Corgi puppy limping - Unsure how I feel about vet's opinion
About a month ago, our 9 month old corgi (8 months at time of incident) was sat on by a larger dog (~30-40lbs) which resulted in him yelping and the dog quickly getting off him. When he got up (he was laying on his back when the dog sat on him) he had a limp. We took him to the vet and had him on bed rest and anti-inflammatory medication for about a week and he was back to his normal self in no time.
About 5 weeks after he was done with his medication and bed rest, he got out of his crate one morning with a limp in the same leg. It was pronounced so I called the vet right away and scheduled an appointment for the next day. I put him back in his crate after his potty break and let him rest for a couple more hours. When I let him out approximately 4 hours later is was 100% fine. Not even a slight limp or altered gait.
I decided to take him to the vet anyway to be sure he had healed correctly from his original injury. The vet thought it may have been a pulled muscle, but also speculated it could be something as serious as a minor bone fracture. I opted in to get x-rays just to be sure everything was fine.
The results came back OK - but they noticed a 'bright spot' on the head of shoulder. They had a radiologist look at it and recommended a MONTH of bed rest and continued anti-inflammatory medication for a possible OCD Lesion - which may result in surgery if that is the case!
They said the x-rays were not diagnostic, but I feel like this may be a bit of an exaggeration of the issue. Don't get me wrong, I trust my vets (maybe a bit too much), but the more I think about it, the more it doesn't add up.
Our corgi was noticeably better after 2 or 3 days of bed rest - he would have slight stiffness when first getting out of bed, but be totally fine once he got moving. He had zero issues or indications before the 'dog sitting' incident and I dont think that incident alone would not cause these lesions ( I get the impression is is primarily genetic and nutrition based) - this disorder is also not one that usually affects corgis. From what I have read, it seems that the symptoms of the condition are brought on after exercise, but improve with rest. He is fine after exercise - it was only first thing in the morning after sleeping for 8 hours that he had the limp. It was also a really exaggerated limp to the point where it makes more sense that it was asleep or otherwise 'weird' considering how instantly he made a recovery from it.
My original hunch in this whole thing was that he just slept wrong when he had the second limp and his leg was asleep, but because it was in the same leg he had an issue with before and his original treatment was more of a 'lets wait and see', I wanted to make sure he didnt have some kind of fracture (which would have been more plausible).
I am not sure what to think. We plan on following our doctors advice for bed rest and continued medication - but what experience do you lovely corgi people have with corgis, limps and the possibility of OCD?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian D Graham on
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I can only speak for myself here if that was Oscar or Sam at that age I would do whatever it took I know we all have budgets and these days people have pet insurance? I wish it was around 10 years ago when Oscar was a puppy even though he has only had 1 major thing done in his life a tooth extraction last week not bad for 10 years! other than losing his manhood @ 5 months!. I would still have taken out pet insurance if it had been available @ the time now Oscar is too old for it!. I would get it checked out you never know what could happen down the track with your pups leg if left untreated?.
My vet laughs @ me she thinks I have that 6th sense "Intuition" normally bestowed to women!. when I get this felling about Oscar & Sam I act on it usually it is nothing but I believe in the old saying better to be safe than sorry!.
Good luck with it and I hope your Baby is okay!.
Regards
Oscar & Sam's dad Brian
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Permalink Reply by Lacey K on
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We have pet insurance - as I said, it was already checked out we are just in the "wait and see" phase and I wanted to know if anyone had any experience with OCD in corgis or just general leg injuries.
Expense isnt really an issue considering the insurance covers all of it sans deductible - I am more then willing to get him surgery if that is what he needs, my point was what the vet seems to think it is doesn't really seem to line up with the chain of events (but I guess it could be unrelated to his previous injury all together).
If your corgi has been healthy up until now - he actually isn't too old for it! The only thing it wouldn't cover is any previous conditions (so if he had joint or back issues or reoccurring illness) but it doesn't sound like he does! So, if he developed anything like DM, cancer, diabetes or any of those other serious illnesses that tend to occur with older dogs (even something simple like arthritis) pet insurance would cover it!
We use PetPlan if you are interested - it is always worth looking into. It is REALLY nice knowing that when shit hits the fan, the worst you are out is your deductible (which is $200 for me). We have had to use it once already for a previous set of x-rays (we suspected he ate something that was upsetting his tummy - $300 later, turns out he just had an upset tummy 'just because'). It has been really nice not having to worry about the financial side of it.
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Hi thanks for the info here is Australia there is a cut off with Pet Insurance age wise plus finances are not an issue when it comes to our pets Paul my Partner got Sam as a rescue dog @ 12 months old he removed him from his Godson's care because of neglect Patrick should never be allowed to have animals! I won't allow him in the house near our animals and never when I'm not there!. Paul had to pay thousands for a hind leg knee reconstruction and the love and loyalty we get from our Boys it's well worth the cost!. Look at our photo's of the boys and you will see what I mean!.
Regards
Brian
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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Soft tissue injuries can take awhile to heal even in humans and re-injury is easy at first, until full healing has occurred. It is possible that the crate kept him too long in a position which did not suit him. Can you use a pet gate to give him more freedom of movement when he needs to be confined? Worth exploring. If it occurs anyway, you'll have eliminated that possible cause...
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His crate is quite large - big enough that he can completely stretch out without his feet or ears touching either end - not quite the "just enough room to stand, turn around and lie down" setup now that he has potty training down. The longest time he spends in his crate is at night when he is sleeping. Unfortunately he only likes to sleep in his crate and will try to keep play time going all night long - regardless of how much exercise he gets - if we don't close the door on his crate at night. It's like he hasn't quite figured out that he can sleep anywhere else in the house, but I suppose that is not surprising as he has only ever known sleeping in his crate.
That being said - we are working on getting him to the point where he can handle more freedom during the short periods of time during the day when he is not at work with us, but he isn't quite there yet. Surly not enough to help him in the immediate timeline.
I really appreciate the suggestion! We are working on transitioning him towards more freedom, but he is not quite ready for freedom for long periods of time just yet.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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It could be worth getting a second opinion, especially if this becomes a surgical issue. I don't quite understand what they mean by saying the x-rays aren't diagnostic....x-rays are used as a diagnostic tool so if the ones they took don't answer their questions they should have retaken them and not just said "eh these are good enough". If you are looking for issues in the bone/joint then you need to take good x-rays, that's on the technicians to get a diagnostic image and on the doctors to request a retake if the images produced aren't good enough, that is the whole point in x-rays and its a waste of your money if they accepted "non-diagnostic" images. I'd definitely question what they mean by that because a diagnostic image is what you are paying for.
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Ah, to live in a perfect world where each knew well how to perform the job they do... a second opinion when contemplating surgery may be wise for man and beast alike.
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I believe they were deemed 'non-diagnostic' for this particular condition. If he continues to limp, they would look at the joint with a camera to verify if it is truly an OCD lesion or not and then consider surgery based on the results of that. I agree it is a bit fishy, but an OCD lesion is basically a cartilage 'flap' which I could understand being hard to conclusively diagnose with an x-ray.
That being said, I have considered getting a second opinion. His vet thought she saw a 'light spot' on his shoulder and referred me to a radiologist to examine the x-rays and offer a second opinion. The only thing the radiologist confirmed was he also saw the spot and "it MAY be an OCD lesion"
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Obviously this whole thing isn't sitting 100% right with me or I wouldn't have been asking this question to the community (in regards to any other owners with corgis with possible or actual OCD lesions or other possible joint issues). From what I have researched, it doesn't appear to be remotely common for corgis to have this type of issue nor does it completely make sense given the circumstances ( a dog sat on him giving him sore shoulder/limp for a few days - a month later now we are talking about surgery?!) I agreed to follow the continued medication and rest for the next month as it is a pretty non-intrusive approach. I am not sure how this actually proves or disproves his 'possible' condition to the point where we decide if we should go forward or not - but I guess I am just sort of going with it.They also suggested physical therapy for his original injury of a suspected pulled muscle (without any x-rays or any diagnostic work besides them moving his leg around to make sure it was not broken)...so I don't know what to think. They have been great up to this point and I have ZERO issue doing WHATEVER I need to do for his health, including physical therapy or surgery if he needs it - but they seem to really be getting ahead of themselves with this. Nothing they have done has had a clear answer; it has all be speculation. There have been zero tests done that say 'THIS is what is wrong with your dog', and yet they are really eager to suggest MRIs, physical therapy and surgery.
I guess I wont know for sure until I know. If our current vet tries to escalate the issue, I will probably seek a second opinion from a completely different practice.
Thank you for your suggestion! The whole 'non-diagnostic' thing didnt make any sense to me either, but at the same time, I guess I can sort of see why it may be hard to tell, conclusively, with this type of potential issue.
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I am a veterinary technician and I am the one who would have taken your dog's x-ray and that is why I brought up the non-diagnostic question. I have seen some vets who are a bit shady and will accept images that are not diagnostic quality. Where I work that is unacceptable, if the image is blurry, distorted, has a marker in the area of interest, or is not positioned right we have to take it again. If the pet is too painful, wiggly, aggressive to get a good image, the pet is sedated. To me its unacceptable to have an image that isn't diagnostic, but if they just mean they can't diagnose 100% because of the type of lesion or where it is this makes more since. Just with everything I've seen or learned the main way to diagnose OCD is through an x-ray.
My guess is the vet would like 1 month of strict rest so that if after that full month your pup is STILL limping, then that indicates it is more than a soft tissue injury. A soft tissue injury should heal with a month of rest where an OCD lesion will be there no matter what so if you rest him and the issue goes away they can rule out soft tissue, where if you rest him and he continues to limp this would indicate an OCD lesion that potentially needs surgery to repair.
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Thanks a ton! That was really insightful. The x-rays are a weird scenario, and Ill definitely get a second opinion on those if he develops a limp again. He is kind of wiggly when being held on his back for x-rays (understandable) so I would think I would ask for sedation (if needed) if we were going to move forward with more invasive diagnostics/treatments.
Thanks again!
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I feel like I should update this! - Thanks to everyone who had some insight on the issue! I really appreciate it.
Pan was given a clean bill of health. I called the vet back and talked at more length about the concerns with the x-rays and, due to the fact he has not limped at all since the one morning when he got out of his crate, he was deemed 100% A-OK. I read the radiologist report myself and it was clear to me that the issue was not an issue at all. It was likely caused by Pan moving at a bad time while they were trying to take the x-rays (he was not sedated, he was given peanut butter to try and keep him still).
I am a bit upset at my vet for running me around a bit. I know they were trying to play it safe, but I wish they would have been more upfront about it then suggesting MRIs and exploratory surgery right out of the gate.Pan has been doing very well - no limping and hasn't slowed down a notch.
Thanks again, everyone, for your insight, stories and support!
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Glad he's doing better:)
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