Lameness and Lethargy in Dogs: Tosha’s Hind Leg Limp: What Would You Do if It Was Your Dog?

Could you list all potential cases of lameness in a dog? What if you threw lethargy into the mix? What possibilities would you consider?

Tosha was a 5-year-old female Australian Shepherd. Aussies are loving, intelligent, high energy dogs.

Lameness and Lethargy in Dogs: Tosha's Hind Leg Limp: What Would You Do if It Was Your Dog?

The worst thing you can do when your dog is showing a symptom of a problem is to jump to conclusions. What immediately seems most evident to you is determined by your past experiences or things you heard or read about. There is an equal chance of your being right or wrong.

Tosha’s story started with diarrhea.

That meant frequent, urgent potty breaks. After one of the rushed trips to the yard, Tosha came back with a limp. Because she was favoring her hind leg, the immediate assumptions her parents made was a cruciate ligament injury.

I admit that when I see my dog limping on a hind leg, a knee injury is the first thing that pops to my mind too. Knee injuries are common in larger dogs.

You would be surprised, however, how many different things can cause similarly-looking lameness. To paraphrase my hubby, “I know you’re sure but are you right?” The odds of that are always 50/50.

Tosha had a bit of swelling in her hock.

Other than that, her parents didn’t discover much of anything else. By the next morning, the swelling seemed to have gone down. Tosha was still limping some and was rather quiet. That could have been chalked up to her recovering from the GI upset.

As the day went on, Tosha was becoming quieter by the hour.

That’s when Tosha’s parents discovered that there were more swelling and a lot of heat further up Tosha’s leg. It was then whey they decided to take Tosha to the emergency vet.

What would you make of Tosha’s symptoms? What would you do if it was your dog?

Read Tosha’s story here.

Further reading:
Dog Lameness – Causes and Treatment of Limping in Dogs

Categories: Conditions • Symptoms

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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