Dog care, symptoms, health issues, and dog health advocacy from an owner's perspective. In loving memory of Jasmine.
Since the beginning, Cookie has had her share of musculoskeletal issues, even though the first major lameness had nothing to do with any of those things. We thought she had busted her knee ligament; that’s how bad she looked. As it turned out, all that was caused by nothing more than a fragment of a porcupine quill in her foot.…
Limping is usually not an emergency unless … A limping dog should get veterinary help immediately if there were a significant trauma fracture or dislocation bleeding severe swelling hot limbs or dragging of limbs Limping is an emergency when accompanied by severe pain. What causes limping Limping always indicates pain or dysfunction of some kind. Whether or not it is…
As much as one would consider canine lameness to be one of the symptoms the cause of which can be easily identified, many times it’s nothing short of a mystery. A long time ago I have already learned that what you think you see is not always what you got. It was that way with Jasmine, it has been that…
An accurate evaluation of weight-bearing in your dog is nowhere as easy as you’d think. Up to 25% of reduction in weight-bearing on any particular limb cannot be observed. The only way to catch such subtle issues is by monitoring leg circumference. That, however, doesn’t work as well when the problem is bilateral. Stance analysis using pressure pads While on…
If you have a dog with a difficult, can’t put your finger on it, lameness have your vet check the iliopsoas muscle. Iliopsoas injuries can not only be hard to treat but also hard to diagnose and detect. Signs can be as subtle as a male dog no longer lifting a leg to pee. Cookie’s story After all the medical…