Limping

hi, my dog is just under 2 years old, he is around 17inches to the shoulder and last month was 22kg in weight, i noticed last month he had a limp on his left front leg, after jumping around with the old dog he stopped and held his leg out to the side and limped pretty badly into his bed, he lay there for half an hour and got up and wanted to play again, he had a slight limp that went away overnight, i checked his paw and all joints on his leg to see if i could see where he was in pain from with no response from him so i took him to the vets.
by the time the vets opened this was the morning after he had held his leg out and limped to his bed, the vet checked him and asked question but could find no problems and had no sign of pain from him while checking his joints, she gave me a weeks supply of pain killers that were also ani inflammatorys that i gave him and did not walk him at all for a week, then gave him another week of shorter walks and built up to my regular round trip of around 4 and a half miles in around 90 mins, a few days ago we didnt have time to walk him far so took him to the field over the road and threw the frizbe and ball for him, for the last 2 days he has had a limp again after he gets up but seems to walk it off after afew steps, getting a bit worried as this has gone on for over a month, anyone got any ideas? does this glucosamine stuff work and is it worth a go? if so whats the best stuff to get as reading online theres a few different types
thanks

Glucosamine is good for a dog's joints, and is always worth a go.

It sounds as though he's either strained a tendon or having problems either with the elbow joint or even his wrist/paw. Have you checked his dew claw & all four toes? Have you checked between the pads to make sure there's nothing untoward there?

If it's his elbow then the glucosamine might be all you need to ease it if it's just a strain, but if it's something more serious like Elbow Dysplasia then you may need to get x rays to see how bad it is.

Agree with Caryll and with the method you used the first time to rehabilitate. I would try that again and take the process just a little slower. If you are going to use high impact exercise build back up slowly like you did with the walks to aviod any reinjury.

Would this be any help to you..............

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2084&aid=670

thanks for the replys, i wont be walking him for a few weeks and will get some glucosamine for him when i come back from a week in blackpool with the kids next week, he wont get walked atall next week as he will be at the inlaws and they are not fans of dogs so he will be out in the garden most of the time
its strange as he can limp but he will stretch out with his front legs stretching his muscles with no sign of pain, he will come over and give you a paw with the leg he limps on with no sign of pain, he can lift this leg up onto the couch or our bed and pull himself up to stand on he back legs with no sign of pain, he can have a slight limp while walking but when he goes from walking to a slow run he looks fine, he also seems to walk off the limp after a few steps when he does limp, if he was realy in pain he would avoid using this leg would he not?

weight wise theres nothing i can do as theres not a pound of fat on him, even the vet said he is all muscle, infact id say he has a bit of filling out to do yet as when i asked the vet if he looks like he needs to put on weight her answer was " you dont want him to lose anyweight" which didnt answer the question but im guessing it means he could be doing with adding a pound or two

Possibly a strained muscle or tendon. Staffs are full on and give 100percent all the time so most likely a re- injury. Agree with your plan of slow rehab, however if recurrent may need an x-ray at the vet, keep us posted.

can anyone tell me if these glucosamine pills are ok? iv got no idea but at £16 for 240 with jack needing 2 a day wouldnt break the bank, the ingredients mean nothing to me

http://www.vetvits.co.uk/dog-supplements/flexi-joints-for-dogs/productdetail-p15875-c1786997.aspx

thanks