My 5 year old working cocker has had a slight limp on her front foot for almost a month, she is otherwise well with a good appetite and always eager for walks or to play with her 2 ten month old pups. After carrying out the usual examinations for cuts, seeds etc we rested her but it didn't get any better. So,we took her to see a new vet at our practice who said she had a high temperature and hot, spongy joints, she started Bonny on antibiotics and wanted to see her 5 days later. At this visit there was no improvement, the vet was really concerned, worried me silly and said she suspected meningitis or polyarthritis. I had to take her back on Thursday morning for xrays, biopsies and further tests. However, when we turned up on Thursday we saw our usual vet for Bonny's pre op consultation who said she could find nothing wrong with her other than some crepitus (rubbing) of her elbow joint, her temperature was only 0.01 above normal and she has a long history of having a higher than normal temperature so we were sent home with metacam as she wasnt't happy to anaethetise unless she had good reason to do so and felt that if she had polyarthritis or meningites she would be unwell. Now I don't know whether to be worried or relieved. Has anybody else a cocker with a persistent limp with no apparent cause or experience of a dog with polyarthritis? Sorry for the long post, but it's been a long week!
