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Is my dog okay? May have pulled/torn his leg.

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Zeze

Zeze

Lifer
This little rascal of mine and I play fetch every morning. In the middle of a fetch, he suddenly stopped and started to limp on his left hind leg.

Thinking he pulled a muscle, I quickly went to him, massaged and stretched his leg. I gave him some time to recover and had him walk home. But he couldn't put any weight on that leg and slumped down to a sit.

I carried him the rest of the way home. In the elevator, the neighbor gave me a scare about a torn ACL which is common in younger dogs (he's 1.5 yrs old).

He still managed to finish his meal and drank, but I'm concerned. What if it turned out to be something serious and affect him permanently because I didn't take him to a vet earlier?

What's the protocol here, watch him for few days to see if he recovers then take him to a vet?

All of his symptoms fit this article about ACL:
http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/acl-injuries-in-dogs

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Yea, just take him to a vet. It won't cost that much to get him checked out. I recently had knee surgery for my dog. His kneecap was popping out of place all the time and he was constantly limping on it. He's very young as well. It's been about 4 months since the surgery and he's really starting to run on it again. I don't see anymore symptoms of pain or problems and it makes me feel good that he's healthy enough to run and play again without having to sit down mid-session because his knee popped out.

Dogs are the best.
 
He's not whimpering, so that's good.
It's been two hours and he's still limping. It's definitely more than a pulled muscle.
 
The complex cover story was unecessary.
Dogs can't talk like people can, you have no reason to fear getting charged with animal abuse.
Just take it to the vet and hope for the best.
 
The problem with an injury like this in a dog is that you can't ask the dog how it feels or where it hurts, you can't ask the dog to take it easy, and you can't manipulate the dog's leg to evaluate it without putting it under.

So, a vet won't be able to tell you much except to give the dog something for the pain and keep an eye on him. And the problem with pain killers is that the dog will then think it feels better and use the injured limb more, which makes things worse. Kind of a Catch 22 situation.

We went through this with our dog years ago. The vet thought it was a torn ACL and wanted to do surgery. We ended up going to a specialist who put the dog under, then after manipulating the leg figured out the tendon was not torn. It eventually healed on it's own.

I say if you have pet insurance or the dog seems to be in extreme pain - bring it to a vet. Otherwise just keep a close watch and do what you think is best for the dog.
 
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