Torque injured himself about ten days ago. I wasn't home, but DH heard him cry out, and went to see what was wrong. Found him in our 1/10 mile long completely fenced in driveway carrying his right hind leg. There's nothing in that driveway but a few trees on one side.
We sort of pieced together a theory that Torque was playing with our Pyrenees cross on the other side of the fence, wheeled around and smacked his knee on one of the trees. There is a small area where the hair has been knocked off there.
No swelling, no heat, no additional crying so we played a wait and see on this for a while. He is using the leg now, but not fully - so I decided maybe a trip to vet was in order. The vet asked me some questions, and decided to x-ray not only his knee but his hips.
The knee shows no damage, probably just bruised very badly, rest for two more week and an anti-inflammatory once a day.
But his hips.. the vet said that it seems pretty likely he has hip dysplasia... shallow sockets, thickened "neck" on the joint.
I've noticed Torque never stretches out those back legs while standing.. they are always straight under him, and that his hind legs are straighter than they should be. I've tried to "stack" him - and he just doesn't cooperate at all, I've never once been able to stack him, he won't stand that way.
We'll be taking him back when he's older (18 months to 2 years) for the vet to do a much better x-ray with sedation.
Hopefully, we'll have relatively good news when we get those results. At the moment, Torque doesn't seem bothered by his hips.
I'm not going to borrow trouble, but wait to see what we learn later on. On a positive note, the vet looked at him and said "You are a big boy for eight months! (Torque weighs 77 pounds right now) He also said Torque is in perfect condition and smiled when he said it while running a hand over that sleek shiny coat. AND he said he is beautiful
I go to a multiple vet clinic. I don't always see this vet, so it's his first time to meet Torque. He's an excellent vet with a real heart for animals that is evident, so I think I'm going to start making our appts with him specifically. I've known him for years, but for most of our pets appointments, things are pretty routine and mundane, so haven't asked for him. I think with Torque it will be better for him to have one vet that knows him.
Anyway, I've rambled on and on, just to say that it looks pretty certain that Torque has dysplasia. I saw the X-rays myself, and yeah, those sockets look shallower than they should - I came home to look it all up online and the pictures of normal sockets don't look like my sweet Torque's.
