Hello everyone,
Hope you are all well today!
I wanted to get everyone's opinion on something.
A few months ago my 2.5 year old male dobe landed funny when playing with the ball. He was yelping for what seemed like a minute straight while holding his L paw up and then stopped and kept on doing his thing as though nothing happened. We of course stopped playing and examined his paw and leg but he seemed completely normal and pain free (?). Anyway 3 months ago I was training obedience with him for our rally trial and I made him sit while I started walking around him and he yelped out in pain for a split second and was holding his L paw up again. And once again, I wiggled every little toe, then moved onto wrist, elbow and shoulder and had no reaction from him. We continued training. The next day, the exact same thing happened! So we stopped. Since then I would say it has happened maybe 4-5 times. ALWAYS when he is in a sit position. Quick yelp, holds the paw up and then gets over it. It never happens while in a standing position or when he is running or jumping. I have made him sit many times and he has generally always been completely fine and appeared very comfortable. I would say the yelp and paw hold occurs 1 in every 30-40 sits (haha difficult to say but it is quite rare).
I do a lot of sports with him and decided I needed to check this out as clearly this was not going away and getting better. Took him to the vet and we did xrays. Xrays showed nothing except what my vet thought MAYBE was a tiny bone spur? She sent me to a specialist. An orthopaedic surgeon who assessed the xrays and states he sees no bone spur but what is odd is that in both paws he sees a bit of fluid/swelling. But otherwise, both paws look exactly the same. He is not sure why there would be fluid there. He will take a sample next week. We will also be doing xrays of his elbows and shoulders and spine.
He says he has no idea where this pain is coming from. Some options he gave me were possible some tiny fracture near his elbow or shoulder, or perhaps some ligament injury, an autoimmune disorder because of the swelling he noted, OR something neurological. And of course he dropped the deadly wobblers bomb on me. I almost had a heart attack. I am still kind of freaking out but trying to stay as calm as I can.
He said perhaps he has a pinched nerve and if he sits a certain way it causes him pain in his L leg. He said because it is a doberman, he is inclined to think that maybe he has early signs of wobblers. I asked if he can have a pinched nerve but NOT have wobblers and he said no. Which I was a bit confused about as I always though you can have a pinched nerve but no wobblers. Anyway I really hope this is not the start of the W word. He is so young (although I know it IS possible for a young dog to develop this condition). I also feel confused as he moved so well. He has had no disturbance in his gait, he doesn't limp (although my partner said he saw him limp once with his front paw after a game of fetch. We don't play fetch any more and play with other toys instead). He has no reluctance to exercise and doesn't have any stiffness. The surgeon said he moves his neck very easily and appears completely pain free. I just don't know. But of course I have to prepare that this might be a probably cause. Oh god I hope not!
I was also thinking maybe he has some arthritis in his front paws due to some previous injury he could have sustained. He's a very active, psycho dog. This would not surprise me at all.
The surgeon did not say one option was more likely than the other. That those were just some thoughts he had. Like I mentioned before, we will be doing xrays of his shoulders and elbow on Tuesday and go from there. Maybe an MRI to look into wobblers. He says for now he wouldn't really change anything I am doing with him as this appears to not really affect him much and he would rather he stay active and enjoy his current quality of life.
Anyway, any thoughts from anyone that may have gone through a similar experience? Or anyone who just may have some guesses on what I might possibly be dealing with here?
Thank you in advance!
-Nervous Natalie
Hope you are all well today!
I wanted to get everyone's opinion on something.
A few months ago my 2.5 year old male dobe landed funny when playing with the ball. He was yelping for what seemed like a minute straight while holding his L paw up and then stopped and kept on doing his thing as though nothing happened. We of course stopped playing and examined his paw and leg but he seemed completely normal and pain free (?). Anyway 3 months ago I was training obedience with him for our rally trial and I made him sit while I started walking around him and he yelped out in pain for a split second and was holding his L paw up again. And once again, I wiggled every little toe, then moved onto wrist, elbow and shoulder and had no reaction from him. We continued training. The next day, the exact same thing happened! So we stopped. Since then I would say it has happened maybe 4-5 times. ALWAYS when he is in a sit position. Quick yelp, holds the paw up and then gets over it. It never happens while in a standing position or when he is running or jumping. I have made him sit many times and he has generally always been completely fine and appeared very comfortable. I would say the yelp and paw hold occurs 1 in every 30-40 sits (haha difficult to say but it is quite rare).
I do a lot of sports with him and decided I needed to check this out as clearly this was not going away and getting better. Took him to the vet and we did xrays. Xrays showed nothing except what my vet thought MAYBE was a tiny bone spur? She sent me to a specialist. An orthopaedic surgeon who assessed the xrays and states he sees no bone spur but what is odd is that in both paws he sees a bit of fluid/swelling. But otherwise, both paws look exactly the same. He is not sure why there would be fluid there. He will take a sample next week. We will also be doing xrays of his elbows and shoulders and spine.
He says he has no idea where this pain is coming from. Some options he gave me were possible some tiny fracture near his elbow or shoulder, or perhaps some ligament injury, an autoimmune disorder because of the swelling he noted, OR something neurological. And of course he dropped the deadly wobblers bomb on me. I almost had a heart attack. I am still kind of freaking out but trying to stay as calm as I can.
He said perhaps he has a pinched nerve and if he sits a certain way it causes him pain in his L leg. He said because it is a doberman, he is inclined to think that maybe he has early signs of wobblers. I asked if he can have a pinched nerve but NOT have wobblers and he said no. Which I was a bit confused about as I always though you can have a pinched nerve but no wobblers. Anyway I really hope this is not the start of the W word. He is so young (although I know it IS possible for a young dog to develop this condition). I also feel confused as he moved so well. He has had no disturbance in his gait, he doesn't limp (although my partner said he saw him limp once with his front paw after a game of fetch. We don't play fetch any more and play with other toys instead). He has no reluctance to exercise and doesn't have any stiffness. The surgeon said he moves his neck very easily and appears completely pain free. I just don't know. But of course I have to prepare that this might be a probably cause. Oh god I hope not!
I was also thinking maybe he has some arthritis in his front paws due to some previous injury he could have sustained. He's a very active, psycho dog. This would not surprise me at all.
The surgeon did not say one option was more likely than the other. That those were just some thoughts he had. Like I mentioned before, we will be doing xrays of his shoulders and elbow on Tuesday and go from there. Maybe an MRI to look into wobblers. He says for now he wouldn't really change anything I am doing with him as this appears to not really affect him much and he would rather he stay active and enjoy his current quality of life.
Anyway, any thoughts from anyone that may have gone through a similar experience? Or anyone who just may have some guesses on what I might possibly be dealing with here?
Thank you in advance!
-Nervous Natalie