Poor Murphy seems to have pulled/strained a muscle - he is limping quite heavily on his left front leg. I've given him Metacam but poor baby has to miss his evening walk OH has just taken the Cresties out - Murphy sat up and waited for his lead Such a sad, sad face when he was left behind.

Fingers crossed it'll be better tomorrow.

Aww, poor little guy
Hope he is better soon

Bit better this morning but still a discernable limp So still no walkies

My female lab also has also been limping for the last few days on her right front leg. I've taken her to hydrotherapy with Barney & the hydrotherapist said that the low-impact/low gravity exercise should help it if it is something to do with her joints, but if it is a muscle strain, then rest is the only thing for it.

So I've been trying to rest it by restricting her walks & keeping her on a lead & it seemed to be getting better. So last night I let her off the lead just as all the other dogs spotted some deer ~ unfortunately Wilma shot off with them through the trees chasing the deer & came back limping again. So back to square one!

Trouble is Wilma is such a stoic little dog & shows very little signs of pain ~ if it was Barney (who seems to have a particularly low pain threshold) he would be making such a fuss, big wooz that he is!

I find it very difficult (actually impossible!) to leave Wilma behind for the evening walk as it would mean leaving her on her own, so i've only been able to restrict her exercise when I know I should really be resting her completely.

I hope Murphy makes a speedy recovery too.

No better this evening

He's been worrying his paw, so I'm worried he has something in it, though he's (reluctantly) letting me handle it & I can see nothing.

Guess where I'll be going tomorrow I wish they did a loyalty scheme at my vets!!

Hope Wilma recovers soon too She sounds a bit more stoical than Murphy!!

Its the time of year for those very nasty barley awls type grass seeds that can work their way into paws etc. Just a suggestion to rule out but have you checked for bits of grass seeds between his toes and his pads?

Managed a good exam tonight, he didn't pull back or seem to be in any (extra) pain - but he was zonked out on metacam. I didn't see anything, but I can't rule it out. When my poor late cat RB had a seed in his paw, I couldn't see anything then.

Being the season and being the symptoms, grass seed is my guess hence the plan to visit the vet tomorrow. Not keen on sedating or anesthetizing a 12 year old dog, but his health is pretty good.

Good luck Murphy. Hope your foot's better soon

No better today - until I took him to the vet

He was still limping, but a 'stiff' limp instead of the hopping just five minutes earlier when I loaded him into the car.

Vet gave him as good as an exam as she could - Murphy wasn't as well behaved as some dogs but he didn't kick off like he has done at the vet's before so that was good.

No obvious foreign body. No swelling. No fracture. Full mobility in joints - though seeming discomfort in shoulder. Foot red.

So, no diagnosis

ABs in case he has a skin infection or foreign body in the foot, metacam and no exercise for a week.

Oh - and a buster collar That's going to be fun.


Edit: The worst of it was, vet said 'there is some hair loss on the face' - I had to explain about my remedial clipping skills

Isn't it frustrating when you can't find out what's wrong ~ if only they could tell us in words.

If it's a muscle strain then I suppose there's no option but rest. It seems to be working with Wilma who's barely limping this afternoon.

My friend's 9 year old Pharoah hound has been limping on & off on a front leg for a couple of years. He's been through every procedure you can think of from rest, pain relief, steroid injections (which seem to help temporarily) to several endoscopies, & still only a "maybe" diagnosis. In desperation he's now having acupuncture & the vet performing the acupuncture thinks that it's a result of an old injury & that calcium(?) deposits have built up in his shoulder causing the pain. He's hopeful that the acupuncture will relief the pain. As this dog's a very quiet (& strange!) dog, he seemed to be coping with the injury but when he had the steroid injections he suddenly became much livelier, showing that he does feel the pain & it's restricting his need to run around quite a lot. It's a shame that he's petrified of water as hydrotherapy often helps these types of injuries.

I hope that resting Murphy results in a full recovery or at least you can find out what's wrong. In the meantime I suppose you'll have to think of some mental stimulation to keep him occupied. I've found visiting my mother & other dog-friendly people has helped in the past ~ at least it gives them a change of scenery & the chance of attention from other human friends.