# Knee Injury?



## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

I'm hoping someone can make me feel a little bit better... I'm really worried Dex has a torn his ACL :-[

This morning at the park he was having a good time and was being chased by another dog. Well, he ran smack into the fence on accident. That's never happened before but he seemed fine. I didn't get a good look at how he hit since he was running towards a group of people standing beside the fence. He didn't act like he'd hurt himself at all, but we went home anyways.

He walked fine to the car, in the house, etc. Then I uncrated our pup and let them both into the yard. A few minutes later I heard a light thud and turned around and he was holding his back leg out straight and in the air. He's always knocking the pup around so I'd assumed she made the noise. No yelp or anything. A couple of minutes later he'd put weight on the leg but was limping. Within about an hour, he wasn't noticeably limping but took a weird step every once in a while. Just as I was leaving for work, I noticed a small swollen patch on his knee (about a quarter in size) that I knew had just popped up because I'd checked his leg thoroughly earlier. 

Anyways, I'm assuming it happened in the yard but he could just have been sore from the fence hit. It's the knee swelling that's really gotten me freaked out - as I wasn't sure what part of his foot/leg was bothering him and causing the limp. 

So of course, I'm now super worried that he's torn a ligament. Vet first thing tomorrow. He doesn't really act like he's in pain (but he never does). I guess I'm just wondering if knee injuries = always mean ACL. I know a lot of people on the forum have dealt with unexplained limping that has resolved itself. I'm so worried and I couldn't skip out on work today to take him to the vet. :'(


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## Vizsla Baby (Nov 4, 2011)

Poor little guy, I'm sure he'll be just fine. I sure hope its something like a sprain or a small break in his bone which would heal much faster, but it sure sounds like an ACL issue to me.

Our neighbors dog had an ACL tear. He lived with it for a while before they finally took him in for surgery. It was a structured recovery - short walks, leading to longer walks, etc. but the dog is just fine now!


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## Canadian Expy (Feb 27, 2013)

Aww, poor Dex! Sure hope you guys get some good news at your vet appointment. 

I don't know much about dogs tearing their ACL, but I know when I tore mine it hurt first thing and then the pain subsided very quickly. I could walk fine, but my leg would give out/hurt if I did certain movements. The symptoms of the tear would come and go, until I got it surgically repaired. I would assume it would be similar for a pup? 

Fingers crossed for you that the issue is minor and recovery is speedy!


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Thanks guys. Hoping it's nothing but I'm not so sure that's the case :-[



Canadian said:


> I don't know much about dogs tearing their ACL, but I know when I tore mine it hurt first thing and then the pain subsided very quickly. I could walk fine, but my leg would give out/hurt if I did certain movements. The symptoms of the tear would come and go, until I got it surgically repaired. I would assume it would be similar for a pup?


 :-\ That's how I would describe this. It seemed to be quite painful at first (though no yelping or crying - but he NEVER limps, much less holds his leg like that) but then seemed to get better fairly quickly. By the time I had to leave an hour later, he was hardly limping, but every once in a while it was like he took an odd step and something gave out. Then the swelling started. Sounds a lot like what you're describing. I was hoping the fact that it seemed to be getting better wasn't indicative of an ACL injury. Will keep you all posted. Think good thoughts for him!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

We will keep Dex in our thoughts.
If your vet believes he has done serious damage to the knee, they will refer you to a specialist. Just prepare (money wise) for the worst, but try and stay optimistic. Cut down on exercise until the vets checks him out.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Thanks all. Vet appointment will be tomorrow morning. When my husband got home from work last night, the swelling and limping was gone and he was back to his regular bouncy self. I wasn't home for very long last night, but I didn't see any funny steps either. My husband's an ortho doc (for people... not dogs... b/c that would obviously be too easy!) and palpated it some and couldn't find anything. He's also not tender in the knee at all. Still going to have him take it easy until the vet takes a peek though. He's such a tough lil bugger I don't trust him to tell us if he's still in pain. I do have a little more hope that maybe it was an odd muscle cramp or maybe he got stung by something (though I doubt it).


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Glad to hear he's doing better, and hoping it was just some little bruise or something... It would be so much easier if they could talk, wouldn't it?!


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

we had a bizarrely similar experience this week. Wednesday afternoon we were playing fetch for about 40 minutes at the dog park, and later that night lua's behavior just got totally weird. I decided she must be in pain, but couldn't find any swelling or heat, and she didn't have a limp, but her gait wasn't totally normal. treated with painkillers wed night and thursday morning, and kept her crated as much as possible yesterday to restrict her exercise (cause you know these guys---they'll *never* stop until you make them). This morning, she was drooling excessively, had dilated pupils, and still a slightly funny gait. So off to the vet we went this morning, and vet decided she pulled some muscle in her hip. So no ligament injuries, but a significant amount of pain nonetheless. She's getting a painkiller, and anti-inflammatory, and a muscle relaxant to help with the muscle spasms, and is on exercise restriction for a week or so. 
So hope for dexter! It may just be a muscle thing like Lua's. Either way, keep us posted!

As a side note, the last few days I've been extremely glad that I hadn't spayed her early. I feel for sure she would have torn something, given her general accident-proneness.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

emilycn said:


> We had a bizarrely similar experience this week.
> 
> She's getting a painkiller, and anti-inflammatory, and a muscle relaxant to help with the muscle spasms, and is on exercise restriction for a week or so.
> So hope for dexter! It may just be a muscle thing like Lua's. Either way, keep us posted!
> ...


Oh, poor Lua! Glad it doesn't sound like anything serious. What about her behavior tipped you off that she was in pain? I would be so relieved if it's a muscle thing. I know when I've muscle spasms, I did need to straighten my entire leg out to help release the spasm. So maybe? 

Dexter was neutered at about 6 months, so that's definitely part of where my concern stems from! Although he hasn't been accident prone to this point at all.

I just checked with the vet and we're seeing the one vet that's only there to help out on busy weekends. She's super nice... but not so sure how competent she is. Last time we were in and I was asking about spaying/pexy she told me she didn't think Weimaraners were prone to bloat. Among other things. The tech and I were gently correcting her most of the appointment. I'd asked not to have her again (I still really trust our regular vet there) but she was still assigned to us for tomorrow. I'm debating cancelling our appointment until our regular vet can get us in. I really wouldn't trust her opinion so I'm not sure what the point of the appointment would be - I wouldn't believe her diagnosis either way. Erg!


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

Yay! I threatened to cancel Dexter's appointment and our regular vet decided to fit us in instead. I hate to be difficult - but I don't drive 40 minutes away for nothing. If I didn't care who I was going to, I'd go across the street. Haha between this and our insistence on following the WCA vaccination protocol for our pup, I'm pretty sure our file just has a big red angry face all over it! Although after the pup's issues (worms/irritated eye/UTI) I'm pretty sure it also has a whole lotta dollar signs on it too :-\


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

Good! That other gal doesn't seem like anyone i'd want to see either...

Sheesh, the weird behavior thing is a long story, but here goes:

Lua was acting really weird in a kind of scared or defensive way (i eventually realized). She normally lets us do anything with her, and one of those things is pulling her onto our laps when we want to cuddle her. Well wednesday night after we'd been at the dog park, she was not having it. One of my roommates (who Lua has loved and lived with since I brought her home) tried to put Lua on her lap, and I heard her growl from the other side of the house... it was a serious warning growl. I went out to investigate, and Lua was on her back with her tail tucked and pupils huge. She wouldn't get off the couch (she knows "off" and listens to it consistently), and was growling (albeit less intensely) when I tried to push her off. I knew some sort of fear-based aggression was brewing in her, but I couldn't figure out what she would feel threatened by. So I felt all along her limbs, moved things around, and didn't find anything too concrete, but suspected her weird behavior was probably pain related, as she was doing some seriously fast and agile movements at the park earlier. So I gave her a painkiller that night, then one more Thursday morning, just to be sure her pain was controlled and not coming back. She acted totally fine. But this morning, she was drooling a TON---like, soaked my jeans, then the towels, and then even through to the couch cushion--- and her pupils were dilated again. I'd never seen her drool so much ever. Like, even when she's playing with another dog and gets a big long streak of drool across her snout. So I knew something was definitely not right, and suspected pain again, since she hadn't eaten anything weird, she ate all her breakfast, and she hadn't thrown anything up. Called the vet, brought her in, and the vet found some tenderness and spasming in a muscle in her hip. I felt so proud of myself for recognizing this stuff. Not sure why, but it always feels good when you can read your animal.


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

So pretty much good news for Dex! Got checked out by the vet and no ACL problems or signs of any other injury to his leg anymore. I'm so relieved! He was totally back to normal this morning jumping on furniture, trying to zoom, etc. It's nearly impossible to keep him quiet now that I can't have him drag a leash - his puppy sister ends up dragging him around by it! So glad we got the all clear. This might be the first time I'm glad my husband was right and I was wrong  And I might reconsider getting some health insurance for him...

Our vet did notice that his pupils are slightly different sizes (hardly noticeably at all) which was a little bit concerning though. There is a chance he could have gotten some head trauma from his fence hit. But he's acting completely normally, has a normal appetite, no vomiting and no drooling either. She didn't see any swelling behind his eyes. So he's getting anti-inflam eye drops for a while. He's always got irritated eyes from allergies so hopefully this is just part of that. 

How is Lua doing now? The drooling would have really worried me too. Is it normal for them to drool when they're in pain? I'd only ever heard of it being more of a neurological thing (not that I really know anything about it either way!) Just another reason people should always vet check their pups when they start acting out or having uncharacterisitic aggression!


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## emilycn (Jul 30, 2013)

Yay dex! You know he's only getting better cause he's trying to help out your hubs---bro code or something, i guess 

Lua's basically acting like nothing's wrong, so i guess it means her treatment is working. She's even more clownish than usual though, cause the muscle relaxers make her a bit klutzy. (I have to try really hard to not let her see I'm laughing at her, cause she acts so ashamed of herself when I do.) 

There's definitely still more drooling than usual, since usual is none, but it's significantly less. The vet said that drooling could be pain related or stress related-nausea or both---apparently they produce a lot of excess stomach acid when they are stressed out. A dose of pepcid twice a day has done a pretty good job of controlling the drooling. I definitely still lined her crate pad with trash bags and towels last night, though, and it was a good thing i did!


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## dextersmom (Oct 29, 2013)

emilycn said:


> Yay dex! You know he's only getting better cause he's trying to help out your hubs---bro code or something, i guess
> 
> Lua's basically acting like nothing's wrong, so i guess it means her treatment is working. She's even more clownish than usual though, cause the muscle relaxers make her a bit klutzy. (I have to try really hard to not let her see I'm laughing at her, cause she acts so ashamed of herself when I do.)
> 
> There's definitely still more drooling than usual, since usual is none, but it's significantly less. The vet said that drooling could be pain related or stress related-nausea or both---apparently they produce a lot of excess stomach acid when they are stressed out.


Yes, Dexter would do anything for my husband, so that's certainly true!

Aww, silly Lua! Dex is so awkward (super leggy) that I can only imagine what he'd be like on muscle relaxants. Hope she's back to her usual self soon!

That's good to know about the drooling! Dexter does it if he has to be crated in the car (which he hates) so that makes sense! His drooling always smells like canned peaches... I wonder if other V's does too?


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