Lameness in our doodle, Tasha

[Julie C]

Good morning, I love this site and normally come here each morning to see the wonderful doodle pictures and read the discussions.  But this morning I need some help.  My husband and I adore our 5-year-old Tasha and she is such a joy.  She is about 75 pounds.  She has always been a very active girl and loves to play but she has had some overuse injuries in the past, pretty much always with her right rear leg.  She had x-rays a couple of years ago when she was limping after doing a lot of hiking and playing.  Nothing major showed up on the x-rays, just a very mild dysplasia, and a finding of a transitional vertebra, which the vet did not think was causing any problem.  About 2 times a year since then, she will come up limping a bit on that leg but with about a week of rest and some Metacam she has always gotten back to normal.  She is a typical doodle and loves to play and run and jump.  We try to limit her but you all know how difficult that can be!
Fast forward to the beginning of February, she had been doing her typical playing and walking, nothing major though, and she seemed to be favoring that leg again.  About a day after we noticed it, she was just sitting in the back yard not doing anything when we heard her yelp very loud.  She came running to us holding her right rear leg up and shaking.  i know she was in pain but also frightened by it.  Within a couple of minutes, she was walking again and putting weight on the foot/leg.  She seemed fine the rest of that day and for the next few days.  Then about 4 days later the same thing happened.  We took her to the vet the next day and they checked her out.  We did not have x-rays taken that day but they did check her past x-rays.  She showed no pain when the vet checked her leg and did some testing on her.  The vet prescribed Metacam for a week along with rest and quiet.  Tasha seemed to do better for the week and she seemed to limit herself with stairs and jumping on things.  Because she seemed better, we may have jumped the gun a bit with exercise.  We took her for 2 short walks last weekend, maybe half a mile each time. She seemed fine but did seem to favor her leg on Monday.  Last night she was outside when we heard her yelp and saw her run for the door.  She was shaking again and in a lot of pain.  She allowed us to hold her and massage her leg and hip.  After about 5 minutes, she was putting weight on the leg again, but we could tell it was very tender.  It is almost like when we as humans get a charley horse and then the pain goes away as well as the tightness.  I have read about knee injuries and hip dysplasia but her symptoms just don't seem to fit.  I was just wondering if anyone else had anything similar with their doodles or had any thoughts. I know this is very long but it's hard to explain what has been happening in just a few sentences.  Thanks for listening.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Have they checked for a torn ACL injury?

[Julie C]

The vet tested her as best she could at the visit a couple of weeks ago.  Tasha was very tense so it was difficult to tell but the vet did not think that was the cause, esp since Tasha is using the leg and actually putting full weight on it.  She said it could be a partial tear but wanted to be conservative in treatment with rest and Metacam first.  I think we may have let Tasha do too much too soon. 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I always think of that first when I hear about leg injuries. I sure hope Tasha feels better. It is hard to slow a Doodle down, but maybe you could come up with some indoor activities that mentally stimulate her, rather than letting her do too much physically. I know we have done discussions on these activities and maybe a search would help come up with some stuff. Good luck!

[Julie C]

Thanks for your thoughts on this.  That was our first thought also and still could be part of the problem.  It is hard to slow a doodle down to be sure!  And you just want them to be happy so it's hard to limit their playfulness but we will just have to.  This site is so full of helpful information and understanding doodle people.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Curious, what is a transitional vertebra?

[Julie C]

It's an irregular vertebral body at the lumbosacral junction, or pelvic region.  They generally don't cause any problems and are usually an incidental finding on an xray, which was how we found out about Tasha having that. 

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

interesting.  Cubbie has an extra vertebra in his back

[F, Calla & Luca]

I would recommend that you take Tasha to an orthopedic veterinarian. I took Calla last year and luckily he reassured me that she was fine. My vet was concerned about hip dysplasia, and then knee ligaments after I pointed out something with Calla's gait. But this problem with Tasha is recurrent and painful and I think you need a specialist's opinion. It seems to me you might prevent further difficulties. Good luck.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I think that I have to agree that a visit to the ortho would be in order.  We have been down the route of the torn CCL.  Lucy would still put her weight on it, she was just limping pretty good.  Sometimes more than others.  We had leg injuries with Sophie and the first one we gave about 6 weeks to heel.  Resting in the pen in the house for the first 2-3 and then just no outside playing for the remaining weeks.  She hurt it again a few months later but has since had no problems.

[Jennifer and Jack]

I agree a trip to ortho..thank God we have specialist like this we can bring our babies too!

[Christine & Shelby]

Is it possible for doodles to get pinched nerves? Not to compare myself to a doodle, but when I was having pinched nerve problems they could be quite painful and cause significant soreness I. The surrounding. USC,e for a day or two. Given she seems to be ok most of the time with isolated incidents causing a yelp.... Pinched nerve came to mind. All injury is certainly a possibility as well. I hope you can get some answers soon so Tasha can be her doodle self and pain free. Keep us updated.

[Christine & Shelby]

*acl injury