Weak legs on a lurcher?

muff747

muff747

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I rescued a lurcher type girlie about five years ago and she is a great loving playful dog. She is very confident when we're out, going on ahead and running about. She used to fling herself hell for leather after tennis balls but over a period of a few years she ripped her dew claws or broke them so eventually we decided with the vet to remove them. Unfortunately, he said they needed a careful operation because they were proper little toes so we took it very careful post op and didn't throw balls or let her run about for a good few months in total.
Ever since then, periodically she would come up lame in on one of her legs but sometimes it would be a back leg and sometimes front ones.
She is probably a whippet crossed with possibly a cocker spaniel but she is very slender, is this a problem with slender legged dogs?
I'm going to take her back to the vets tomorrow as she has hurt a front one again, I lost sight of her and just heard her yelp so I'm not sure what she did this time:(
It seems such a shame because she loves running for balls but we daren't because she usually ends up lame again.
 
Odd, when my lurcher had hers taken off she was only restricted until the stitches came out. You used to be allowed to take pups dew claws off with a pair of scissors, when you docked them. (That is just for information -not recommending you go for DIY!)
I should think she has just got very unfit and is now prone to tweaking things, my lurcher is always self harming, not so much now she is old. I would try to get her properly fit while not letting her run like a mad thing - hard with sighthounds though.
Do you have pics? She sounds lovely.
 
My old lurcher used to rip out dew claws quite regularly - he was never lame, and I didn't even take him to the vets. He was a bit more substantial than your girl sounds to be (greyhound x of some kind) but not that solid.

I've got to say that 20+ years of sighthound ownership has made me a bit more pragmatic about going to the vets when they are lame - they aren't necessarily delicate, but when they are in 'chase mode' then inevitably they will damage themselves temporarily sometimes. I go for 'bute and box rest' first now :)
 
Hi Clodagh, yes thats what I thought but apparently, hers were attached like proper toes!
She is very fit, apart from the morning run with my OH, we have a large garden which she patrols in good weather and she is down at the stables with me most days.
She will be about 5 years old, I got her when she was approx 5 months old, here she is
DSC00521.jpg
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You can see her slender legs and why I think she's crossed with a Cocker spaniel!
 
looks like australian cattle dog cross to me but could also (and more likely) be a collie cross.

pretty

the age question was in case or arthritis or similar aging problem-you cant rule it out but less likely given her age.

not sure what it could be, have you tried resting her?
 
Yes, each time she hurts herself, we keep her on the lead for at least a week and resting as much as possible and then short quiet walks off the lead if she's stopped limping for a week and no ball throwing for a few weeks - although we try not to throw a ball at all, but when visitors come, or the neighbours are out, she searches until she finds a ball and drops it at their feet or even through the fence for them to throw for her!
 
looks like a collie cross to me and that would link with ball chasing.....shes very pretty....my lurcher periodically injures one of her legs, more often a hind and i think it is muscle strain and i just rest her for a while and discourage her from galloping about, NOT EASYwhen there are squirrels, bunnies, hares and deer about....
 
s4sugar said:
From the photo they are standard dewclaws.
Click to expand...

My vet had a good look close up before coming to that decision so I trusted his judgement.

Do long legged dogs tend to injure themselves more? I've had many rescue dogs, not all long legged but I can't remember any of them injuring themself so often as she does. Anyone know if whippets injure themselves easily?
 
depends on the dog, lurchers do seem to be a bit too fast for their brains as in they engage the speed before the brain sees any danger-mine crashes a lot and wrapped herself round a tree chasing a deer last year, she then had to have surgery and will never be sound again, it is highly likely the injury will shorten her life significantly
 
She is gorgeous, love that face!
My lurcher was usually a bit lame somewhere in her youth. She did all the ligaments in her toes/paws, broke her toes, cut herself repeatedly, tweaked muscles, broke ribs crashing into things. Now she is old her feet have gone completely flat, I assume from all the younger injuries.
 
s4sugar said:
The dewclaw is a toe.That is standard but perhaps your vet was used to just removing the claw?
Click to expand...

they vary some are just like floppy bits of fat with a nail, some are attached by ligaments and some by bone, so surgery time and wound depth also varies as would recovery time.

many working lurcher men leave them on, some of them believe it reduces more serious injuries higher up, their belief is that the dog uses the dew claws to turn and also to swipe the back end out from a rabbit.

I would do the same as you OP, if they caused a problem I would take them off
 
Thanks all. Yes hers were properly attached and needed full operation.
Vet had a good feel and stretch of good leg and foot and bad one and couldn't really find anything so he was booking her in for x-ray on his pc when I noticed one of her toes was just slightly raised. On further exam she yelped so she's in for x-ray next Monday (only small vets so he's booked up). You could only tell when she's laid down and her legs are horizontal. She's not too bothered except if she tweeks it so we'll keep her on the lead until then.
 
Just to followup what other people have said, I've got 2 small lurchers,and when they are at full stretch they dont have time to engage their brains! My beautiful black whippety type dog is covered in white hairs now caused by scaring from tiny cuts,where hes hurled himself through bramble thickets chasing things! I've been lucky so far with the worst incident being a nearly severed back pad, although some of the screams I've heard you'd think they were dying, only to carry on seconds later as if nothing happened, lol
 
Sorry, I didn't update the results.
She has a deep infection in her inside toe nail bed which has actually caused some boney changes, maybe because she has been avoiding weighting it all this time.
She has had two weeks of strong antibiotics and if that doesn't get on top of it, they may have to remove her toe! I'm not too worried as she has been managing all this time without using it too much. She mustn't have been weighting it because that nail is growing longer and thicker than the matching opposite.
 
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