when to go to the vet?

epi has been playing with our new rescue pup, 1 yr her senior, quite a bit. Most of the play has been indoors on carpet, but some has been out on the deck which is painted wood. Not exactly slip resistant. Anyways this evening as we called them in we notice Epi limping favoring her Left Back leg. We cant palpate any painful areas, nor can we detect any sign of discomfort when we physically move the leg through range of motion. What i want to know is that with this hitch in the get along, when do we go to the vet? first thing tomorrow or do we give it a week to see if its a strain, sprain issue. She is moving around well, no whimper, or crys, great spirit, still eating well. I have decided to give her some of her leftover rymidil (sp) from an earlier issue when she was a baby pup pup as an anti inflamitory measure. She is crated at night and i will watch her closely tomorrow. Shoud i pull the trigger and get in the office at 7am or what when do you guys make the decison?

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie & Lola on August 13, 2008 at 3:55am

This is exactly what happened to Lola last week. I went to the vet about a day and a half after she started limping (because they were closed) and the gave me the rimadyl. Twice a day for 2 weeks, and after 3 days she was back to her normal self. I couldn't find anything wrong with Lola either, no pain, no crying, just limping. Good luck and I hope your pup feels better soon =) Keep us updated

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Permalink Reply by Lou Ann Lemaster on August 13, 2008 at 8:00am

Being puppies, and growing so fast, they maybe having issues with their growth plates. Duncan had the same thing when a puppy. I thought he had strained his leg also, but couldn't find any pain reaction when I touched his leg. My vet recommended a large breed puppy found. Saying that the protein in large breed is a little lower, but more than enough for a growing puppy. Lots of protein helps the puppy's bones grow, but in some breeds, too fast. Try that for a while.

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Permalink Reply by Epinephrine "Epi" and Carly too! on August 13, 2008 at 4:00pm

so morning and afternoon of day 2, im being real careful about her playing and running with a bit less limping. Still notice it when she picks up the pace on the way to go poop, or beat carly to the water dish, rolling eyes, short of leashing her the whole time i know she's going to run every now and again. The meds seem to have helped i will continue them for a few day's im really hoping for the aches and pain diagnosis, not the tendon or bones. thanks all keep up the good work

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Permalink Reply by Butter on August 13, 2008 at 4:23pm

WE had this happen a few weeks ago. Butter ran into the woods and came out limping. Same thing as you...checked for painful areas and there weren't any. It was after hours at the vet so I phoned the vet on call.

He said that is was probably a soft tissue injury. To wrap his leg in a bag of frozen peas several times a day. He said to not let him walk/run/jump etc. He said that if it wasn't better in 3-4 days to come in then and he would do exam and possibly x-ray for arthritis. He purposely didn't give him pain killers or anti-inflammatories because he said it would reduce the pain and then Butter would be more active which would not give the condition a chance to heal. This made sense to me.

Thankfully in a day and half he was not limping and seemed fine and has been fine since. We never had to go to the vet. We think he probably stepped in a hole in the woods and slightly twisted something.

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Permalink Reply by Epinephrine "Epi" and Carly too! on August 13, 2008 at 5:02pm

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Permalink Reply by Epinephrine "Epi" and Carly too! on August 14, 2008 at 9:43pm

day 3, its looking good, no limping, no favoring, still great appitite SP? hmm i think it was the right decision to wait. If she was still even gimping around in the least i would have mad an appt tomorrow. thanks again all.