What might this be?

fankino04

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Asking for a friend.... 3 year old fit and healthy spayed lab, if she does more than 20 mins of running around (ball chasing etc) she goes lame, it's an odd lame that it's not specifically any leg just her gait goes odd, and her backend looks weak, and uncomfortable on her front legs, I keep coming back to something like azatoria as it seems to only come on with harder exercise (she will happily walk / jog for hours), she recovers after 30 mins rest. She has been checked by the vet who couldn't find anything but not what tests they did.
 

CorvusCorax

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Has there been a full set of x-rays done? Prolonged tear-arsing around after a ball is not good for dogs, it's just a convenient way for humans to tire dogs out and I'd stop it immediately.
Were her parents hip or elbow scored?
Also could be a back issue.
I may have got out of the wrong side of bed this morning but I'm struggling to understand why anyone would exercise a dog 'hard' to the point of front and rear lameness.
Yes they may love balls, I love chips but eating them for every meal wouldn't be good for me. You can reward a dog by dropping a ball at your feet without the associated twisting, turning, skidding, sudden stops, jumping/awkward landings and all the associated wear and tear that comes with repeated chucking.
((Rant over))
 

fankino04

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I don't think they went into any extensive tests as the vet assumed slightly pulled muscle and she had 2 weeks of lead walking, she doesn't ball chase every day, maybe once a week previously, it was all stopped after the first incident, then a few months later when they assumed everything was ok they let her play with a friend on a walk and same thing happened. She can walk off lead where she runs etc for a good length walk and is fine but short high energy bursts seem to do something to her, as I say she doesn't do this now in order to avoid the problem but just wondering what might cause it.
She's fed James wellbeloved kibble.
 

Clodagh

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Agree with CC. Stop throwing a ball, start walking it normally and see if that helps.
Labradors can get EIC I think you can test for it, but the only one I saw with it went right down.

ETA sorry you answered all that!
 

fankino04

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Obviously it's not a problem if she doesn't get to ball chase I just like puzzles to have an answer lol and also if it's treatable means she can enjoy playing again which would be nice for her, she's happy enough just going for normal off lead walks and trotting / cantering on them as she wants (what is the trot / canter terms for dogs??)
 

fankino04

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What we perceive is nice for dogs is not necessarily good for them in the lonflg term.
They won't get any answers on the forum, it will require a full set of x-rays, hips, elbows, spine etc, at the very least.
I think they are happy enough to just cut out the ball throwing and investigate further if it starts effecting her on normal walks, as I say it's not effecting her quality of life as she's still ok off lead walking so isn't being restricted, I'm just mostly curious what might cause this.
 

CorvusCorax

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Possibly a muscular, skeletal or neurological problem which may be being exacerbated on normal walks without their knowledge/treatment and will come back to haunt them later, I don't understand why anyone would ignore that sort of thing?
We wouldn't encourage a 'fit and healthy' horse owner not to do a full exploration if it went lame front and rear at least twice after a burst of exercise, or would we?
She's a young dog at the age where I'd expect something like bad HD or ED to become apparent so personally speaking I wouldn't just wait for it to happen again.
 

deb_l222

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I would be inclined to say it's a heart problem. If it only comes on during high intensity exercise with non-specific lameness, which isn't really lameness, more like weakness then it could be a circulation problem.

Dogs with heart problems often 'paddle' their front or back legs when they're weak in an attempt to stay upright.
 

Clodagh

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....also look at exercise induced hypoglcaemia, and at a push, Addisons.

EIH was another one but HHO too rubbish on my phone for me to say it. If she can't even run around and have a play with another dog I think I would investigate. Dogs are quite resistant to showing it hurts, a vet should be able to tell if she is lame all the time, and maybe running just exaggerates it. A video is better than in the surgery, I have taken many a hopping dog to the vet and it presents 100%, my vet thinks I fancy him. :D
 

Aru

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There's a relatively long list of issues this could be given the ...They will never know without doing some more testing. Speculating I can tell you anything from could be anything from muscular or back issue that's aggravated by certain movement and isn't healing as they keep repeating the trauma(chasing balls is pretty traumatic with those sudden stops etc) to structural issues-hip and elbow dysplasia-multi limbs will show as non distinct lameness.. to the heart disease.arrhythmias due to the overexertion and excitment and will cause weakness. not on grainfree food by any chance? ..and that's the short list without going into the grim or rarer causes....you could link these sort of symptons to almost every system if you try hard enough. We and our dogs are all pretty finely tuned buological machines...any system errors can really upset the functionality of the entire body system.

More testing needed if it's recurrent.
Diagnostics will help them narrow down a diagnosis mostly through ruling out a lot of obvious issues.
With a lab that's hip and elbow dysplasia to start with as common things are common and that can be a multi limb issue and very common in the breed.

Either way...what it isn't is normal.

If it's a soft tissue injury it may improve on rest and nsaids because the body wants to heal and just needs time for many cases....but they gotta stop throwing that ball. It's not good for their dog.

Videos are incredibly helpful for these sort of cases. Think horse lameness work up. Side views with all feet visable walking run and jogging in a straight line. Back and front also needed.
A massive amount of dogs hide subtle lameness at the vets because of the adrenaline pumping from either excitement or fear.
 
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