Please help if you can folks I'm so worried about my pup....
I have a 8 month old collie who about a week ago had started a bit of a limp so I took him to the vets.... Well that was a bit pointless as they did a few checks he didn't react and so they just gave a 10 day course of painkillers.... I was told to lead excersice only but I had him out for a short walk tonight and he started dragging his leg and refusing to put weight on it....
I have phone my vets and got put through to the emergency vet and she was no use at all.. I thought that they would of wanted to see him or at least give advice or that since it had got worse since I was there yesterday but no I was just told that it wasn't an emergency and to call in the morning....
He is in his bed looking really sorry for himself and he always gets a nighttime treat but he hasn't touched it.i felt his leg and he didn't yelp or pull it away so I'm confused and so worried... (Sorry this is my first dog)
Thanks for reading
07-04-2015, 05:03 PM, (This post was last modified: 07-04-2015, 05:05 PM by niightwind.)
I'm so sorry to hear that your pup is hurting right now. First off, don't take any of the precautions you would for pain in a human; pain killers made for people are hard on the stomach of a dog, so if you run out of the painkiller prescribed by the vet and the problem persists, be sure to go back for another prescription. Your vet should have already checked for all the obvious factors. Most of the time limping is because there is pain in the dog's joints; but the cause of that can be difficult to find. If the vet is certain there's no damage to the leg he was limping on, there's probably some minor discomfort the puppy is going through depending on how long he has been limping for. The pain killer should generally be enough to get him through it until he heals if there's not serious issue. He's a young dog so he is unlikely to have arthritis or more serious issues. If he's been limping for a long period of time then there's a higher chance something else is going on.
If you want to reexamine him yourself, start off by checking to be sure no areas have a particularly painful reaction. Do not be too hard on the dog, and if he starts to seem panicked or becomes aggressive, stop for the time being. Make sure to check his toes, including the toenails for any cracks because this can be very painful for a dog, the webbing (the area between the toes which could have been damaged while walking if he stepped on glass or some other sharp object), and the joints. A dog won't always yelp or pull away when they experience something painful while being examined this way, so the best sign that there is something wrong to look for is if he raises his head at one action specifically.
If there's no sign of what could be going on and the limping persists for longer, return to the vet and insist on a more thorough exam. If you're able to pinpoint what the problem area is, let the vets know what it is.
Firstly, keep on with the painkillers.
Secondly, go to the vets about half an hour early and make sure you take your pup for a walk BEFORE you go to the appointment. You are going to have to be cruel to be kind. You need him limping/not weight bearing on that leg prior to the appointment so do whatever you did before when he started to refuse to put weight on that leg.
It may be the only way you can help you pup, but sometimes these things are not obvious and you need the vet to physically see the problem. They get to see a lot of over protective owners worrying about the slightest thing and from their point of view, they can see nothing and find nothing, so show them the problem. Walk your pup immediately prior to the next appointment so that he his limping when you arrive at the appointment and allow the vet to see the issue.
First off, don't take any of the precautions you would for pain in a human; pain killers made for people are hard on the stomach of a dog, so if you run out of the painkiller prescribed by the vet and the problem persists, be sure to go back for another prescription. Your vet should have already checked for all the obvious factors. Most of the time limping is because there is pain in the dog's joints; but the cause of that can be difficult to find. If the vet is certain there's no damage to the leg he was limping on, there's probably some minor discomfort the puppy is going through depending on how long he has been limping for. The pain killer should generally be enough to get him through it until he heals if there's not serious issue. He's a young dog so he is unlikely to have arthritis or more serious issues. If he's been limping for a long period of time then there's a higher chance something else is going on.