Dog limping is a situation where the
dog will walk on three legs with the fourth one either on the ground with a
slow movement or the leg being in the air completely.
In many conditions, lameness in your dog’s leg will go unnoticeable.
But you need to see any weird walking patterns in your dog because your little one cannot speak!
The
canine is seen walking uncomfortably,
hopping or walking slower than its usual speed.
Your
dog may be behaving in this condition due to various reasons.
Some
of them may be moderate to give a home
treatment while others can appear serious enough for surgery.
There
are certain things you must and mustn’t do if you observe that your dog is
limping.
The
following are listed below:
DO’s
Compress your dog with hot or cold packs.
Give your dog more rest.
Allow your dog to move freely in the house.
Keep the dog away from soil or dust.
DON’Ts
Force your dog to straighten its leg.
Make your dog run or walk much.
Exercise the dog in lameness.
Touch or medicate the infected area on your own.
The Severity Of Dog Limping
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Grade I
Not recognizable while walking.
But a slight movement is seen while trotting.
Grade II
Again not recognizable while walking but this time obvious
movement is seen while trotting.
Grade III
In grade III, walking and trotting both are seen adversely
affected by the leg pain.
Grade IV
The severity in grade IV is seen when the dog starts holding
his leg up in the air while doing any physical task and trotting.
Grade V
This grade results in non-weight bearing lameness.
The pain forces the dog to keep its leg in the air at any given point of time.
Dogs are unpredictable pets and any
normal activity can make them strain their leg.
I had seen a dog twist his leg on the
hill while I was on my trekking run.
Injury On The Paw:
An injured paw is one of the most
common reasons for lameness in dogs.
Glass tear, thorn tear, sports
activity injury, etc are common elements to hurt the paw of your dog.
Injury On The Nail:
Nail injuries too will disallow your
pet to lay his leg on the floor.
You need to see a vet in this
situation so that some medication can heal the injury and reduce the pain.
Ligament Stretch:
Humans experience ligament stretches
often while playing, stretching, exercising or during any other sporty
activities.
The same is with dogs.
The ligament stretches it a minor version of ligament tear.
Consult your vet to avoid any major medication.
Trauma:
If something affects your dog’s mental health adversely, your dog might show different behavior.
One of them can be limping.
The shock may be to such an extent
that the dog may never recover from it and the limping may continue.
DISEASE RELATED CAUSES
Hip Dysplasia:
Hip dysplasia is an inherited disease
in dog breeds.
Before owning one, one must do a thorough
check of any history of hip dysplasia as it is obtained genetically.
Hip dysplasia can cause severe pain
to the dog in one or both the hips.
This would restrict their walking and
jumping activities.
Adding to this, obesity can worsen up
the situation by exerting more pressure on the hips in the form of weight.
If not, it can lead to dangerous
conditions of arthritis which may require surgery
Elbow Dysplasia:
Elbow dysplasia is a disease that causes
a heredity malformation of the elbow joint.
The veterinarian needs to see the
severity of the malformation before any treatment suggestion.
Intervertebral Disc Disease:
Intervertebral discs are shock
absorbers of the spine.
IVDD affects the spinal disc of the
dog breed which can result in a dog limping.
Early treatment can prevent the dog
from paralysis, nerve damage, loss of sensation and other incurable chronic
diseases.
Patellar Luxation:
Patella is a bone around the knee of a dog.
It has three parts.
When all these three parts aren’t
lined up in order and make a different movement, it causes patellar luxation in dogs.
The disease affects the dog in a way
that gives it a bowlegged appearance that would cause them to limp.
Ruptured Cranial Cruciate
Disease:
Just
like how humans have the ACL, this ligament in dogs is called cranial cruciate ligament disease (CrCLD).
It is a very crucial ligament of the body which acts
as a stabilizer.
The function of this ligament includes shock absorption, position-sensing, and load-bearing.
Any tear or a stretch of the same will cause lameness.
It is important to give advisory treatment for the same.
Canine
Monocytic Ehrlichiosis:
Canine
monocytic ehrlichiosis disease in dogs is caused because of the brown dog ticks
that are generally seen on the skin of dogs commonly the German shepherd dog.
A specific
bacterium named Ehrlichia Canis dilutes a certain type of
white blood cell in the dog’s body which will target the body’s normal
functioning.
The dog is likely to limp in this condition.
Lyme Disease:
Lyme disease in dogs is caused by
certain types of ticks through a tick bite.
The bacterium transmitted through
this bite is very harmful to dogs as it can cause a default in joints and other
organs of the body.
Panosteitis:
Panosteitis is a bone disease painful to the legs of large-sized dogs like the Rottweiler.
Excessive pain can cause the dog to
limp and the only way to get rid of it is lots of rest and care.
Fracture:
A fracture in any part of the leg or
the joints will make you doggo limp.
Fractures can happen from any
physical injury like running, jumping in for a catch (Siberian Huskies catching
rabbits), turning around the body, carrying weights, etc.
Immune-Mediated
Polyarthritis In Dogs:
The immune system of the canine’s
body gets prone to diseases that cause severe pain and swelling in the joint and muscle tissues.
The system sends white blood cells around the knee covering.
This process is not required near the knee and the aftereffect of this is seen by the dog walking inappropriately.
Degenerative Myelopathy:
If your dog is seen dragging its body
or wobbling while walking, he/she is likely to be suffering from degenerative
myelopathy.
Aging dogs have higher chances of suffering from this disease.
This disease is a condition where older dogs develop problems in the spinal cord and the affected part of the dog loses sensation.
Cancer:
Regardless of the body, it targets, cancer is known for the growth of abnormal cells.
Unfortunately, dogs too are prone to this life-taking disease.
In fact, you will be surprised to know that most dog deaths after the age of 10 are caused by cancer.
The abnormal growth in the cells of
the body will result in the malfunctioning of different body parts.
One of the results of it can be limp
in dogs.
Treating >Treating Your Dog’s Limping
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MEDICAL TREATMENTS
Acute diseases need medical treatments.
Your veterinarian is the best person to tell you about which disease needs what kind of treatment.
However, as a responsible pet owner, you would want to know what it takes to treat your loving companion.
It’s good to know what to and what not to expect from the vet before you schedule a visit.
There are possibilities that your dog make only require rest or some homely remedies.
But you need to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.
Certain chronic diseases come with age.
These cannot be treated with any medication while a few are treatable.
Some
of them would probably require surgery while others can settle with injections and medicines.
Cost Of Medical Treatment:
Initial physical examination is
approximately worth 50-60 dollars
depending on the vet.
Anything that appears serious to the
vet will then need an MRI or an X-Ray test that sums up to 150 dollars.
Minor treatments to the same would
need basic treatment for about 50-60
dollars.
But anything that looks goofy will
charge you nothing less than 500 dollars
to 1,500 dollars which is the
surgery fees.
Ahead of this other medical and
non-medical expenses post the surgery is estimated to be of 500 dollars.
However, the size of the dog is will
reflect the total cost of the treatment.
I didn’t know paw injuries were among the most common causes of limping in dogs. When I took my dog to the park last week, I noticed that she was trying to avoid putting pressure on one of her front legs. It may be best to see a vet that can identify why my dog is limping.
[…] severe cases, grave injuries can be caused or lameness can occur. In this scenario, the nails could grow relentlessly, sometimes even up to a length that […]
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I didn’t know paw injuries were among the most common causes of limping in dogs. When I took my dog to the park last week, I noticed that she was trying to avoid putting pressure on one of her front legs. It may be best to see a vet that can identify why my dog is limping.
[…] severe cases, grave injuries can be caused or lameness can occur. In this scenario, the nails could grow relentlessly, sometimes even up to a length that […]