Strange limping / hopping

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nessclair
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by nessclair »

This does sound like a subluxing patella. Monty has one, rear left leg. It doesn't concern him at all or give him discomfort and is intermittent. The vet told us that if it were to become more severe or cause him pain then they could operate, but otherwise just leave it. That was a few years ago.Now, he only has the odd hop, and he is absolutely fine :)
Ness and Monty (S/P mini born 21.9.10 rehomed with me 13.8.11)
patti
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by patti »

My daughter has a black schnauzer , Chester, who is 4 years old. He has done a funny hopping on his back leg for about 2 years. Like you vet could find nothing. He is not in pain, it doesn't restrict him so they carry on as normal. Perhaps it's just a schnauzer thing. We have six schnauzers between us. Chester is the only one with this funny habit!
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Robin black mini
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by Robin black mini »

This link covers most of the options...
If the dog has a limp there must be a cause..here they call it " trick knee" .. :(
If it is lux patella ,your dog may limp,then appear to improve,then regress etc..
Options are you can wait till grade three level,but recovery will be better if you address the issue at grade two..keep walks shorter,keep the dog s weight down...etc..
Worth a read.
https://pethelpful.com/dogs/how-to-fix- ... e-on-a-dog" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Lou38
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by Lou38 »

My dog Fudge also does this! It has never occured to me to be worried about it as she doesn't appear to be in pain. Interesting its not just Fudge and seems to be a bit of a thing!
deehodgson
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by deehodgson »

Same problem with my Lulubelle - my Vet thinks it's cruciate ligament injury. Treatment - 15 minute lead walks twice a day, and Metacam. Very important to keep the weight down - 8kgs and under rarely need surgery which is another long term option replacing the ligament with synthetic ligament. I hope I don't have to go that route!
Mouse1
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by Mouse1 »

It might be in the genes!!! My Archie (Mini) has been investigated endlessly for this as at one point his hopping was so bad that he was definitely in pain. We are now at a management stage i.e., accepting that the skipping hop happens and that as a result he can get pain/stiffness in his back and also ileopsoas muscle. We have done masses of physio which helped the symptoms when he was really bad, and now I control how much he's off lead and also give him regular heat pads followed by back massage. Recently the physio at the RVC, who we see regularly, checked him with a different orthopaedic surgeon to the one we'd originally seen. He said that they have recently found a gene in Cavaliers which causes the hopping and are now looking at schnauzer DNA to see whether they have one too!
Hamish71
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by Hamish71 »

My dog Hamish was 6 years in October. He began hopping/limping with his back left leg about 4 months ago. He has been to the vet who perscribed Metacam and suggested 'Yumove' tablets to help his joints. No noticeable improvement after about 4 weeks so they suggested an x-ray which showed some lower vertebrae could be causing pain - but no real confirmation of this.
He's happy to walk, jump and run but I hate to think of him in any pain.
My dog groomer has always maintained he is very tender around where he was neutered which could perhaps cause a limp - but as I'm attending the same vet I do not feel this will be suggested.
Would love to hear some opinions. I know nothing of physio etc for dogs - would this be done through the vet?
Many thanks
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zeta1454
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by zeta1454 »

Hamish71 wrote:My dog Hamish was 6 years in October. He began hopping/limping with his back left leg about 4 months ago. He has been to the vet who perscribed Metacam and suggested 'Yumove' tablets to help his joints. No noticeable improvement after about 4 weeks so they suggested an x-ray which showed some lower vertebrae could be causing pain - but no real confirmation of this.
He's happy to walk, jump and run but I hate to think of him in any pain.
My dog groomer has always maintained he is very tender around where he was neutered which could perhaps cause a limp - but as I'm attending the same vet I do not feel this will be suggested.
Would love to hear some opinions. I know nothing of physio etc for dogs - would this be done through the vet?
Many thanks
One of our minis has skipped her back leg for several years now. She walks, runs, jumps with no indication of pain whatsoever. We initially had her checked at the vets and took her to a canine chiropractor but no specific issue could be found. Patella problems usually are very painful and in our experience with dogs, they do give signs if they suffer acute pain and would not run, jump and be really active if they were in pain.

I would recommend canine chiropractic or similar as our Magic loves her sessions there anyway as does our little senior dog who is just getting a bit stiff. It may depend whereabouts you are whether there is a practitioner near you. We did ask the vet for a referral to the chiropractor for Magic initially as we had wanted her checked for a specific issue and, as you have already taken Hamish to your vet for this problem it would be the best way forward. However with our older dog who has not been to the vet as it is just "old age" stiffness, we privately referred him to the chiropractor.

The treatment is gentle manipulation and our chiropractor also uses a laser treatment which seems to work well. Magic usually falls asleep during or immediately after treatment and seems to find it very relaxing and pleasurable :) It has not really stopped her skipping though but, as I say, she shows no sign at all of being in pain and we have decided it is a quirk which we will monitor but no worry about. We do give her (age 7) and our older dog Yumove daily as well.
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Hamish71
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by Hamish71 »

Thank you so much! The chiropractor sounds a great idea and I'll look into that. I can cope with the hope but I hate to think Hamish is in any sort of pain. Hope Hamish will enjoy it as much as Magic!
CarlaRen33
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by CarlaRen33 »

My lovely dog Jasper exhibited exactly the same. My vet said he has an arthritic knee and prescribed a simple injection of cartrophen. Jasper no longer hops. I am delighted. The injection is fairly inexpensive £6 a time. I hope this helps.
Carla
littleboyblue
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by littleboyblue »

Our old s&p mini did this all his life! It never affected him in his day to day life at all and we just ignored it (having drawn a blank at the vets when first noticed).
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by GaryThomlinson »

GaryThomlinson wrote: 31 May 2017, 08:13 Penny now hops like this every other step and my concern is the stress on the rest of her body especially spine. While TPLO has been suggested I'm just not convinced as my observation and research would suggest something more akin to the patella issue.

She only hops at full walking speed, if I slow her slightly it stops. so we walk at snails pace a lot.
So we’re back here again with Penny now having a chronic hop and today even held it aloft while waiting to come inside from the garden.

I hate the idea of TPLO so the baby gate is going up and I’ll be restricting her to the ground floor rather than allowing her up and down stairs to the box room where she normally sleeps. Hopefully restricting strenuous activity will give her time to heal.

If it’s not one thing it’s another...
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zeta1454
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by zeta1454 »

Sorry to hear that Penny is hopping more often now and that this has come on so soon after Daisy's passing which must be very stressful for you.

I think that you were uncertain (from your previous posts on this thread) whether or not she had been correctly diagnosed with a progressive problem that would affect the cruciate ligament or whether it was a patella issue or something else(?) and, unless you are now convinced of the diagnosis, it is a tricky situation to judge the best way forward. Either a cruciate ligament tear or a slipping patella (if Penny is showing pain) would really need some surgical intervention at an early stage to prevent the condition worsening. However, if this is just painless hopping / skipping even on a regular basis and Penny is quite able to run, jump etc. without showing distress or pain, it might be worth trying to get a referral to a canine chiropractor who may be able to give her some relief of tension / spinal manipulation which would help her relax. The stress of Daisy's passing may have had an emotional impact on Penny too and may have contributed to her increased hopping if it is more of a quirky behaviour that has become ingrained (like a person biting their nails, for example, which may become worse when they feel stressed or anxious). There is no need for any anaesthetic or invasive procedure with chiropractic treatment.

Our 10 year old, Magic, who has had a chronic "hop /skip" when walking for many years now, loves the chiropractic sessions which she has occasionally and which do help her relax, relieve any tension and just seem to make her feel better. They have not stopped the hopping but, as Magic has never shown any signs of pain and it does not prevent her running and jumping, we have not put her through any surgical or anaesthesia to try and find out why she does it.

There is no harm in restricting Penny from strenuous activity while you monitor the situation but if there is no improvement it would be best to get a diagnosis you can trust and advice on the best way forward as regards treatment.
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Magic - Silversocks Sharade at Darksprite
Trilby - Darksprite Rosa Bud


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GaryThomlinson
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by GaryThomlinson »

Appreciate the input. This started to become more chronic before daisys passing. There’s no apparent pain shown by Penny, she’s totally normal, racing around etc.

We’ve the usual hydrotherapy this weekend (that used to be more for daisys benefit) and I’ll keep her under light mobility for a while to see if she improves. If not, as you say, it will have to be supported by professionals.
Gary
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AmandaN
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Re: Strange limping / hopping

Post by AmandaN »

Abbie has been hopping since last August. It's slowly got worse (left back leg). I took her to a orthopaedic vet who x rayed her and examined her and diagnosed degeneration of the lumbar sacral joint which is trapping the sciatic nerve. I'm not convinvced this is the only thing going on as she was very tight around her right shoulder which, in my experience of horses, often is linked between the two.

Just seen a vet who's cross trained into chiropractic. He gave her a full body treatment (rather than treating the isolated bits) a couple of weeks ago and it's made a HUGE difference. After six months of nearly constant hopping she'll now walk without the hop on the lead where I'd stopped doing lead walks alotgether. We did have three acupunture treatments with someone else before xmas which helped a little bit but nothing like this guy who does both the needles and the chiropractic. He's also given us some exercises to strengthen the muscles that have become weakened by her hopping. He was due to come back last week but she was doing so well I've put it off a few weeks til end of Feb to work on the exercises with her.

There are more and more of these integrative vets around who've done additional training - might be worth a shot for you guys because if my experience is anything to go by they deteriorate with the hopping over time. Abbie started off with intermittent skips and graduated to constant hopping all the time but would still run like the wind - it was at the trot and she was clearly struggling.

Hope that helps. I think you can search for chiropractic vets. Down south there's Ed Forgham Bailey (who I'm using), then a physio friend also recommended Pinpoint Vets (Amy) over Cranbourne way if you're down south....

Good luck!
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