Just had an experience I would like to share. Two weeks ago my working Springer Spaniel developed a limp in his left rear leg. It started off by him lagging behind in our morning walk and a couple hours later he was walking all twisted up, holding his leg up. Off to the vet we go...

Now this little guy is nothing but action, picture the Tasmanian devil but with a sweet temperment. He would make a trying house pet for most people (give me 5 GSD's anyday!) but he is a heck of a worker. And he does not show pain, very high tolerance.

The vet stated that he had may have a torn or ruptured cruciate ligament, common for highly active dogs (that's Harry) and put him on a run of anti-inflammatories to rule out a sprain.

This meant an everyday trip to the beach to swim for exercise. The dogs' loved this of course and I learned a new exercise for grip training the GSD <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> (in deep water the tug is not released!)

Two days ago whilst at the beach my 'significant other' picked up Harry in the water and he gave out a yelp. He thought he twisted his leg wrong. Once home I was hosing the dogs' off and felt a sharp bit in Harry's leg. It looked like a splinter but I couldn't pull it out. We got a pair of pliers and held Harry down and pulled out this splinter that I didn't think would stop! My heart was in my mouth and as we were pulling it was getting wider, it finally ended at 1 3/4 inches long. It ended with a clump of dark blood, but no pus. My poor Harry!

Back to the vet for some antibiotics this time. I was happy it was not a ligament injury requiring surgery, but was in disbelief over that splinter. Just goes to show, you can pour over every inch of your dogs everyday and still miss something. And with a dog like Harry, he only limped that one day (you really have to know him to see he was favoring his leg).

The entrance wound of this splinter was never found and is not known how long it was in him. I think the salt water drew it out and Ronnie 'popped' it out picking him up. Thank God it was not in the abdomen or chest. And like corn cobs, it was not picked up on X-ray.

Just another learning experience...

I have also heard of foxtails doing the same thing...they can get in the eye, ear or nose of a dog and migrate into who knows where!!



(Maggie, you mentioned corn cobs!!! yikes!! I just had a flashback )

Being that I have had more experience than I ever wanted with Porcupines...

The same thing happened with Kyra. Except she had them migrate from the insides of her cheek and they finally erupted out at the base of her ear...

This of course was one of the many that the vet could no longer find when they were removing the hundreds from her poor face. They only go in one direction.. lucky for her it was out instead of deeper...

The bleeding is a good thing... much better than an abcess. Glad to hear it wasn't a ACL tear.