Limping on front leg at 6 months.. worried?

Jazz has been limping on and off for the last few weeks on her front right left. I felt around the muscles and there are no knots and no specific spot seems to cause her any pain. She still runs around and plays fine. She appears to limp more when first getting out of her crate or after playing alot. Does this sound like "growing pains" which I have read is common until a year or so with some large labs? Or.. is limping always something you should err on the side of caution with and get xrayed? I am going to have her spayed on Friday and will get the vet's opinion also.

Also.. Jazz is scared of nothing in the world, but will not go up or down steps. Any ideas on how to get her over this fear??

[Black Labbies]

Jazz sure is a cutie .

Does the limping appear to be coming from her shoulder, mid-leg or paw?
It could be pano (growing pains) http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/depano.html,
but let's hope it's not ED (elbow dysplacia) .http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=431

If she being spayed and under anesthetic it might be worth your while and money to have her limping leg xrayed.

The stairs might be putting too much strain on her sore leg.

All the best with her spaying on Friday!

Our Jack is 4 months old and does this to. We were just at the vet and she said it is probably growing pains (she felt his hips and elbows and said all is well). I've noticed him "over-extending" his front leg a little when running hard and playing with DH or the neighbors puppy- especially on our HW floors. He will limp for a day or two after that- always worse in the mornings or after a nap. It sure doesn't stop him though!

[My Sweet Daisy]

Daisy just turned 7 months old. About 3 weeks ago I noticed that she limped real bad on her front left leg after we had been playing for a while or she had been running. I gave her some time to "heal" it but she would still limp even after staying off it for about a week. So then I took her to the vet. He said he really thought it was growing pains so he gave her a steroid shot. He also prescribed her Glyco Flex which I give her in the mornings. It is another type of steroid. Since she got the shot and has been taking the pills for a couple of days, I haven't seen her limp at all.
The vet also said if she was still limping after the pills then we would have to take x-rays.
So hopefully your baby is just going through the same thing.

yeh.. it does not seem to slow Jazz down much either. She is always going full steam. I am hoping it is just growing pains or a pulled muscle since her body is growing so fast, not elbow dysplasia to any degree. It occurs to me that as much research and effort as I put into finding a quality lab from a top notch breeder to limit the likelihood of such a problem, you can never be 100 percent guaranteed against some illnesses to which labs are predisposed. Even with a breeder guarantee, which i have. I am going to talk to the vet on Friday and see what his thoughts are. Since she will be down for surgery anyway, he might wish to run some xrays to be sure. Will update on Friday..

[labby]

Growing pains usually go from leg to leg. I would suggest you have x-rays done of the leg that is causing the problems, beginning with elbows.

My 10 month old started limping about 6 weeks ago. First it seemed to move from front right to left. Then it just stayed in left. Vet said probably "growing pains" try to wait and see if it gets better. I was FREAKING out. Stopped taking her for runs.Only did light walking.Started her on Cosequin. Well she stopped limping about a week ago and is back to her old (young) self. I hope it is the same with you.Call the breeder and ask them to be truthfull with you. Do their dogs have a history of Pano. That is what I did. My breeder said that some of my dogs desendents did in fact go through Pano.It made me feel better to know.
Good luck...

Wow I just read the end of what you wrote. That is exactly what happened to my dog when the limping started. She was afraid to go up some of the steps in my house.

Just a quick post to update everyone.. Jazz did great in her surgery to get spayed and is at the vet recovering. He did tell me that he felt some discomfort in her shoulder (the same leg she has been limping on) and did some xrays to check for OCD. I was really scared until I just heard back and he said there were no signs of OCD and the leg looked good. Hopefully, just growing pains, and ironically she has not been limping much the past few days. He was sending the xray off to orthopedic specialist to confirm his opinion.. but I am feeling much better now.. Thanks to all who posted..

[SoCalLabLover]

Originally Posted by jasonmc

Just a quick post to update everyone.. Jazz did great in her surgery to get spayed and is at the vet recovering. He did tell me that he felt some discomfort in her shoulder (the same leg she has been limping on) and did some xrays to check for OCD. I was really scared until I just heard back and he said there were no signs of OCD and the leg looked good. Hopefully, just growing pains, and ironically she has not been limping much the past few days. He was sending the xray off to orthopedic specialist to confirm his opinion.. but I am feeling much better now.. Thanks to all who posted..

Yay! So glad that she made it through surgery with flying colors, and that your vet doesn't think there is anything obvious in the x-rays (radiographs). I'm glad that you are having the films read by a radiologist (surgeon?), since they are something those specialists see so many of on a daily basis, it really helps them to pick up on minor little flaws in the bones/joints. Good luck!