Ginger started limping a couple of weeks ago after running around at the dog park. When we got home, she went to lay down and after taking a nap, she started limping when she got up. It was a small limp that almost was gone after the first few steps. I watched her for the next few days and it eventually went away. The following week, we went to the husky meet-up where she ran and played as if there wasn't anything wrong. When we got home, and she took a nap, she started limping again when she gets up from laying down. And within the first few steps after getting up, it would go away.

We took her to the vet on Dec. 23, and because it goes away after a few steps, the vet couldn't see anything wrong. He checked to see if there was any swelling in any of her joints or muscles, and there seemed to be none.

On Dec. 24, we meet up with a few friends at the dog park, and Ginger met up with a couple of other Sibes that were at the park, and they formed a pack and started running around hard chasing other dogs. We tried to keep her from running that hard, but with 4 other Sibes, it was hard to stop her.

We left the park after about an hour, and still no limp. When we got home, she went to lay down, and when she got up, she had a big limp. She wasn't carrying her leg; she was still walking on it, and when we tried to see where she was sore and touched her leg, she didn't complain and didn't seem tender anywhere.

This morning when she got up, she had a BIG limp. She did seem like she carried her left from leg a little, so I carried her down the stairs, and she walked outside to use the bathroom, which her limp wasn't as big by then as when she first got up.

The vet suggested to start giving her glucosamine/condroitin to start when we visited since it kind of goes away after walking a little.

Has this happened to anyone where their Sibe would limp the first few steps or so after getting up from laying down? Has anyone had their Sibe on glucosamine and has it helped?

Any info would help.

We'll take her back to the vet on Monday, but if anyone thinks I should get to the vet sooner, let me know.

I'm pertty sure I have a post just like this for sierra on here! She would get this limp after hiking this summer but she was also crying about it. In fact when we got home last night and she was hurting... I think the two of them we playing and her back leg is reall y bad now. We did start her on a strong dose of glucosamine from the vet and it has been working so far with her everyday movement. We also go some pills for her on days that it is bad, she got one last night. I would back off on her runing around. U have also started to run her a lot more with all your fun toys and maybe she is just getting sore? Would call the vet mon to talk but I'm sure she is ok for the weekend

Thanks Jennifer! That makes me feel better. I was so worried about her this morning when she had such a hard time going down the stairs. JD is SO bummed!

I'm relieved to hear that glucosamine does help with Sierra's everyday movement. The pet store right be me has a couple of different options for glucosamine. One in powder, one in pill and one in liquid form. The liquid form has the highest dose, but am afraid to give her too much if that's possible. The owner of the store gave a good amount of the powder form to try out if Ginger will take it in her food and she has been on it since yesterday and has been fine (no change in her stool going soft on 1/2 teaspoon 3x a day with her food). The owner also used this same brand of glucosamine on her older Golden Retriever who had a limp from arthiritis from old age, and she said it has helped her Golden with moving and a lot less limp.

I'll take her back to the vet on Monday.

Our vet gave us dasuquin soft chews 1 2x's a day. It has 900mg a dose and chondroitin sulfate 350 mg. I think we have a message form on this as well. It does take a good month to see a change

I was told by our vet also it'll take a few weeks until we see an improvement. The liquid form of glucosamine has 1500mg of glucosamine or something like that (I know it was at least 1000mg in one dose), and I know it also has condroitin in it too. So that's good to know that Sierra gets 1800mg of glucosamine a day.

She's not limping as hard now as she was this morning, and when we take her outside to use the bathroom, she wants to play and will run on it a little but we're keeping her low activity today. I don't want her to aggravate it...

.

I'll check around online....Thanks!

The doggie store near me has it in powder. I'll compare prices.

Here's an older thread on supplements that Jenn started a while back that you might check out:

Dog supplements

I am a fan of supplementing for joint health even before problems arise. Dogs' and peoples' joints wear out over the years naturally so I prefer to supplement in advance to help prevent and/or slow down joint wearing as much as possible.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are supplements that you can buy cheaper in human versions. There are a lot of options and some are better than others so it is wise to do a little research beforehand on the best form and dosages. When starting out supplements for existing problems you will want to do a higher dose for the first month or two and then back off after that for maintenance.

Diet plays an important role as well. I hate to sound like a broken record but a raw diet is excellent for joints as well, all that great cartilage and bone they get from raw food is wonderful for their joints and so much better and easier to utilize than pills.

One of my dogs has joint problems (luxating patella) and she's on a number of supplements. I give her Glyco-Flex II soft chews. It's an intermediate joint support supplement and there are other grades such as Glyco-Flex I and Glyco-Flex III.

I give Ester-C which is good for connective tissues at the joint, good for active and working dogs.

One of my favorite supplements is MSM, which I buy the human version of for my dogs in 100 mg capsules. MSM is excellent for the joints and for inflammations which is perfect for dogs with arthritis and joint problems. MSM also has other health benefits besides the joints so I love supplementing MSM for all my dogs.

Kelp is something that is excellent for joints and dogs with arthritis. This is something a lot of raw feeders will supplement for dogs on a raw diet with joint issues or arthritis. I don't use kelp for my dogs but I know people who do and they have seen amazing results on it.

Last but not least, I supplement all my dogs with Nupro Silver with Joint Support. It's a general supplement that also contains Glucosamine, Ester-C, and MSM for added joint support. Using the supplements that I use along with switching off of kibble we have seen major improvements in our dog who suffers from joint problems.

Claudia, when Ginger runs with the bike or scooter are you running her on pavement or off? Any running that Ginger does I would keep to strictly off pavement since that is very hard on the joints...if you don't already. You've probably already done this also but just in case, I would lay off the biking/scootering with Ginger for a little while as well...at least until she seems to be back to normal and no longer limping. Hope she starts feeling better soon!

Thanks for including the info from Jenn. I tried to look/search for it but couldn't find it.

She went to the dog park and ran around hard, and that's when she started limping, and that was Friday. We stayed home yesterday, and by that evening, she seemed to have miraculously been cured because she took hubby out for a trot and hardly any limp. This was around the neighborhood through parks, so some grass and some pavement.

I was worried this morning when she got up on how she'd be, but she had a very slight limp so I took her out for her morning walk as usual.

When we go scootering, it is on pavement, but she's not running; she's trotting and we go for about 20-30 minutes. We haven't gone scootering for about a week now and probably won't do much of it now that we're planning to head up to the mountains to go snowshoeing on weekends instead.

So, she's feeling much better today!
Thanks!

Mya gets very excited when she's going for a walk and jumps at the door like crazy. She's always done this (she's 4 1/2), but about a month ago when she jumped she would cry real bad. I did the same, touched her everywhere and nothing. The next day she was ok, but the following day it started again so I took her to the vet. He couldn't find anything either since she was walking/ running just fine. He also told me to give her glucosamine and she's been ok since we started giving it to her. He said it was probably her left hind knee that was bothering her.

I'm relieved to hear similar symptoms with other Sibes!
She's still limping a little after she gets up but it goes away now in severals steps. Hubby was ready to get her and x-ray and MRI since the Golden Retriever across the street just had ACL surgery and the owner was saying she was limping for sometime and finally they said it was time to get it checked and found she tore her ACL. I would think that would be next (x-ray and/or MRI) if glucosamine doesn't show any signs of improvement in the next month or so.

I know how impossible my next statement seems...

Try to not let the dog do ANY exertion for 10-14 days. I go through limps quite often and the vet trips got too repetitive and costly. It's just like with ourselves. When I hurt my knee this summer it took months to heal because I wouldn't stop hiking every weekend. The first time I took two weeks off it was back to normal. It could be just a sprain/strain somewhere and the only way to get through that is to force them to not do anything for a while. She's gonna hate it, but it is what it is. The fact that it seems to be consistent and not really getting worse or better makes me think it was something that never healed in the first place. Hope that makes sense, and hope she gets over it soon.

Makes a lot of sense to me. And your statement isn't impossible with Ginger since she's a pretty mellow Sibe.

Since the incident, we kept her quiet the day after and since she's been walking pretty normal by the following day, we've been walking her 3x a day for about 20 minutes each time...I didn't think that's too much since she's walking pretty normal, but if it is, let me know and we'll keep her even more restricted.

I've also started her on glucosamine/condroitin. This particular product also has MSM and some other natural anti-inflammatory ingredients.

My own ritual is to walk once a day for at most 30 minutes. That walk is usually more of a stop and smell the piss-bushes than a real walk. After a week if I don't see those first couple of limping steps when getting up, I will ease that dog back into the routine. But I wait for a week after they look mostly normal. Mine hate it and I have to baby the injured one in the house so they don't sulk and turn into a jackass.

harrise wrote:

My own ritual is to walk once a day for at most 30 minutes. That walk is usually more of a stop and smell the piss-bushes than a real walk. .

That's what our walk is now - just a stretch around a couple of blocks in the neighborhood and smell the piss bushes and to pee over some of them.

She's only got a teeny-tiny limp now which goes away within the first few steps after getting up.

Before I would give the dog any supplements or meds without really knowing what the problem is I would let the vet do a radiograph..

There is more pressure on the joints when geting up then from wlaking.

I agree with harrise, no playing or running around for a week or a bit longer.

Mya just started doing the same thing yesterday =( It's worse when she first gets up. I've walked her and she had a minor limp while on the walk (almost can't tell), but then limps pretty bad when she gets up. Doesn't completely lift her leg off of the floor or anything but you can tell she's struggling. When she lays down she doesn't lay her leg flat on the floor either. She trys to play with Kody when he starts with her, but limps during. I have to try to keep him away from her. This sucks!

I have to take her to the vet on Monday to see what he says. I'm really hoping this goes away before then =(

MelissaI wrote:

Mya just started doing the same thing yesterday =( It's worse when she first gets up. I've walked her and she had a minor limp while on the walk (almost can't tell), but then limps pretty bad when she gets up. Doesn't completely lift her leg off of the floor or anything but you can tell she's struggling. When she lays down she doesn't lay her leg flat on the floor either. She trys to play with Kody when he starts with her, but limps during. I have to try to keep him away from her. This sucks!

I have to take her to the vet on Monday to see what he says. I'm really hoping this goes away before then =(

Let me know what your vet says. When I took Ginger, she wasn't limping anymore and he wanted to start her on glucosamine and since, she's been doing a lot better after hubby takes her for runs on packed dirt trails and through the park. Also, our vet said that if she conitnues to limp really big after running and playing at the dog park or had a big day of hiking or something after a month on the initial dose of glucosamine, he'd want to x-ray her. The first visit he just felt to make sure her joints and muscles were the same on both sides to confirm no inflammation.

Keep me posted on Mya and I'll post updates on Ginger here as well to share info back and forth.

Hi Claudia! A little over a month ago our vet started Mya on glucosamine also. When she's getting ready to go for her daily walk she jumps up at the door like a crazy dog (lol). She's always done that and she had started crying when she would jump so I took her in and he did the same thing. Felt her hind leg for any inflammation and started her on the glucosamine. She hasn't cried anymore since, but now she started with the limp. This time it's her front leg. She seems to be better today, but it's not totally gone. I didn't take her on her walk even though she's been begging me to "go" all day. She can be very persistent...LOL. I wasn't able to make a vet appt for tomorrow, but if she still has it then I'll take her in on Tuesday. I have a feeling that he won't do much either. If it continues then I'm sure he'll have xrays done.

I'm glad that Ms. Ginger is doing better =) They take their walks very personal and to not be able to take them because of a limp breaks my heart =(

I'll definitely keep you posted...thanks!

MelissaI wrote:

...They take their walks very personal and to not be able to take them because of a limp breaks my heart =(

I'll definitely keep you posted...thanks!

Ginger does too. She'll go forever on walks if we had the time. Luckily, we'll be snowshoeing this coming week so she'll be in heaven.

She's not limping anymore but we've also kept her quiet from running hard. We'll 'jog' and trot' her but not for long, and we try to keep her off pavement when we do.

Next month will be a test. We'll let her run at a dog park a little and she how she does.

Well the vet prescribed an anti inflammatory and an antibiotic for Mya just in case. Her limp is much better, but she still walks a little "funny" from time to time. I think my baby really is starting to get the first signs of arthritis though Yesterday, she was laying in the yard and jumped up and ran after something that she saw really fast and hurt her hind leg. She had it completely up off of the ground for less than a minute and then was back to normal. The weather in Miami has been a little nuts these days. Has gone from high 70s/low 80s to low 40s from one day to the next so that leads me to believe that the weather changes are affecting her bones.

This sucks!

Aw, Mya...weather can certainly affect her. I have a bum knee and when then weather gets cold, it gets stiff. Ginger seems to be doing pretty good since we started her on glucosamine and Myristin. We went snowshoeing today and she got in some deeps stuff so hopefully she's ok tomorrow.

Just an update on Mya's leg. She seems to be totally fine now. woohoo!

Yay Mya!

That's the kind of news we like to hear!