Puppy backleg goes lame for a minute - recovers fully quickly after

[KimD]

Indy is my 4th sheltie and I have never experienced this before. The vet checked him the 2nd time it happened & he didn't find anything wrong with his range of motion or soreness.
- He is 1 week shy of 5 months old
- This has happened 3 times now, once a month ago, second time 4 days later, 3rd time last night
- What happens: he seems to loose the function in his back leg(s). Last only about a minute (feels like an eternity). Seems to be able to walk it off after the minute, leg seems a bit gingerly but gone by about a minute or 2 later.
- No idea what he was doing the 1st time or last night. 2nd time he was crawling under the couch on his belly.
- Last night he was whining just a little and trying to lay down but didn't seem to get comfortable for about 10- 15 minutes last night and was out of sorts.
We are speculating that maybe he was a bit constipated as he did poop extra volume last night but can't speak to the other 2 times? Or maybe it is a combo of growing pains and moving the wrong way? He seems to recover pretty quickly but my older sheltie had a stroke at age 5 (fully recovered) so it scares us to death every time.
Just wondering if anyone can offer any insight or experienced this?
Thanks in advance

 

[Calliesmom]

so my sheltie was about 7 yrs when something similar happened- I was visiting family for the holidays- no fenced yard so they were all on tie-outs. went to let them in and he had trouble getting up. thought he must have been caught by the tieout- carried him into the house and put him in his bed. went to get the others and he was standing but not walking much. he kinda limped a little but was fine later- then had a milder bout the next day. took him to a vet there and said I thought it was a pinched nerve and was told if that was it, he wouldn't have been normal so soon. then he was fine until last year- had an episode after unrelated ER stay. but he did lose a lot of weight during this time. then he had another episode again when we were home for the holidays. took him to a different vet and she recommended an Xray of his spine. then he had another one in Feb while we were at the vet for annuals. several people had mentioned stroke over the years or other neurological issue. so my vet checked for stuff, we did the xray, and he sent me to a vet school with a neurology dept. they did xrays, ultrasound and mri. The mri showed some herniated discs- not bad enough for surgery but bad enough to cause him problems. we have been doing a strengthening/rehab program and he's better - although unless you saw him during an episode, you would not know that anything was wrong with him. I'm just hoping to get him strong in his core so his spine will be stabilized to minimize his rear end weakness issues. acupuncture and laser therapy were also things to try......

 

[ghggp]

Very scary indeed! Mr. Chance, my rescued sheltie, had similar episodes when he was 7 years old. It was due to bone spurs. They clearly showed up on the x-ray. He had them for the rest of his life and became lame from time to time. I did have massage treatments every two weeks that helped tremendously. Liam my youngest dog had issues when he was about 6 months where he would yelp seemingly for no reason. I tried a Dog Chiropractor and he noticed an issue in his neck. He had an adjustment and it never occurred again. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Ann]

I second the suggestion for a consult with a vet who does chiropractic/acupuncture. I see one for my dogs who has been able to diagnose things my mainstream vet hasn't, just by feeling them. Plus some chiro work may help, if it's a minor issue. If it's happened several times, I'd be concerned too and want to know what's causing it. Please keep us posted!

 

[Caro]

Crawling under things can cause rear lameness. I know my dogs have done this and ended up limping. If he's put out a muscle or got a soft tissue injury, sometimes you can touch the area and see the back spasm.

I would, however, get the knees checked in case it's a luxating patella.

My 6mth old has been lifting her back left leg on and off for a month so today she's in for x-rays. But as she is meant to be an agility dog in the future I wanted to check for hip issues.