Another One Bites the Dust
You can add Finnigan to the list of limping dogs. I don't know what is wrong with him. His problem started a couple weeks ago. We had a meet up at the dog park for Finnigan's birthday and we stayed longer than we normally would. Finnigan was having so much fun running around as he always does at the park, but toward the end of the night I noticed that he was waddling more than normal and wondered if his hips could be causing him pain or if he was just completely worn out. We took him home and put him in his crate while we ran out to get something to eat. When we got back and let him out, he was very slow getting out of the crate and he walked a few steps then sat down. Normally he'd come racing out. I called him and he walked a couple more steps then sat again. This time I noticed he was limping. It appeared to be his back right leg causing the problem. We felt around for cuts or thorns and found nothing. We moved the leg around and he didn't react. He didn't want to walk the rest of the night. The next morning he got out of the crate limping but as the day went on it got better. It was worse after he'd been lying down. I gave him a baby Aspirin and the next day he seemed fine.
Jump ahead two weeks to least night. We went to my Mom's and took Finn with us. He played all night with her Cardigan as he always does when we're there. Again I noticed his hind end swaying more than usual by the end of the night. This morning we let him out of the crate and he is limping and doesn't want to walk. I can't even tell this time which leg it is, or maybe it's both hind legs. He has not been doing anything out of the ordinary so I don't understand why he keeps ending up with a limp. I instantly worry that it’s something serious because Finnigan is said to have bad hips. We had his hips x-rayed when he was 8 months old and the vet said he had "bad hips" but may or may not ever have problems because of it. The breeders I've talked to said Cardi hips often look bad compared to nondwarf breeds but are typical for the breed and suggested that perhaps our vet isn't familiar with dwarf breeds. I don't know what to believe so really he may or may not have bad hips. Seeing hip limp like this makes me worry about his hips though. I don't know what to do with him. He's only a year old. He loves to run and burn off energy so I'm not about to keep him from doing that. He doesn't get to do it often anyway because we don't have a yard. Any ideas what could be wrong? Hips, sprain, sore muscles from exercising? We are giving him baby Aspirin and limiting activity while he is like this but is there something else we should be doing?
Jump ahead two weeks to least night. We went to my Mom's and took Finn with us. He played all night with her Cardigan as he always does when we're there. Again I noticed his hind end swaying more than usual by the end of the night. This morning we let him out of the crate and he is limping and doesn't want to walk. I can't even tell this time which leg it is, or maybe it's both hind legs. He has not been doing anything out of the ordinary so I don't understand why he keeps ending up with a limp. I instantly worry that it’s something serious because Finnigan is said to have bad hips. We had his hips x-rayed when he was 8 months old and the vet said he had "bad hips" but may or may not ever have problems because of it. The breeders I've talked to said Cardi hips often look bad compared to nondwarf breeds but are typical for the breed and suggested that perhaps our vet isn't familiar with dwarf breeds. I don't know what to believe so really he may or may not have bad hips. Seeing hip limp like this makes me worry about his hips though. I don't know what to do with him. He's only a year old. He loves to run and burn off energy so I'm not about to keep him from doing that. He doesn't get to do it often anyway because we don't have a yard. Any ideas what could be wrong? Hips, sprain, sore muscles from exercising? We are giving him baby Aspirin and limiting activity while he is like this but is there something else we should be doing?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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I hate to say this but that sounds similar to Sparty when he partially tore his cruciate ligament. Hopefully that is not what it is! I would be careful about the baby asprin though because he will be even harder on his injury if it feels ok. Pain meds are a double edged sword especially for our tough silly guys because they tend to overdo things anyway. I hope Finn feels better soon!
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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We are careful with it. I just don't want him to be in pain, but we are still limiting his movement at the same time. What did the vet have to do to diagnose Sparty? How did he injure himself?
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Our vet diagnosed with an x-ray and manipulation. Sparty was due for a teeth cleaning at the time so he was able to do it while he was anesthetized. That helped because Sparty is a wreck at the vet and has very muscular legs. Sparty injured his leg just running for a ball. This is a very common injury in dogs unfortunately. If it tears all the way through it usually requires surgery. There have been several posts from people who have had the surgery. Hopefully Finnigan just has a sprain.
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Yes, my father in law's Pembroke tore his all the way and needed surgery. I don't think we would even be able to afford that. The way it comes and goes makes me think it is not torn all the way if it is even a tear at all. He will be due for shots about now so maybe the vet can at least feel it while we're there.
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Permalink Reply by christy fry on
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I own a wonderfull book called T-Touch for dogs. It has step by step instructions and pictures. I bought it from Dogwise.com they have a variety of books on this to explore. When my Shuffles was alive he had arthritis and do to other medical problems could not take pain relief medicines. So I used heated pet beds, homemade heatpacks, and T-Touch massage to help soothe his poor aching joints. This does take time, at least 1 hr. in the morning and a half hour at night, It really helped Shuffles and it provided bonding time for us.
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Thanks Christy, I am going to look that book up. Sparty has arthritis and I know he will need support as he gets older.
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Hi Guys,
If your interested in these types of books when you go to Dogwise.com use the search words Canine Massage =) I know alot of people/vets love Rymadil I'm sure I would have to if Shuffles health would have allowed use of it. But After going the more "hands-on natural" aproach I think I'll always offer my aging animals this particular support.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I have also heard that Corgis have weird hips in x-rays. I would not assume based on a regular vet that the hips really are bad, though it's possible. WIth the dwarf dogs, a lot of times the hip doesn't sit fully in the socket and they look "loose" on the x-ray.
He may have injured himself, or it may be overuse. If he was playing longer or harder than normal, he could just be very sore. The day we had Maddie and Jack to the lake and Maddie just swam and swam, by the time we were leaving she was clearly shortening stride and when we took her out that night she didn't want to move. She'd over done it. The next day she moved a little short but was perkier, and after that she was ok. When my dad takes dogs hunting, they often are ouchy the next day; even though they are worked and in shape, they just go harder and longer when out hunting. And I remember back when I used to ride horses that the day after a show, usually you'd just do very light work if you were riding that horse as they'd move short and not really want to lengthen stride. Kind of like if you overdid it in a workout.
If it clears up a day or two after exercise and only does this when he's been playing really hard, I would not worry too much, but if it persists then talk to the vet. It could be his hip, his knee, even his back.
Poor Finn!
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Yes, it's the same as you described with Maddie and her swimming. You see them tiring right after the activity then after some rest you see the stiffness and limping. Next day is a little better and by the third day it's gone or almost gone. It just never used to happen before and now it’s happened twice in the past couple weeks but I guess it’s possible that he was being extra rowdy both times. The fact that it goes away makes me think it's just overuse of the muscles but I worry that it could be his hips and allowing him to reach that point could be doing more harm to the hips. Again, we don't know for sure if the hips are bad. I'll have to load a picture of the x-ray on my computer so I can post it. The concern the vet had is that the sockets are very shallow and the ball of the joint is not sitting down in the socket. He said they are loose and could easily be popped out of place. Another breeder I talked to gave me the name of a specialist in my area she uses to have her Cardis hips checked and recommended that we wait until he is two then have him x-rayed again. Hopefully this has nothing to do with hips or any other major injury. He's already on Glucosamine as the vet recommended. I wondered if it could be soreness like what a person would experience after a workout but wasn't sure if dogs really experience that. I tell you what though, when I was at home on my lunch break today he looked so mopy I just wanted to scoop him up and give him love. Nothing more sad than a pathetic looking puppy. :(
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Kimball on
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Generally the only reason we wait until they're two is to PASS the hips. Hips can continue to get slightly looser until they're around two, so if we want the OFA to certify them we have to wait until then. Hip dysplasia can certainly be diagnosed earlier than two.
Corgi hips are weird, yes, but any vet can make some generalizations about them. The socket is usually wider than a non-dwarfed dog's, and the femoral head is often more square than round. But you should still see around 50% of the head completely inside the socket, and not very much space between the two bones.
I had multiple vets (including an orthopedic specialist) give me opinions on Clue's hips after she broke her pelvis (the arrows are the fractures), to see if she was still breedable. What I was told is that the hip on the left is great - you can see the square head and the wider socket, but it sits in the socket well and she probably has 60-70% coverage. The hip on the right is partially dislocated because of the injury, but still has about 50% coverage. So they considered that a good hip for the breed. If you look at a German Shepherd hip, you can see how incredibly different they are, which is why vets will usually say something about how freaky corgi hips are when they look at the x-rays.
However, even though everything in a corgi hip is much shorter and squarer and compact, the same rules of depth and fit apply.
The very good news about Cardigan hips is that they tend to be able to get along pretty well even when they have weird hips. It takes a REALLY dysplastic dog to start showing symptoms. If Finn were mine, the fact that he's showing pain after activity would prompt me to get him re-evaluated, but I wouldn't just be looking at the hips. I'd ask them to check his knees for ACL/CCL injuries and I'd get a Lyme/Anaplasmosis/Ehrlichia test. Even if he is dysplastic the pain is more likely to be from one of those things than from the hips.
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