Leg injury...please help!!

1533 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by April_Fool_79, May 20, 2009

1fastvx

Discussion Starter · May 14, 2009

We have a Beagle that was playing with another friend’s dog a few weeks back. While playing with the other dog we heard a quick yelp and then we noticed our dog was limping. It seems that he injured his right rear leg. At first he was limping and trying to no to put weight on it, but after a little while he seemed OK. One time or another both of our dogs have injured a leg and have been OK in a few minutes. We thought this was the case with our Beagle. Well the next day he seemed to limp in the morning a little, then in a little while he was OK again. After seeing him do this a few more times we decided to take him to the vet.

The vet was thinking he had a small muscle/ligament tear in the knee area and it was a little swollen. He said that he thought he would heal on his own, but it may involve surgery if it did not. He prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine and told us we need to keep him inactive as best as possible and leash him for the bathroom runs in the backyard and carry him down the deck stairs. Well we followed the rules and he seemed to get better. We took him back after ten or so days to the vet for a re-check and all seemed good. The vet told us to still take it easy with him and slowly ramp up his activities. We did that, but then after a few days we noticed him limping again, so we called the vet. They once again told us to keep the activity as low as possible for ten days again and see how he does.

I am worried that this won’t heal and he will need surgery. Has anyone here gone through anything similar and can offer some ideas/advice that may help him heal? He is otherwise very healthy and right on target weight wise. I want to do anything that would help my little buddy get better!! :sad:

Thanks for any help!!

John

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MockSwede

· #2 · May 14, 2009 (Edited)

Acl

Maybe a torn ACL - anterior cruciate ligament? Any X-ray taken to differentiate. That does require surgery, unfortunately. Common 'athletic injury' with dogs ramming around and often the other leg will go or the same again due to 'overexuberant activities'. Give him lots of hugs and dog licks for me!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cruciate_ligament

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psc

· #3 · May 14, 2009

My 10 months old blue heeler underwent reattachment surgery when he was at 7 months. He was playing rough with his 'sister' when he landed awkwardly and pulled his growth plate off from below his kneecap. The ligament was not torn, but its high tension pulled the kneecap away from its pivot location. He could not bend his knee. :-x

The first vet prescribed immobility (yeah right, with a puppy and a heeler to boot), NAIDs and a splint. Unfortunately, the splint just limited his bone growth (for a puppy). It was apparent after a month that this combination did not work. I sought a second opinion with a surgeon, and she suggested surgery to pin the torned growth plate and pull the kneecap back into its nomonal position. She also mentioned that this sort of injury is common with growing active dogs, and it is a common corrective procedure.

My heeler is now its old rambunctious self with very little hint of any surgery. He does have one slightly (not obvious) shorter leg due to the splint episode, but he runs and cuts really well.

So yeah, surgery may be the best option for your beagle.

Peter

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MockSwede

· #4 · May 14, 2009

Even shorter legs!

psc said:
My heeler is now its old rambunctious self with very little hint of any surgery. He does have one slightly (not obvious) shorter leg due to the splint episode, but he runs and cuts really well. So yeah, surgery may be the best option for your beagle.
Peter

How much SHORTER can a beagle's legs get???:lol: Take good care of him; good dogs.

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jurneez

· #5 · May 14, 2009

A small tear in the ACL is harder to mend than a complete rip off of the ACL. My dog ripped it completely off the bone and the vet said that is actually easier to deal with, by surgery, pins etc. But a tear is harder to mend together, so if the vet says lighten up on activites that could be one of the reasons why.

Although my dog was 145 pounds and hard to keep him down......but he mended fine and you'd never know the surgery was done.

Good luck......
regards,
jurn

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cmiddl01

· #6 · May 15, 2009

Did they take any xrays? I would think they would have done that by now to get a more accurate view.

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phil/debbie

· #7 · May 15, 2009

Our welsh corgi had a simular problem. She lost her footing going down an icey embankment in NC and skidding along the ground and pulled a ligament in her rear leg. The vet gave us some medication and told us to limit her activity. This went on for about 3 months before she healed. The other option would have been surgery. She has been doing fine now. The vet could pretty much tell by the feel of the rear leg muscles,etc. Hope yours heals as well if not faster, but it can take quite awhile. If she had been in pain we would have probably gone with the surgery. Hope yours heals without needing the surgery. Best of luck to you.

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hiker chick

· #8 · May 18, 2009

How old is your pup?

My then-10 year old Samoyed came up lame running for a tennis ball and limped for the rest of her life, though it became less pronounced with time. She died at 14.

I torn my MCL several years ago and it was two years before I felt normal again.

And I wasn't that old in dog years.

Best wishes to you and your pup. It's tough to seem them suffer. I'm much quicker to get Gidget to the vet than I am to get myself to the doctor.

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hapyface

· #9 · May 18, 2009

had similar prob with my dogs baby and teddy.... both tried to rush out into the backyard.... teddy trip yelped and dragged his way out to the end of backyard before getting stuck there.... brought it to my registered nurse neighbour who is also a pet lover with dogs, birds and fishes..... over time teddy healed and vet found no problems...but teddy is more sensitve with that particular leg now and jumps less often!

putting that into perspective....i think your pup will be fine over time..... and it might be benefical to you that he/she wont be jumping or climbing up to tables/stovetops as often because he/she is more sensitive to the lesson learnt

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MIA

· #10 · May 18, 2009

My Doberman did something similar, get some Absorbine for horses and put it on am and pm, this helps greatly with muscles.

It looks like this:

http://www.absorbine.com/products.html?catid=musclecare&pageid=21

You can get it at any horse store some times even a local drug store as lots of people use it on themselves.

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1fastvx

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 20, 2009

Thanks for the info everyone!! Well, we brought him back to the vet today for a deeper look into his knee. They sedated him so they could examine the movement on the knee and take x-rays. The x-rays look good and there is no bone damage, but they did find a lot of movement in the knee and are pretty sure he has a partial tear. They are recommending surgery at this point.

They said that there are two methods of doing the repair. One way uses mono filament to secure the bones together until they scar over and can support themselves. This method has a longer recovery period and the vet said that he will be up to 90% or so strength in the joint. The other method would involve a grinding down the bone and changing the angle of how the joint meets and putting a plate on the lower bone. This supports the whole joint right away and cuts the healing time in half. This also is supposed to be a stronger method of doing the repair. He said they usually use this method on heavier/very active dogs.

If anyone can offer up experience on how there procedure was done would be great! I want to read up on how this is done, so I understand fully.

Thanks again!!

John

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MIA

· #12 · May 20, 2009

I don't know which is better BUT I always say get a second opinion.

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April_Fool_79

· #13 · May 20, 2009

Definitely spring for a consultation / evaluation with an orthopedic specialist vet (if this one wasn't). They have more experience with the types of surgeries, and usually have more specialized equipment. Even if the surgery is something that can be performed by your regular vet, I'd still feel better getting an evaluation from an ortho. Ask your ver to give you the x-rays to take with you for the second opinion doctor to look at, too.

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