yesterday limpng on back left leg, today limping on front right

[allylou]

Marley went missing on a walk yesterday for about 50 mins when he came back he was covered in thorns and small scratches and after being back for an an hour started to limp on his back left leg -eventually took him to the vet in the evening by which time limp was less obvious.The vet gave his back legs a good look over and could find nothing of concern.

However, since this morning Marley has been holding up his front right leg and limping on it. He ate his breakfast  and we had a gentle on lead walk and then i was out for the next 4 hours. Since i've been back he has done his normal following me around the house, albeit in a far more gingerly manner, clearly limping and  not wanting to be around our 9 month old puppy (which is unusual).

I am wondering if i should be taking him back to the vet or wait and reassess it in the morning. So far we never had any limb injuries to the dogs so i feel slightly out of my depth with knowing what to do for the best. Any advice would be appreciated.

[minimoo]

if he was covered in thorns , can you feel about in the fur on his feet, he could have one stuck in the fur or between his pads ,is he licking or biting them, try and have a good poke about (gently) mine get little bits of gorse stuck to their feet fur and they sometimes limp until i pull it off

[JaspersMum]

Do you think that Marley might of pulled something too? I can't remember all the ins and outs, but muscle problems can affect the opposite diagonal front to back - we had this with Heidi's intermittant limps last year. That seemed to be front one day and back the next 

[allylou]

[i]if he was covered in thorns , can you feel about in the fur on his feet, he could have one stuck in the fur or between his pads ,is he licking or biting them, try and have a good poke about (gently) mine get little bits of gorse stuck to their feet fur and they sometimes limp until i pull it off [/i]  

 i have picked out dozens of thorns but can't find anything in or around his feet although he has been doing a fair bit of licking -i will check again though - thanks.

I can't remember all the ins and outs, but muscle problems can affect the opposite diagonal front to back

Goodness.... i had no idea that was the case . Did you take Heidi to the vets when she was limping?

 

[JaspersMum]

I can't remember all the ins and outs, but muscle problems can affect the opposite diagonal front to back

Goodness.... i had no idea that was the case . Did you take Heidi to the vets when she was limping?

No, I booked her in for some canine massage which Jasper had had before. Nats really good at manipulating tied muscles and helping correct gait. http://www.k9massage.co.uk/ plus she lives in the same area as me     Plus she's excellent at explaining how the whole muscular system works far better than my vet 

[allylou]

No, I booked her in for some canine massage which Jasper had had before. Nats really good at manipulating tied muscles and helping correct gait. http://www.k9massage.co.uk/ plus she lives in the same area as me     Plus she's excellent at explaining how the whole muscular system works far better than my vet 
[/quote]

thanks for that  - have had a look at the link. We're not in the right area (wiltshire) but i will definitely look around for something similar in this area.

[mcphee]

Hello. Note that it might be muscular, but as to thorns I get this quite often with Rufus. I have found that sometimes the cause is the smallest prickle, almost invisible like a thistle hair, and the only way to detect it is to run your finger gently over each pad. I always know when I have found it because you can just feel it and he pulls his paw away. Sometimes I have to use tweezers to get it out. The worst ones for Rufus are tiny ones stuck sideways between the toes. Yesterday the only reason his session on the log pile was cut short to 15 mins was he had the most enormous thorn in a front pad and admitted defeat so I could remove it!

[allylou]

I know what you mean about thorns - Marley must have gone through some very dense thorny hedges when he was missing as he came back covered in thorns - however we haven't found anything in his feet so it does seem to be muscular - thankfully he hasn't been limping quite so badly today. 

[JaspersMum]

If you can get some, try Rhus Tox http://www.dorwest.com/searchprods.asp It helps with Heidi (although thankfully, we haven't had a problem for a while)