So last week our dog was running up the deck steps and her foot got caught, she yelped really loud but after appeared okay. We noticed about two days ago that when she is sitting she is lifting her paw that got stuck. She will let you touch it and doesn't appear to be in any pain. Today she started walking with a bit of a limp that seems to be coming from her upper leg near her body. She will let us touch it as well without responding.

Is this something that we should bring her to the vet for, or is it probably just that she hurt herself and will get better. We just spent like 1500$ on our other dog when he got into some ibuprofen so I don't really want to bring her to the hospital unless its really necessary, but I don't want her to be hurting or have a permanent limp.

4/25/2009 12:17:53 PM

the vet won't do anything except ring you up a nice $200 bill and give you some pain meds to give her

4/25/2009 12:22:35 PM

Thats what I figured, which is why I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything that could be substantial. She seems fine otherwise, she is putting pressure on it when walking, but every now and then she will limp.

4/25/2009 1:26:44 PM

my dog sometimes limps when he's been laying on the hardwood floor. It always looks really bad and painful... The first few times we saw it, we freaked out and almost took him to the vet before we realized his leg had just fallen asleep

silly dogs.

4/25/2009 1:28:27 PM

Maybe call your vet and ask if she should be brought in? They will probably say watch her for a few days & if it persists or gets worse to come in, but otherwise it might heal on its own. It doesn't sound very bad from your description, but it would suck if she needed a splint or cast or something to make it heal right & she didn't get it in time.

4/25/2009 2:40:04 PM

I doubt there's much the vet can do for your dog with an injury of that description. If she lets you touch with and doesn't scream in pain when you do, then its probably not broken and nothing very serious. Especially if she's putting weight on it.

If you are concerned for her pain, take a look online and figure out what pain meds you can give to your dog. I seem to remember its something along the lines of a kid's dosage of generic aspirin and shit like that.

4/25/2009 3:17:54 PM

for pain:
generic 81 mg of aspirin every 12 hrs.
dosage depends on its weight.

make sure you give it with food.


is it inflammed? swollen?

I would still call you vet and ask their advice.

4/25/2009 8:18:45 PM

DO NOT give aspirin. If something is wrong with her and she needs to go to the vet, they will not be able to give her any anti-inflammatory drugs. She would have to wait for several days for the aspirin to get out of her system (usually 5 days) before she could receive any anti-inflammatory drugs that are safe for dogs. Aspirin can cause GI bleeds.

She could have just sprained her leg and it may only require rest for a few days. Let her rest. Don't take her on walks, play, etc.

4/25/2009 11:39:43 PM

That is not true at all, at least not to my knowledge. Aspirin works on a totally different pain receptor than most NSAIDS. Using aspirin should therefore not affect the efficacy of other NSAIDS. Aspirin isn't the best choice since it tends to affect other homeostatic mechanisms of your pet's body in addition to alleviating pain. One of those is clotting, which is particularly complicated if your dog already has an underlying clotting issue. If you feel like you should give some sort of pain relief, you can give aspirin to your dog, the dosage is 25 mg/kg three times a day. Make sure it is buffered aspirin. Aspirin will cause GI ulceration and buffering helps prevent this to a degree. You definitely do not want to give aspirin long term.

NEVER give your dog ibuprofen (advil), naproxen.

And definitely avoid aspirin, ibuprofen and tylenol in CATS!

Maybe if she's still favoring it by midweek, take her to vet. It's unfortunate you've already had to lay down a good chunk of change for another pet, but if this thing isn't going away-it's not really fair to have her suffer without at least seeing what the culprit is. An exam, potentially radiographs and pain medicine really shouldn't set you back more than $150-175. And then she'll be comfortable and you'll have peace of mind.

4/26/2009 12:13:50 AM

Aspirin does not affect the efficacy of other NSAIDS. I did not say that it did. You cannot give aspirin and another NSAID because it will likely cause a GI bleed. That is why you shouldn't give two NSAIDS or an NSAID and a steroid together. For these reasons, you have to wait for the aspirin to be cleared completely before administering another NSAID. The same thing applies when switching NSAIDS for a dog with arthritis- you have to wait 5 days before starting a new NSAID.

4/26/2009 2:08:28 AM

i've always been told by our vets to give aspirin to alleviate pain in dogs. Our dogs are 50+ lbs and the rx was always 81mg.

like everyone said - call your vet and ask.

4/26/2009 4:02:32 AM

Its a damn dog with a limp. It'll get over it in a day or two. Otherwise, call the doc.

4/26/2009 4:25:07 AM

So what did you decide to do?

4/28/2009 11:48:30 AM