My Pug puppy stopped using his hind leg today... Help

My pug puppy is six months old. He has never had any problems with this before. Today I took him for a nice walk, not unusual. Everything was fine. A few hours later though, he was limping around and not using his hind leg. I don't know what happened. I felt around and nothing made him pull away or anything else that would be an indication of him hurting himself. The only thing I can think of is that maybe he pulled a muscle when he was running thru the kitchen. He does this daily, and he scrambles around gathering steam and hes always sliding around. Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm very concerned for him.

 

I would give it a day and see how he feels tomorrow, he could have pulled a muscle sprained it if he is not better I would take him to the vet

 

If he's just limping, you can probably wait 24 hours to see if it resolves on it's own. If he's not bearing weight on it at all, a trip to the vet is in order. Some injuries heal better if they are treated right away.

 

I have a pug and she did the same thing when she was about 6 or 7 months old. She would suddenly be running around the house with her back leg held in the air, but did not seem to be in pain. She did this on and off for about 2 weeks (she would do it, then wouldnt for a couple of days, then do it, then wouldn't, etc), finally we took her to the vet. It turned out that her knee muscle and joint were sliding out of alignment. It CAN be a long term health problem, but it can also be "grown out of" according to our vet. She told us to keep an eye on her and follow up if needed. I think Gia only did it once or twice more and she hasn't done it since (almost 2 years).

Keep and eye on her and if you feel like its a problem, take the baby in!

Good luck!

- Laura

 

Sounds like it could be luxating patella to me. Lots of little dogs can have it. We had a fox terrier with it who would scream in pain. My Mom's pom has it and doesn't even whimper. He'll just run along and lift up the back leg as he goes. Your vet can check very easily for it. Some dogs learn to manage it without surgery.

 

It's hard to say!

We had a terrier mix who did this. She would run around with one of her back legs not touching the ground and then she would be fine again. She did have surgery to fix it. The vet assured us that the knee would be better than it ever was before and would not be more prone to arthritis or anything like that. Basically, she just tightened up all the ligaments. The dog recovered just fine and never limped again.

On the other hand, Nala once hurt her back leg at the park when she was about 5 months old. I thought we should wait a day and see how it went, but my husband said to bring her in. (He was feeling guilty because he was the one with her at the park when she did it, plus my previous dog had died a few months before after he recommended waiting to bring her to the vet...) Anyway, I went ahead and brought her in and the vet did x-rays, but nothing showed up. $300 later, he determined she had the equivalent of a sprained ankle and gave us pain medication, which I didn't give her because I wanted the pain to moderate her activity so she would rest the leg. The next morning she was right as rain. I managed to keep her somewhat quiet for that day by giving her an endless stream of bones, but that was it. The next day she was her wild and crazy self and it hasn't bothered her again.

 

Thank-you for all your advice and sharing of similar stories. Today he looks a lot better. He's still favoring his leg a little but I think he'll be ok.
Thanks much...

 

Good news! Keep watching the little guy and if it recurs I would bring him to the vet just to be sure.

 

He might also have something wrong with his foot. Dogs that go for a lot of walks can injure or cut a pad or split a nail to the quick. Both can be painful and can cause him to favor a leg.

Check his foot before his next walk to make sure there's nothing like a sticker or burr between his toes, or any other injury such as a cut or split nail.

Another thing, if a dog is not use to walking on concrete, just grass, this can cause the pads to become "sanded" until the pads have a chance to become more calloused.