What's wrong with my dog's hind leg?

Question

My dog was playing in the yard, running and suddenly yelped and was limping. She hurt her hind leg. She is 10 yrs old and in good health. We took her to the vet and vet checked her and gave pain meds and suggested bed rest for a week. Found no breaks. Could be possible tendon tear. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on this. Now she's very frustrated and is walking on 3 legs. I can move her leg and joints and she doesn't react negatively. She will not put her weight on her hind leg.

Answer 1

The most likely culprit is a torn ACL. That is the most common cause of sudden rear-leg lameness in dogs. My dog just had surgery to repair his, and it sounds exactly like what happened to him. There are 2 types of surgery, if she is a larger dog, she would need to have the TPLO surgery. It isn't cheap, though. My dog's was $2500. Did the vet check the leg for "anterior drawer sign"? That is the best way to diagnose a torn ACL. Just do a Yahoo search for canine ACL and you should find some info.

Answer 2

I dont mean to sound like I am downplaying the situation but I know from experience that dogs will pick up upon your sympathy and play it. My older dog had a similar thing happen to her, I had a vet appt booked and everything until I noticed that she only limped in fromt of me and when I let her outside where she thought I couldnt see her she was running around all fine.. then when I would call her in she would walk all slow and start limping and yelping again.. finally I stopped having sympathy for her and she stopped limping... really at first she did fall and hurt her leg a bit but when I coddled her because of it she actually PRETENDED to be hurt longer just to get extra attention.... that may not be the case with your dog but if possible I suggest you try and watch her when she thinks you arent looking, if she is faking then she wont limp unless you are around to see her.

PS Its funny now when my dog trips if I say "Aww, poor girl! are you OK?" she will limp for a while until I say whatever you are full of it... and throw the ball or something and she runs after it.

Answer 3

I had a similar problem with my dog a couple of years ago. Something with the way the cartilage is in the joint. It works like a shock absorber. The vet gave my dog the pain killers (Rymidahl) and some dog food designed to help build cartalage and keep inflamation down. I believe it was called (Hills perscription diet, J/D diet) It was a little expensive but after about three weeks my dog was back to her normal self. I hope this info helps.

Answer 4

run ur fingers trough her entire pad area she may have stepped on something thats inside the flesh that isn't visible but you'll get a reaction if that's the cause. hopefully she's just pulled or twisted wrong like the vet said.

Answer 5

If she is just limping, but holding her right leg up it could be arthritis, injury, or whatever. If she is dragging her right leg on the ground then she could have a nervous system disorder that has caused her to lose movement in her right leg.

Answer 6

Maybe shes getting doggy arthritis. Check her nails are any of them cracked? This can also cause pain in dogs

Answer 7

she could have torn muscles, tendons or ligaments, though your vet should have found this. it's possible that she's just "twisted her ankle/knee" badly &, at her age, it will take longer to recover. poor wee thing. hope all goes well.

Answer 8

Could be just a pulled muscle and it's inflamed a bit.

Answer 9

find a good vet not the one you have