Sophie was limping on her right back leg a couple weeks ago, so we took her to the vet,  He couldnt find anything wrong with just the physical exam, so he gave us some anti inflamitory and pain med.  That worked wonders and she hadnt limped since, until her 10 days worth of pills were gone.  Now she is back to limping again.  She does it when she has been layiing down, and when she gets up she limps alot for a minute or 2 and then she is walking ok on it, but I can tell she isnt putting full pressure on the leg when she is standing.  She doesnt seem to be in pain because she still fraps and jumps which I know I need to try and stop,  I am scared to death that it is something serious.  I plan on taking her back to the vet again tomorrow and he will have to do exrays.  Has anyone else experience anything like this.  She is only 9 months. old

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Jane & Wendy/Jack, I've been having the same experience with Al (6 y.o.) since he lamed-up on the morning of Day 6 of our September backpacking trip and I evacuated him.  The radiologist's report seemed vague and inconclusive, but no obvious CCL rupture.  I've given him a lot of rest.  Since then, he's limped obviously twice, first thing in the morning after a "big" day (a hike, a vigorous soccer game), but he soon seems back to normal.  He seems to "walk it out" quickly.  It does not interfere with play: he turns into an animal with a ball, as usual, and I've watched him closely on walks, and I see nothing.  He was with our breeder last weekend (3 months after this first appeared), and she said he's favoring the leg.  The limp has always been first thing in the morning at the start of his walk -- between the door and the street.  Another day, there was no limp, but he seemed slow, unenthusiastic, reluctant as soon as we turned towards the lake (4 extra miles, he knew) instead of towards home.    

I think I've ruled-out sore feet, but I'm not even sure of that. 

It might help if you specify which "antiinflammatory" you're talking about.  I had Al on Rimadyl for a week after I carried him out of the mountains.  Our breeder said I can give him 81mg aspirin (the low-dose stuff I take; many of us old farts take it daily to ward off bloodclots and evil spirits).  I may put 81mg aspirin into his breakfast every time we do a hike or vigorous day.

2 years ago, I got a bad scare on a similar long backpacking trip at the end of Day 6, a remote place.  He sat down for maybe an hour or less while I set up camp.  When I asked him to come on the water run, I was amazed that he did not follow.  He was limping severely on his left front, not weighting it at all.  No apparent foot damage.  No apparent problem during that day's hike (strenuous but not unusual for him).  After dinner, it seemed to be gone.  No trouble thereafter.  It's as if his leg just "went to sleep" while I was making camp.

Whatever this is, it seems to manifest after, not during, vigorous activity.  We wake up stiff next day.  I ain't 50 anymore, Al ain't 5 anymore, and we can tell.

He seems very good at hiding/ignoring pain, but on Day 6 of that least trip, not even he could keep going.

John, I'm sorry to say but this sounds very much like Ricky-Rafa's limp: intermittent limping that, like a bad penny, keeps recurring. It was always worse upon awakening from a nap. Our general vet was unsure, but the orthopedic specialist was able to make the diagnosis based on scan results and physical examination. If you suspect a tear or partial tear, as hard as it is, I believe it's best to confine his activity and not let him exacerbate a potential problem. Ricky had TTA surgery and is doing great. No limp. Full activity. The NSAID we use is Metacam, prescribed by our vet following the instructions on the label. Keep me posted. I love Al and understand how stressful this is for you. Dogs tolerate a lot of pain so you have to set the limits. Al won't. He's a mountain climbing phenom.

I had to look up "TTA surgery" and found this interesting discussion and drawing of the affected anatomy which others may find helpful.

http://ttasurgery.com/

I am making no claims about what any of the following links say.   There is an awful lot of stuff on the web.

http://tiggerpoz.com/id8.html (this website is critical of invasive surgical procedures)

http://dogkneeinjury.com/tplo-vs-tta-for-cranial-cruciate-ligament-...

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Medicine/Surgery-STAT-TTA-vs-T...

http://www.2ndchance.info/cruciate.htm  (this link is also critical of invasive treatments and contains interesting suggestions for avoiding knee injuries) Interestingly, the author suggests that neutering pets, especially neutering them too young, increases risk of knee injury (sex hotmones being important to bone & tissue growth), and that dogs from working lines as opposed to show lines are more sturdy.  Hmmmm.

I tried to edit my comment. I meant to write that we used Metacam following the surgery but he is off all meds and he's (knock wood! very superstitious) doing great. Good luck Al. Feel better.

Hey John, Is that Al on buzzfeed's "40 Most Influential Corgis of 2012" http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-40-most-influential-corgis-of-2012

Of course not, silly.  It's Gwynnie.  She doesn't look anything like Al.  And she's much more influential.

Pudge and Sidney and some others are in there, too.

Pardon! It was a cursory look and I recognized the mountains. I'm so used to seeing Al! Props for recognizing a JW photo!

Is there a pet ?  I have had soft tissue damage and was able to have a chiropractor "scrape" it off.  Hurt the next day like an SOB, but after that was fine.

Mickey did this to us and it lasted on and off for over a year. He is a very active, go and get em dog and gives it his all during play. We were very concerned about an ACL issue but we brought him to a specialist who ended up doing some type of laser treatment on him. She suspected he had an injury that never had the chance to heal properly. She said she could feel it when she touched his leg. Our vet who we love recommended her as he was not able to tell what the issue was. He limped a few times after his treatments (which lasted about a month - 10 treatments in total) but for the most part has been great. He still limps every few months after an intense session but I do not really blame him after seeing him run! :)

I would try and avoid the meds as it does not really solve the problem but simply makes Sophie unable to feel the pain. Find a specialist in your area who can really try and figure out the issue. 

Update:  It  has been 4 days since we havent walked Sophie on our normal 3 walks aday.  Only took her on 2 very tiny walks on 2 days.  Luckily the weather was in the 90's all week so it was too  hot to walk anyway.  We are trying to keep her as inactive as possible.  She isnt limpiny anymore, I can still see she isnt putting all her weight on her foot, but I am hoping with this rest she will heal what ever it is or was.  If I feel it hasnt gone away I am taking her to the vet for xrays the week of July 4th.  I hope I am not jinxing myself by saying I think its getting better :)

Our girl was in for a bladder surgery in Boise with a board certified surgeon and we told him she just started limping on the left leg the week before. We left her and he called me when she woke up and told it was her right leg, I said no it was her left. He said well that's not why she's here, so when you get back to your home state of Montana, you can have them look at her. BTW this surgeon is also an orthopedic surgeon too. hmmm I just got home from our vet and he told us it is her left leg, but not sure what's up with it. She does the same thing, limps really bad when she first gets up and it does get better. And she FRAPS with no trouble. :) He said xrays won't really help, to be sure we'd have to have an MRI. We have spent 13,500 dollars on her now and she's still leaking urine! So....we have to pay down on the credit cards a bit first!!!

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