Dog injury or is she faking it?

[disykat]

Yesterday we took the dog with us to the beach, something we do several times a month. When we got home, she jumped out of the car and suddenly shrieked in pain. She appeared to have some sort of injury on her left front leg. However, she was fine when sitting or laying still, fine when we touched it to try to find the injury, etc. If she tried to put weight on it she screamed/shrieked out in pain. It is very hard to find available vet care in our area right now, much less emergency care, so we decided to watch it and then try calling at 7 am for same day vet care. We had to carry her out last night to do business which she refused to do, and she appeared to be in great pain. We were worried her shrieking was going to wake the neighbors. We worried all night long. I fretted about cancelling an upcoming vacation so we wouldn't have to leave her with the petsitter, worried she was dying, etc. etc. I barely slept. Called this morning and got an appointment for later today. She didn't want to get out of bed this morning, but I noticed she didn't seem to be protecting her leg. When she got up, she is walking absolutely normally, up and down stairs, etc. with absolutely no sign of pain.

Now we're trying to figure out if we even need to keep the vet appointment. She clearly had pain, but doesn't now. She is probably around 12 (don't know for sure because she is a rescue) and is definitely showing signs of aging so don't know if this is an age thing?

Has anyone had experience with dogs with leg pain that comes and goes quickly?

 

[TAX GUY]

Yesterday we took the dog with us to the beach, something we do several times a month. When we got home, she jumped out of the car and suddenly shrieked in pain. She appeared to have some sort of injury on her left front leg. However, she was fine when sitting or laying still, fine when we touched it to try to find the injury, etc. If she tried to put weight on it she screamed/shrieked out in pain. It is very hard to find available vet care in our area right now, much less emergency care, so we decided to watch it and then try calling at 7 am for same day vet care. We had to carry her out last night to do business which she refused to do, and she appeared to be in great pain. We were worried her shrieking was going to wake the neighbors. We worried all night long. I fretted about cancelling an upcoming vacation so we wouldn't have to leave her with the petsitter, worried she was dying, etc. etc. I barely slept. Called this morning and got an appointment for later today. She didn't want to get out of bed this morning, but I noticed she didn't seem to be protecting her leg. When she got up, she is walking absolutely normally, up and down stairs, etc. with absolutely no sign of pain.

Now we're trying to figure out if we even need to keep the vet appointment. She clearly had pain, but doesn't now. She is probably around 12 (don't know for sure because she is a rescue) and is definitely showing signs of aging so don't know if this is an age thing?

Has anyone had experience with dogs with leg pain that comes and goes quickly?

Do you have/see a regular vet for her? Annual checks, etc?

I would 100% keep the appointment and bring her to be checked. I would hope the professionals would have a better idea on what's happening (or what it was if gone) rather than opinions from an internet group.

 

[BrianL]

Can't hurt to have it checked - it may have just been a passing thing too though. The vet should be able to tell for sure though.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Have you done a tick check? The smallest are the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Even if one is found the damage is likely done. It is not bloodborne so tests are often negative. Vets are better educated on this subject than MD's.

Our collie died of Lyme. It affected her joints and muscles and caused all kinds of complications. Good luck!

 

[anniemae]

I would keep the appointment. You don't want her to take a turn for the worse while you are away. Better to get peace of mind. She seems like she is doing much better, but the condition she was in last night warrants a vet visit IMO.

 

[Moliphino]

Dogs generally try not to show they're in pain. I'd keep the appointment just in case.

One of my dogs had been avoiding putting weight on one of her back legs for a while, but was otherwise acting normal and didn't react when we tried to check it out. Turned out she had a fractured hip.

 

[Disneychick13]

I’ll agree with everyone else and tell you to definitely keep the appointment. Dogs are very good at hiding pain and just because they seem better doesn’t mean there isn’t an illness or injury that needs to be addressed.

 

[disykat]

We're keeping the appointment, but still really flummoxed about the whole thing. Of course she gets regular vet care and was there last week for an itchy ear infection. It took us over a week to get her in for that appointment, calling in for same days because they didn't have appointments available until October. We were lucky to get a same day today. We've had the same vet for many years, so we're lucky because finding a vet accepting new patients is really hard. Our 24 hour emergency vet care place closed to regular hours only so after hours means traveling somewhere.

Maybe vet care isn't hard to find other places? Here it is and also in my hometown in another state. Last summer I couldn't find anyone to see her for a vet emergency while visiting there, which fortunately resolved itself before we were able to get her home. No one would take new patients, not even my in-law's vet, my cousin's vet, etc.

Dr. Internet said sometimes dogs fake it for attention, and if any dogs would do that, she would, (she's pretty high maintenance) so I was curious if anyone had any experience with that.

 

[NannyBeBe]

I don't mean to frighten you, but one of my dogs screamed in pain when he jumped off my bed. It was the first symptom we had of osteosarcoma in his leg. I would advise you to keep the vet appointment and have them X-ray the leg.

 

[disykat]

Thanks. Not frightened because I already spent the night envisioning every worst case scenario out there. I keep hoping maybe there's some "faking it" scenario, but I know that's a pipe dream.

 

[mjkacmom]

I’ve never heard of dogs faking an injury, if anything they are great at masking pain.

 

[mamamary]

It could be something that pops out of place. My dog had to have surgery to have it repaired.

 

[Moliphino]

I don't mean to frighten you, but one of my dogs screamed in pain when he jumped off my bed. It was the first symptom we had of osteosarcoma in his leg. I would advise you to keep the vet appointment and have them X-ray the leg.

My dog with the hip fracture also had a mass on her back leg. She was 16.5 and not in any shape for treatment (amputation/chemo/radiation), so that was when we knew it was time to let her go.

 

[anniemae]

Please let us know what the vet says when you return!

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Could there have been a thorn or sandspur stuck between her toes or the pads in her foot? If she was able to get it dislodged or it fell out on it's own, it would explain her overnight recovery. Hope she continues to feel better.

 

[amcnj]

Could there have been a thorn or sandspur stuck between her toes or the pads in her foot? If she was able to get it dislodged or it fell out on it's own, it would explain her overnight recovery. Hope she continues to feel better.

This is what I was going to suggest. Our dog once had a bur from a weed plant growing on the sand dunes. Fortunately I could see it and extract it.

 

[gshanny]

My dog hides pain. She is around 13 years old. Almost a year ago we were on a walk and she suddently started limping. I checked for anything sticking her paws since that happens sometimes. There was nothing. A few staps later and she just sat down. I had to carry her home. That was fun since she is a bichon and is a longer dog. She could barely stand to do her business the rest of the evening. The next moning it was better. I took her to the vet and she is now on carprofen for the rest of her life, along with the stuff for her joints she was already taking. Arthritis is the culprit. She can still get around fine, but I now carry her up and down steps. This summer I let her go down the two back steps and she started limping again. I don't want to cause her more pain....and more vet bills.....
I hope your dog gets fixed up!

 

[disykat]

Well, she is 100% fine. He manipulated her leg and paw all over the place with no complaint (and she is not a placid dog!) I do wonder too if she had something in her paw, but we didn't find it. Also, she didn't complain until after she jumped out of the car 30 minutes AFTER being on the beach. (She usually lets us know immediately if something is bugging her.) She wasn't letting us do too thorough a search yesterday though. Part of me wanted to do an x-ray just in case, but they made it very clear they didn't think it was necessary and she is a difficult patient and would have to be sedated to do it.

If I didn't know better I'd say she heard us talking about a trip and pet sitter and totally played us. We're glad she's okay, but still shaking our heads trying to figure out the whole thing.

 

[crazylady]

We're keeping the appointment, but still really flummoxed about the whole thing. Of course she gets regular vet care and was there last week for an itchy ear infection. It took us over a week to get her in for that appointment, calling in for same days because they didn't have appointments available until October. We were lucky to get a same day today. We've had the same vet for many years, so we're lucky because finding a vet accepting new patients is really hard. Our 24 hour emergency vet care place closed to regular hours only so after hours means traveling somewhere.

Maybe vet care isn't hard to find other places? Here it is and also in my hometown in another state. Last summer I couldn't find anyone to see her for a vet emergency while visiting there, which fortunately resolved itself before we were able to get her home. No one would take new patients, not even my in-law's vet, my cousin's vet, etc.

Dr. Internet said sometimes dogs fake it for attention, and if any dogs would do that, she would, (she's pretty high maintenance) so I was curious if anyone had any experience with that.

I wouldn't call it faking but last year my dog got stung by a bee on his paw and it must have really hurt. Even the next morning he didn't want to stand on it until he did and realized the pain was gone.

 

[pigletto]

My dog had a partially torn ACL years ago from playing in the dog park. It healed but after the injury he developed arthritis in that knee and it’s been an issue for years. Sometimes it hurts more than others. It’s worse in some weather, or certain activities. Jumping like that would cause the same reaction for him. He gets shots in his knee once a month now and we rarely notice any pain. But no dog will shriek in pain if something doesn’t hurt. She was definitely hurting.

Another phenomenon we noticed though was that because he didn’t know why he was hurting he got afraid of things he used to do like walking on tile floors ( he slips) or climbing the stairs in case that hurt too. So what you might have been seeing after the initial pain event was some fear response.

Regardless I would definitely have her checked so you know what you are dealing with.
I really hope it’s not an ACL injury or arthritis but we’ve had that exact same scenario jumping from the back of the car. Is she a labrador by any chance ?