In the last week or so our 20 month old intact male Llewellin setter has developed severe lameness in his right hind leg. I'm worried it might be his knee. The vet could find no laxity in his knee or obvious issues in his hip, nothing in the foot either.

He is a very athletic and muscular dog. He'll forget its sore if we let him run free outside, but after resting a while, he's non-weight bearing on that leg. As its not gotten any better with some restriction on his activity, we've gone to leash walks... what a shame for this vigorous animal who lives to run. But he's a teenage boy and does not have the sense to stop on his own.

Any experience out there? At what point do we go for an x-ray, or even full orthopaedic work up?

One more question. Any chance the raw diet he's been on for a month could have triggered this? I think its way more likely he slipped on the ice, but I have been worried that since he is not fully into the raw yet, we are missing out on something important, or unbalancing the mineral content.

Here is a picture of him.
http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab170/SueinNH/JoseyWatchGull.jpg

Sue....

From the sounds of it it's time for the work up. There is no way for us to know what caused this. Could be one of a variety of things to do with the foot/leg/back of this dog. If you're concerned enough to write this it's time to see the vet for some bigger answers.

The one thing I can tell you is HIGHLY unlikely to be from the raw diet.

Best of luck,

Melissa

Thanks Melissa,
Pretty sure its in his leg, not back, from his behavior. Yeah, time for another vet visit looks like. Funny thing is, as much as he is obviously sore to put weight on it, he still is comfortable bending it fully to sit or lie down, and he also lies down on that leg, as well as the other side. My experience with blown knees is they often put the leg out straight when sitting.
You're right, need to go the the vet again. Just hoping he is not permanently injured. He loves the hunt.
Sue

 Quote: Melissa Thom

From the sounds of it it's time for the work up. There is no way for us to know what caused this. Could be one of a variety of things to do with the foot/leg/back of this dog. If you're concerned enough to write this it's time to see the vet for some bigger answers.

The one thing I can tell you is HIGHLY unlikely to be from the raw diet.

Big DITTO. I would find a trusted ortho vet to do the next exam - a specialist really will be better prepared to investigate and hopefully diagnose the issue. I would also recommend, having been through numerous, mysterious lameness issues with my dog when he was an adolescent, that you immediately start a strict regimen of conservative management with this dog (pretty much just crate/x-pen rest all day long, with leash walks only long enough for him to do his business). It seems awfully cruel to confine a boisterous young dog (trust me, been there!), but since they can't understand the concept of self limitation, you need to enforce it for them. It's surprising how much healing can happen if you just give the body downtime...

Best of luck, and my sympathies - it's no fun at all to have a dog with mystery lameness.

~Natalya

*Where are you in New England? If you're anywhere near Burlington, VT or Boston, I could pass you some ortho-vet recommendations... PM me if interested.

Thanks Natalya,

We are in reach of Boston, Portland, Laconia...
your recommendations would be appreciated.

Sue

Update:

Just got back from our regular vet. Did he prelimonary work up. X-ray shows nothing, which is good. No fractures, no tumors, no obvious difference in knee joints. Both hips look great as far as conformation goes. So the prelimonary diagnosis is some sort of soft tissue injury to th knee: stretched or partial tear of ligament or perhaps meniscus injury.

So we are on two weeks of very conservative management: leash walks, confinement. Also some anti-inflammatories. If we see improvement, then we continue with rest and gradual return to use. If there is no improvement then we go to the orthopaedist and look at a full work up and the possibility of surgery.

Seems like a good plan to me at this point.
Any thoughts from all you more experienced folks?

I sent you a PM earlier Sue, but your news is all good. The more things you can check off the worry list, the better. Soft tissue injuries can take a very long time to heal completely, but solid rest will do wonders for them.

What are the anti-inflammatories you were prescribed?

~Natalya

Hi natalya,

Rimadyl is what he's on. Believe it or not, after just one dose he feels a lot better. Not sure if that is good or bad. Reducing his pain just makes it that much harder to convince him to take it easy. His "sister" is getting stir crazy too, as I'm not taking them for their usual runs together. She does not get so much exercise without him to chase around.

OK, I found your message... never got one before so had to figure out how to find it! Thank you. Those are great recommendations.

Now I am figuring out a training program to keep both pups busy at least mentally, for a while. They get bored and somewhat "naughty" very quickly! LOL!

Thanks again.
I hope to have good news to report soon.
Sue