Intermittent back leg limp

[MerseyGrey]

So…recently we posted the attached video of Buddy joining the Lambchop club. It was taken on the Saturday morning, and on the Sunday afternoon following, we took him out for a short walk and his back legs gave way. We couldn’t find a suitable reason for it (he had stumbled after standing on a bramble with his front feet), and so Dan went home to get the car and we drove Buddy home. He had trouble sitting down in the car too. When we got him home, he had the same trouble supporting his back end. It seemed that his back right leg was giving him trouble and his left leg wasn’t strong enough to support him. But, within five minutes, he was asking to go into the garden and running around and tossing his toys into the air. He is moving differently - he seems a bit more stiff around the hips and he can’t quite get into the bowdown hound position that he normally achieves when he stretches.

We contacted the vet and we had an appointment for this coming Friday.

Tonight, he had an episode where he wouldn’t put weight on that back right leg again after a toilet trip in the garden - no vigorous activity involved. Again, he couldn’t get himself into a comfortable lying down position as I tried to get him to take the weight off. He was pacing and limping, and if he brushed that foot on anything, he made tiny whimpers, and his body was shaking so I think it must have been painful for him. When I got him to lie down, we sat together for an hour or so, with him demanding cuddles and pawing at me for more strokes. When I got up to make tea, he followed me out to the kitchen, and trotted to the front door to greet his dad after work. We took him out for a short walk as he wouldn’t poop in the garden, and he seems to be fine again - no limping, no weakness and no obvious pain. He wanted to go further than we would let him.

I’ve brought his vet appointment forwards and have booked him in for an x-ray tomorrow morning at 9am. On Sunday, I thought that this might be related to his hips but this evening I think it’s much lower down his leg. I think the front of his foot looks a bit swollen and wondered if he has twisted or sprained his ankle or similar, but Dan doesn’t think that it is swollen.

I know that at nearly 12 years old cancer is a big worry. Could this kind of intermittent limping and accompanying pain be explained by something like arthritis or am I being ridiculously optimistic? His nails look intact, I can’t find anything stuck in his foot and he doesn’t have corns. He’s happy for me to touch his leg and foot this evening, but was less so this afternoon.

I suppose I would just like to know that there are a million other things that this could be including just accepting that my boy is an old man . I don’t think I’m over-reacting with the X-ray and I suppose I would like to know that I’m not being a drama queen too.

 

[Remolacha]

  To you and Buddy. There are a million other things that it could be, from minor arthritis because he’s almost 12 to that which will not be named. A thorough vet visit with x-rays is the place to start, so good luck tomorrow!

[ramonaghan]

Best thoughts to you and Buddy. Please keep us posted. You'll have a lot of support here no matter what it turns out to be—and it definitely could be something other than ... that.  

[BatterseaBrindl]

33 minutes ago, Remolacha said:

  To you and Buddy. There are a million other things that it could be, from minor arthritis because he’s almost 12 to that which will not be named. A thorough vet visit with x-rays is the place to start, so good luck tomorrow!

 

 

[MerseyGrey]

Thank you…we’ve just had our evening stroll and you wouldn’t know that there was anything wrong with him earlier, finishing with him standing over me for belly rubs before bed. He’s an enigma to me . I will let you know how tomorrow goes

[HeyRunDog]

Could be a trapped nerve something like sciatica which causes pain in the leg, voice of experience and one back operation later, me not the dog.
Good luck to Buddy

Edited September 28, 2022 by HeyRunDog

[ramonaghan]

Checking on you and Buddy this morning...  

[EllenEveBaz]

Keeping all paws crossed here.  Gelsey says for Buddy to give all his stuffies an extra chomp for her.  

[MerseyGrey]

Thank you all for your well-wishes…it seems that they have paid off . We are yet to pick him up but the vet’s initial thoughts are that it is most likely his hips as she manipulated his legs and this is where she got the most resistance- from Buddy, I think (this is second hand from Dan, who took him in). They did an x-ray to be sure, so we will get more news when we go to pick him up. She has suggested that she will start treating him with anti-inflammatories, although we are going to have to ask for an alternative to loxicom as we had him on that for a few days earlier in the year. We under-dosed him but after a few days, he had bloody diarrhoea so I think we will be best to avoid that as a long term solution. We have talked to them briefly about Librela / bedinvetmab, which sounds like it can be pretty miraculous for older dogs with arthritis, but it will mean hauling him to the vet once a month. We’ll chat about that when we pick him up too.

Dan walked Buddy this morning and said he was incredibly lively on his walk and he did their short loop at speed. When I left for work this morning, I got the cold shoulder from The Budster as his breakfast was not ready waiting for him when he returned from his walk. I wonder if he’ll be pleased to see me when we pick him up? I shall be very pleased to see him, regardless!

[ramonaghan]

Wonderful news!  Sweep did not tolerate Loxicom/Meloxicam either, but she did wonderfully on Previcox off and on from about age 6 until her death from cancer at age 12.7. Galliprant is another NSAID that is supposed to be gentler on the kidneys and liver. (Not sure what the UK versions of those would be, but wanted to mention a couple of other options for Buddy.)

Phew, I know you are relieved! Gentle scritches to Buddy.

[Jerilyn]

Sounds good! I hope the Xrays confirm arthritis and Buddy is feeling 100% soon.

[MerseyGrey]

We have one dazed and confused pupper! He’s back home and is not really going for his tea but has accepted a rabbit ear - it must be his lucky day as he got a double ear out of the box.

It’s pretty good news all round - his lower limb joints and bones are all in good condition for an older gentleman. His blood levels are all reading as those of a healthy dog. The only thing that flagged up was some white areas on three or four of his lower back vertebrae - she said that this indicates that there is some arthritis here with new bone formation, and that new bone is causing those vertebrae to fuse. This could cause him discomfort, or they could be pinching small nerves which could account for the transient symptoms we have seen as well as the change in his movements. He had his first Librela injection and has paracetamol/codiene painkillers until that kicks in.

He can currently be found staring into space and leaning on Dan for some cuddles. He is being super cute. Yes @ramonaghan we are very relieved!

[ramonaghan]

Everyone will sleep well tonight. Good job, Buddy! Hope you are feeling better soon.

[Remolacha]

Good news for Buddy! 
You might also ask your vet about cold laser treatments. They helped Val quite a lot with her back end pain and weakness.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Remolacha

[MerseyGrey]

42 minutes ago, ramonaghan said:

Everyone will sleep well tonight. Good job, Buddy! Hope you are feeling better soon.

32 minutes ago, Remolacha said:

Good news for Buddy! 
You might also ask your vet about cold laser treatments. They helped Val quite a lot with her back end pain and weakness.

Thank you, I will look into this and ask when we go next month 

[Jerilyn]

Buddy is very cute! I'm glad it sounds like something manageable.

I thought he had a toy to take outside. Is that like dried rabbit ears? Wiki always wants some gross animal part from the store, but I've never seen rabbit ears.

[MerseyGrey]

55 minutes ago, Jerilyn said:

Buddy is very cute! I'm glad it sounds like something manageable.

I thought he had a toy to take outside. Is that like dried rabbit ears? Wiki always wants some gross animal part from the store, but I've never seen rabbit ears.

Yeah, with Buddy, it’s the stinkier the better . They are dried hairy rabbits ears and I have just bought 2kg of them because he loves them so much. They are also meant to be very good natural wormers as well as helping with acid reflux - Buddy gets this clicking throat thing every now and then and a few people on here suggested it might be reflux related, and the vet thought this might be the case too. We gave him omeprazole but he was sick on those tablets so discontinued them. Buddy seems to be happy with rabbit ears as the replacement.

And as a side note, the hair acts as a binder on the way out so if your pooch has soft poops, hairy ears help you to pick it up a little easier 

[Time4ANap]

Awesome news, Buddy! Hope you're feeling better soon.  

I will second the cold laser treatment. All of our seniors have loved it. 

[okslater]

great news! Badger has an intermittent limp but it varies from leg to leg so the vet thinks arthritis also. He's only 5, but was retired due to injury, and has always seemed very stiff, so he's on supplements. 

[Johnfar]

So glad to hear that Buddy has some kind of understandable and potentially treatable diagnosis. If you have to give NSAIDS then Omeprazole 20mg will help lessen the potential for bleeding. I think you'll need to watch for LS too and this can let them down (figuratively too) without notice so try not to let him walk on his own near edges of streams and walls etc.   Consider getting the Canine Prime supplement, for many elderly dogs this has been a game changer not least because it puts the digestive system back in order at the same time as helping arthritis to be less of an issue.   (Peggy, my last Greyhound made it to 15 with LS + general arthritis being the final straw).

 

[FiveRoooooers]

I am so late to this but delighted to see Buddy’s encouraging update! So glad you did the x-rays. We’ve used Adequan with very good results, that may be another option as you can give Buddy the injections yourself at home. Good luck, you’ve got this.  
 

Buddy’s face has gotten so beautifully senior. He’s a special guy 

[MerseyGrey]

I looked up cold laser treatment….not sure about the dog but I think this would work for me! It sounds like it would be very effective!

Buddy has been on YuMove virtually since we have had him, as he was nearly 8 then. I will look into the Canine Prime. I haven’t heard of Adequan so I’ll look that up too. It’s only two days since his first Librela injection, and it’s a little bit like we have the old Buddy back. I’ve just come back from his walk and have struggled to keep up with him! He’s on paracetamol and codeine which could account for it, but I’ve heard that Librela gives them a new lease of life - Kitty, Buddy’s girlfriend who sadly went to the bridge last week, was on it and her parents swore that they got another year of quality life with her which they didn’t think she would have.

I’m going to celebrate by getting him a new t-shirt (and maybe a snood), and he can have a couple more rabbit ears too which will be more up his steeet

[Remolacha]

 Glad to hear Buddy is doing so well! 

[EllenEveBaz]

Quote

 I’ve just come back from his walk and have struggled to keep up with him! 

Plusalso, with double rabbit ears he may get better tv reception

 

Sorry about his girlfriend, Kitty    Do you think he sensed that she was failing?

 

 

 

[MerseyGrey]

3 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:

Plusalso, with double rabbit ears he may get better tv reception

 

Sorry about his girlfriend, Kitty    Do you think he sensed that she was failing?

 

 

 

Yes, he managed to get to get BBC4 with them . He hasn’t seen the lovely Kitty for a while, but we bumped into her parents when they had just got back from the vets . He was exceptionally cute with Kitty’s mum and went up to give her some cuddles, resting his chin on her hip. Even if he didn’t know why she was sad, it seemed like he knew that she needed a bit of greyhound love