelping, collapsing. He was x rayed, had a consult with Dr. Couto and dx. was iliopsoas strain, most likely from playing with other dogs and chasing frisbees in the yard. He has been on a variety of meds and is now doing much better. Gabapentin, meloxicam and methocarbamol were what helped him the most. Your dog may have a few things going on, but if there is an iliopsoas injury it is very painful and takes a long time to heal (at least with Jack). The vet can check the iliopsoas easily to see if your dog is painful there. Best of luck to you and I hope your girl feels better soon. Also Jack was recently diagnosed with a grade 4 hear murmur, he was evaluated by the cardiologist who said he has mitral valve prolapse but has no symptoms and we just need to keep an eye on it.

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We are still waiting on the results of the heart test. First vet ruled out broken bones with x-rays. Second vet thinks that it is a spinal cord injury or issue of some kind. The good:eating, drinking, went #2 finally after 2 and a half days, alert, no incontinence, the foot on the bad leg went from cold to warm, some pulsing in foot near the paw pad, getting up and standing on her own to go potty if i don't come get her when she first starts whining. The bad-not eating enough, still not bearing any weight on left back leg(not completely dragging it though), no diagnosis, I am still having to pick her up and carry her every couple of hours.

I have started some leg exercises with her back legs. She dozed while i was doing them with her legs so I feel like it is better than nothing at this point.

 

Other than that we are all just devastated. I am exhausted from carrying her to the yard every 2-3 hours and my whole body hurts. I am really trying to not give up on her at this point. I am going to see if i can gut a cloth grocery bag and make a lift to see if that will help.

One of my other greyhounds is a complete emotional wreck because her playmate is hurt. She is acting out, peed in her kennel, mopping around, not eating all of her food and is so upset.

Edited by betty_joanne

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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vet called back and said pro-bnp is moderately elevated and they want to do an ultrasound of her heart and leg on Monday. I called back to get the actual bnp numbers but the receptionist "didn't have access" to that information. Ughh. I feel like we are chasing the wrong thing but this vet seems convinced the heart is the issue. Extremely frustrated. Our family has discussed if and when for letting her go. It is not fair to her for us to drag her to the vet over and over if she does get worse or loses several a large percentage of her weight. Until then, I will just continue on with carrying her and keeping her comfortable.

Edited by betty_joanne

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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My grey had some similar symptoms- lameness in back legs, sometimes not using one back leg, sometimes I couldnt tell which leg seemed to hurt, but also trembling. Spine issue. Also not flipping back foot back to the correct position quickly - a sure sign of a spinal cord issue. I have had dachshunds with back problems and when the vet turned my greys foot upside down and she didnt immediately flip it over I knew that was a bad sign and also knew the problem. Shes on carprophen now (for 2 weeks) - definitely helping some but think we will try something different as I think she could get more improvement.

 

Curious... why was she anesthetized? They did my greys back x-rays with no anesthesia. I hope you are seeing a vet that knows greyhounds. I agree it sounds like they may be chasing the wrong thing.

 

Hope your hound gets to feeling better very soon.

 

Edited to add: My hound didnt whimper either during the exam, but when the vet put pressure on her spine she started trembling from the pain. She will also lick her lip when in pain. I had another grey that did that also... only pain signal during the exam was him licking his lip - and he had osteosarcoma. Stoic dogs.

Edited by GreytMom
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The main issue now is that she is not eating. She had half a chicken thigh, cream cheese w/ meds and yogurt yesterday. That's it. I am still lifting her to take her outside but once her bladder is empty she is hopping on the back right leg back inside. I will say that she is actually squatting low to pee again. She refuses to lay down sometimes and when she does she will only lay down on her right side. She is panting and in pain. She only yelps if she is laying on her side and you move her left or right leg upward/downward at the hip joint. Her pain meds only give her comfort for about 2-2.5 hours and she only gets them twice a day. I am struggling with the fact that she is losing weight and in pain for several hours a day. The vet has worked on greyhounds but does need reminding that they are different. He did go by the greyhound blood work chart when they did Nilla's blood work before the x-rays. At this point, unless things change drastically, I think we will have to make a choice early to mid week on if we should let her go. I just can not let my dog slowly starve and be in pain.

 

 

She has been knuckling her left paw since Tuesday. She will not place it at all on the foot pad. Both vets checked this.

Edited by betty_joanne

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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I just got the x-rays via e-mail and sent them to dr.couto to see how much a consult would be. In the process I realized that the vet only took a close of up the right rear leg and did not take one of the left rear leg(which is the leg that she is not bearing weight on). There are like 9 x-rays and none show a close of up the knee patella area on the left leg. Hopefully she just forgot to send e-mail it because if not I am very upset that it wasn't done.

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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trying again. In my opinion, the left femur at the top might have the moth like appearance of osteo. The vet looking at the x-rays ruled osteo out though. She isn't laying perfectly straight for the x-ray so that may be why it looks this way. I don't know.

Edited by betty_joanne

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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Is there any swelling to the leg at all?

 

A few months ago, my boy started limping on his rear leg and there was a bit of swelling. A few days later I went to vet although by that time, it was back to normal. The vet and I discussed and there was a chance that my boy had a blood clot in his leg and because there was a chance of that, we put him on a 1/2 baby aspirin (40mg) a day. In your case, it doesn't sound like it might be a clot but, it doesn't sound like they checked for that.

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Dr. Couto was very helpful and his reply time was very quick. He requested digital x rays and videos of Jack. I was worried about Osteo and he was able to rule that out. In the end he and my vet had the same diagnosis but, the peace of mind I had after Dr. couto said he did not see anything on rads was well worth it. Good luck to you, hope your girl is feeling better.

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I have learned that it is very difficult to find images of x-rays of greyhound hearts on the internet. I can't tell if there is an issue when looking at the side view but the other x-ray may or may not be heart disease. It does look big but I don't really have any other greyhound x-rays to compare it to.

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Edited by betty_joanne

Chocko, Nilla, and Comet Queen.

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