I need some ideas on my puppy who is limping

she is a 11 pound chihuahua mutt. She is very active and runs outside on the farm every day. She has, in the last two months, developed a intermittent limp.

She will be running like mad, and then hold up her right back leg for a few steps and then take off again like a rabbit. When I pick her up I can palpate the leg, her paws, and her joints without any signs of pain. She never yelps or shows any pain signs other than the periodic limping.

Also I trim her nails carefully and keep them at a good length, because I thought maybe this was causing her to limp.

I will take her back to the vet, but I know that because of how much I love her I can be a target for spending a great deal of money on a cure and I know there are people here who know a lot about other alternative remedies.

Any help will be much appreciated.

By the way, here she is:

ZOEY

I do know that pointing is something animals, particularly dogs, do. (My Siamese cat who thinks he's a dog, for example, points if he senses prey).

of a situation, but she holds up her right front paw. This limping is in her back leg.

Our Aussie, Jake had the same type of problem. The veterinarian thought it was probably his knee cap slipping out of place and then back in place. Sorry, I'm not using the technical terms he used. In our dog's case there was no real treatment because it wasn't severe.

Anyway, it never caused Jake any pain and he would run, limp and then go back to running. Strangely the limp went away after several months. Not that we miss it at all..

Good luck with your search. I hope your dog is okay.

It may or may not eventually need surgery. My dog Brandy was born with 2 luxating patellas. The left one was repaired when she had cruciate ligament surgery in that knee and the right one has not been repaired. She seems fine with it. When she was young she also used to pick up one leg or the other for a few steps while running.

Whatever you do, if your pup develops pain don't give her Rimadyl or Deramaxx! See the little guy in my sig line? That's my dog Jordi and I lost him last year to Rimadyl. The vet prescribed it for his arthritic pain and did not tell me a thing about how risky it was, the deaths associated with it or what to look for by way of reactions. The vet is supposed to do complete blood work on a dog before prescribing Rimadyl and give you written information on the "side effects" of the drug but 9 times out of 10 they don't. Go to http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html for complete info.

Thank you for sharing Jordi's story. I have a Golden and am worried about him developing hip dysplasia. I very much appreciate your warning about Rimadyl, we will stay way, far away from it.

O8)

My three Bernese Mountain Dogs are all on the following supplements to help their joints:

1. 200 iu of Vitamin E (soft tablets in their food) once a day - helps coat, skin, bones, and joints
2. 400 iu of Fish Oil (soft tablets) once a day - helps coat, skin (good if your dog has skin allergies), joints (acts as a natural lube)
3. Glyco-Flex, usually 1 tablet per 60lbs of weight a day - doggie glucosamine (we get ours from DrsFosterSmith.com)

We have one that also gets Adequan shots once a year for an elbow injury. Once we started adding the supplements, the frequency of Adequan shots went down considerably.

But if it weren't for Rimadyl, I wouldn't have my Rosie here with me. I'd have had to put her down almost 4 years ago because she was in such unrelenting pain. Between the displaysia and arthritis, she'd have been dead at the age of 8. Instead, she's not only alive but runs and goes for long walks and chases ducks and swims...all things that she had had to stop before the Rimadyl.

So, please, warn about the tests that need to be done and to ask what to look for but don't rule out something that could be a savior.

that your dog is still alive and well. Rimadyl (generic name Carprofen) and Deramaxx, which are NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs, like the human drug Vioxx), have killed thousands of dogs and there is a class action lawsuit against Pfizer on behalf of Rimadyl victims going on now.

There may be times when Rimadyl is needed, however I would try all the safer alternatives first and use only those if possible. If you must use Rimadyl, please continue to do all the monitoring blood tests on a regular basis and keep a sharp eye on them as well as on your dog. Rimadyl may be masking the pain but it is actually making the condition worse as it does nothing to improve the condition of the cartilage between the joints. If Rosie is running around and chasing ducks she is putting a great deal of stress on her joints and leading to further degeneration of the joints. All this time she could have been on supplements which improve the condition of the joints.

that do absolutely nothing for the condition. (And no, glucosamine/condroitin/shark cartilege/etc ad nauseum do NOT work. All they do is take your money and leave you with pain. They are the modern equivalent of snake oil.) X-rays show that the extra exercize has strengthened the muscle and there has been little more deterioration from the diagnosis 4 years ago due to that strengthening.

I would think you would realize that if we've been using it for 4 years, we aren't just shoving pills at her without knowing what's going on.

I'm sorry you lost your dog. But a LOT of the problems with Rimadyl come from people who give it improperly. They give more than the needed dose, they don't give it with food, they ignore the symptoms of something being wrong until it's way too late, they give it intermittently.

Just the same way that people take their own meds.

It's so easy to blame the medication or the doctor/vet when something goes wrong but you have to look at your own actions first and then understand that, just like with people, some animals are going to have reactions to meds that aren't expected. Like the cat I lost to anaphylactic shock from antirobe, one of the mildest antibiotics.

Or the mini-dox that died from one of your 'safer' alternatives given on the vet's advice. 1/2 an aspirin for pain caused her to have a fatal stroke. I'm not throwing out my aspirin, though.

For one thing I gave my dog the Rimadyl EXACTLY AS PRESCRIBED, which, by the way, is also how I would take any medicine prescribed for myself. I am very conscientious about such things and I take my dogs to the vet as soon as I notice something is wrong because these dogs are my babies and I love them very much. Secondly, I NEVER recommended aspirin as a "safer alternative" and I never would. Aspirin is, guess what - another NSAID, JUST LIKE RIMADYL. I myself am allergic to aspirin and would never touch it. Rimadyl, by the way, is pretty much the doggie counterpart of Vioxx (and aspirin), which was recently removed from the market. Not everybody died of Vioxx either.

Glucosamine/chondroitin DOES work for a lot of dogs, but you have to give it time, maybe a month or two. Shark cartilage I don't know squat about.

I am glad Rimadyl is working for your dog and hope she continues to be well.

I have a chi mix who has a similar problem, except it is his left front leg. The vet said not to worry too much if he doesn't seem to be in pain. It seems to bother him occasionally when he is playing rough with the big dog and sometimes jumping up and down from the couch (can you tell he has a difficult life?).

:-). What a little cutie pie!

My Cindy limped like that as a pup (intermittent), but it was her front leg. The vet did x-rays and didn't see any abnormalities. He said it was likely a sprain and they wrapped her leg with padding and that bandage material. We had to keep her quiet for 10 days.

We cut the bandage off ourselves and she was fine after that.

Maybe for peace of mind you could take her into the vet. He/she might know right away what the problem is without x-rays.

Good luck and keep us posted. Give Zoey a hug from me and Cindy and Murphy.

have what I needed). We got on the subject of Lyme disease (I have it, another guy buying supplies nearby has it), so the store employee told me about his (lab, I think) who started walking on 3 legs.

The vet diagnosed some kind of tendon or something disease, he went to another vet, it turned out the dog had Lyme disease and that visit saved him like $900.00. Did you vaccinate for Lyme disease?

but, I will ask the vet. Thanks