Limping after waking up

It's been such a long time since I've posted on the community!

My Malygos is about 8 months now, and we live in an apartment complex in the city. She comes everywhere with me, and before this she was in perfect health.

On Friday I think we may have over done it as I took her to a book festival (the walk was about 2.5 miles all together) which probably wouldn't have been a problem, but when we came home she played with the neighbors puppy for about 20 minutes (they play rough.) She didn't show any signs that night of being uncomfortable, so when we came home we followed our routine, she went in her crate for bed and all that jazz.

The next morning on Saturday when I took her out of her crate I noticed she was limping on her back hind leg. She refuses to put any weight on it, but I've felt all over her leg, checked her paws, and she doesn't seem to be in any discomort when I touch anywhere. I decided to give it a day or so, because we had just recently been to the vet twice in the past month (she had kennel cough and before that got into some trash which worried me.) Saturday and Sunday she was pretty lethargic and wouldn't do the stairs, and she's been on home rest. Only going out to go to the bathroom. She's still eating, and chewing, and being a puppy. Yesterday, Monday, she seemed back to her highspirits however she is still limping. I'm not sure if it's as severe seeing as she didn't move around much Saturday and Sunday, but she's running around, and being a happy little girl today and she was yesterday.

My question is, does this just seem like a pulled muscle? How many days should she limp before I take her to vet? (I'm a student so the earliest I could take her is friday, which I was going to do if she's still limping on thursday.) She's my first puppy so I wasn't sure if her muscles would heal on their own if it's a pulled muscle, or if it's common for puppies to pull muscles, or have a muscle strain?

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Permalink Reply by Jane on October 2, 2012 at 10:38am

I would keep her on restricted activity for 2 weeks or so, and if she doesn't improve then take her to the vet. They can overdo it playing but it could also be something more serious like a partial ACL tear. It's hard to say.

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Permalink Reply by AimeeLou on October 25, 2012 at 7:05pm

Hi!

We had a similar thing happen to our corgi... the limping persisted for almost 2 weeks on and off - like you we thought it was a muscle so limited exercise but it didn't seem to help so we took her to the vet. After x-rays and further tests she was diagnosed with degenerate hip disease (genetic). She's only 2 but the vet said a lot of exercise can flair it up.

Hope this is not the case for you - especially since she is so young!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on October 25, 2012 at 8:19pm

I would eliminate any jumping up/down stairs/furniture. Carry her on the stairs. Don't allow an opportunity to exacerbate an injury. I recently went through something like this with Al (6 yo) on a long hiking trip (see Sept post). The X-ray was not really conclusive. There was a slight recurrence a month later, after a long rest. Still don't know if it's back, hip, knee. Can be hard to diagnose; they won't tell you where it hurts, and they hide pain.

Our breeder, knowing that I'm a hiker, was quite strict with me: "No big physical challenges until he's 1 year old".

If your breeder is in the area, ask if they have any vet/radiologist they recommend.