If you are a pet owner, you may encounter your dog limping. It is not a good situation to face. It can even become scary because you may not be able to find out the cause in the first place. You may have understood that limping is not a simple condition with a simple cause.
Lameness in dogs can be challenging for you and your furry friend. You can help your furry friend normally move again if you understand the condition well. That is why we have divided and explained every section in a simple way. This article will explain everything you need to know to prevent your furry friend from unfortunate conditions like lameness.
How to respond if your dog is limping?
If you happen to notice abnormal walking of your dog, you can suspect something is wrong with his limbs. In that case, you need to ask yourself some questions to rule out the cause of limping and proceed further toward the solution. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself.
When did you first see the abnormality?
The duration of the abnormality is very important to know. Sometimes, your dog limps for some moments, and then it is fine. Sometimes, the limping sticks with your dog for a long period. In either case, you need to know when the problem started. Your dog’s condition can be divided into two categories, depending on your answer.
- Acute limping
If your dog has just started limping, it will be categorized as acute limping. Acute limping happens due to severe causes such as trauma, accidents, etc.
- Chronic limping
If we go by definition, we can call limping a chronic one if it has persisted for more than two weeks. In most cases, the cause of chronic limping is not severe but regular.
Pet parents ignore small abnormalities and think they will go away in a day. But after some days, you see the condition getting worse.
Whatever the case is, if you see your dog suffering from a limp, whether it is an acute one or a chronic one, you need to immediately see your veterinarian for treatment.
How severe is your dog’s limp?
This question will help you analyze whether the condition is mild or severe. It is most likely that your veterinarian will ask you similar questions we want you to ask yourself. Your observation about your furry friend’s condition will help your veterinarian better analyze the situation.
Mild Dog Limping
Mild dog limping means your dog’s condition is not worse, and he is using his legs to put weight on but facing some difficulty in it.
If your dog has an acute but mild limp, he must give you a comfortable and healthy look. Your dog will not be suffering from other problems, but it will be unfortunate to leave the dog unattended just because of his comfortable look.
You need to rule out the cause of the limp as accurately as you can. It will help you decide whether you want to take your dog to a vet or not. If your dog improves and gets back to his normal walk, he will be doing ok. But you need to see a vet if the situation does not improve.
Severe Dog Limping
When your dog is not able to put body weight on the ground, starts lifting his affected limb, and barely touches his affected toe on the ground, then your dog has got severe limping. The veterinarian can easily evaluate severe limp, and you can help them by describing the exact situation.
Your dog’s past behavior can better help your vet to understand whether it is a mild limp or a severe one. Some dogs completely avoid putting weight on even mildly affected limbs. On the contrary, some dogs remain Stoic even though they are in a lot of pain.
These two questions have led you to rule out the severity of the condition. The third question in the sequence will help you decide whether your dog needs emergency care or not.
What other symptoms do you observe?
You need to observe your dog displaying other symptoms such as pain. You can observe signs of pain in your dog; signs of severe pain are listed below.
Signs of extreme pain
- Trembling
- Vocalization
- Change in behavior such as hiding, fear, aggression, etc.
Other emergency signs
- Bleeding
- Large swellings
- Observable fracture
- Limb dragging
Some other problematic symptoms
- Trouble breathing
- Fever
- Vomiting
- Disorientation
If your dog is showing any of these symptoms along with limping, you need to see your vet immediately. It is better to be safe than sorry.
How do you know which leg is affected?
It becomes difficult to understand which leg has got the problems. The identification gets difficult when limping is mild or affects more than one leg. Before you come to a conclusion, you need to understand that your dog tends to avoid putting weight on the leg that is affected or hurts the most. Therefore, your dog will tend to lift the limping leg. Furthermore, the next section will make it easy to conclude.
Front-Leg Lameness
If your dog is suffering from front leg lameness, you need to observe the movement of the head. When your dog touches the ground with the affected leg, he will raise his head. When your dog touches the ground with his healthy leg, he will lower his head.
Hind-Leg Lameness
If your dog is suffering from hind leg lameness, he will tend to lean forward to put the back weight on the front legs. In doing so, you can observe the tail or the affected hip movement when your dog touches the ground with the affected leg.
What are the causes of limping?
Limping has multiple causes; some are obvious, while others are secondary. Different injuries and illnesses can lead to limping in dogs, and a thorough diagnosis can lead to the bottom of things.
General Causes
There is a long list of general causes of limping in dogs. Most of them are listed below.
- Muscle strain
- Fracture
- Dislocation
- Ligament rupture
- Torn nails
- Wounds
- Bruising
- Degenerative joint disease
- Tick borne disease
- Bacterial or fungal infection of bones and soft tissue
- Diseases of the nervous system
- Autoimmune diseases
- Inflammatory conditions
- Cancer that affects bone, ligaments, and other soft tissues
- Developmental disorders
Most common causes of liming affect front or back legs; however, other causes affect the hip, shoulder, or other parts of the skeletal system. that is why we have categorized front leg causes, and hind leg causes separately.
What causes front leg limping
Here is the list of problems that can cause front leg limping.
- Biceps tenosynovitis
- Elbow dysplasia
- Shoulder injury
- Shoulder instability
- Brachial plexus tumor
What causes hind leg limping?
Here is the list of problems that can cause hind leg limping.
- Lumbosacral disease
- Hip dysplasia
- Iliopsoas strain
- Rupture of Achilles tendon
- Rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament
- Patellar luxation
- Superficial digital flexor luxation
How can you treat lameness in dogs?
The treatment of lameness in dogs depends on the severity of the condition. Your veterinarian will take a good look at the situation and prescribe the best possible treatment for your dog.
How mild cases of lameness are treated?
If your vet is sure that nothing severe has been damaged inside the body, he may prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines to your dog. These drugs will lower your dog’s pain. One of the following drugs can be prescribed by your vet.
- Meloxicam
- Deracoxib
- Carprofen
- Etodolac
These drugs are safely used in dogs. There are some other drugs that do the same function but are used in human medical practice and are not suitable to be used for dogs.
Treatment for Dog Limping Due to Joint Pain
Limping has many causes, and one of the causes of limping is severe joint pain. If your dog suffers from severe joint pain, your vet may prescribe nutritional supplements containing the ingredients mentioned below to relieve your dog’s pain.
- Omega 3 fatty acids
- Glucosamine
- Chondroitin sulfate
- Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)
- Avocado soybean unsaponifiables (ASU)
- Green-lipped mussels
Other Treatments for Dog Limping
It is important to know the cause of limping because only then can you be better able to treat the condition. We have discussed the most important causes of limping and their possible treatments. Here is a list of treatments that are used to treat lameness. This list includes the treatment options not mentioned above because their causes are different.
Further treatment may include additional medication to reduce inflammation, treat an infection or reduce pain.
- Casts, bandages, splinters
- Physical therapy
- Surgery
- Cold laser treatments
- Acupuncture
- Chemotherapy
- Therapeutic ultrasound
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- Stem cell therapy
- Weight management
- Assisted devices such as a harness
You and your veterinarian can work together to devise a better working plan to treat your dog’s limping.
Conclusion
Your dog can suffer from lameness due to many causes. There can be mild lameness or severe lameness. The treatment of lameness depends on the severity of the condition. There are a number of treatment options depending on the cause of lameness. It is better to prevent your dog from these kinds of unfortunate conditions by providing him with a healthy life.