# Walking Funny - Vet is Not Sure of Cause



## Jaclyn_M (Sep 5, 2012)

For the past few weeks Ren has been walking funny, but only intermittently. My husband was the one who first noticed it, and that was shortly after he had been at the vet for his rabies shot, so we first thought that his leg was just sore from that. But it has been continuing for a few weeks now. Around the same time of his rabies shot, we had an incident where his leash got tangled around his leg while he was running, and before I could untangle it, he reached the end of the leash which pulled the leg a bit, so maybe that was the cause.

Here is the walk as best as I can describe it:
Sometimes when he is walking, he will avoid putting weight on his right-side hind leg. It's almost like he's doing a little skip as he's walking. But he only does it sometimes. Like for a while he might skip on every 2nd or 3rd step. Or he might skip on several steps in a row, and then go back to walking totally normally. And it seems to happen mainly on soft surfaces, like grass. He doesn't do it nearly as often on the sidewalk or hard surfaces.

Other than that, he seems fine. He has no pain in his leg that I can tell, and still gets excited to go on walks. He can still run and go up and down the stairs.

Yesterday I took him to the vet because I was getting concerned. She checked out all four legs and said they all had perfect range of motion, he showed no signs of pain, and she didn't see/feel any inflammation. She said that if he had a sprain or something more serious, he would be avoiding putting weight on that leg all the time - and the fact that he only does the skip occasionally means it's not too serious. But she wasn't sure why he does it more on grass - she had not heard of a symptom like that.

Anyway, she said that he did have some slight movement in both his back knees, which could indicate luxating patellas at some point in the future, but not a problem now. So she said that the funny walk could be a sign of future luxating patella - or it was possible that he had over-extended his leg in the leash tangling incident and it was still sore.

So she advised me to watch him for the next few weeks. If his leg got worse, we would get an x-ray. If it stayed the same and didn't improve, she said I should look at putting him on a glucosamine supplement for joint health.

So that's where we are now. Has anyone heard of a dog skipping like this? I'm just wondering if there may be another cause or if it truly is the early stages of LP.


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## Huly (Mar 5, 2012)

Is the grass wet when he skips?


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## Jaclyn_M (Sep 5, 2012)

Oops, so sorry I didn't reply sooner. Anyway, to answer the question, generally I avoid taking him on grass when it is wet outside, so it's usually dry.


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## intent2smile (Dec 4, 2011)

Jaxx used to skip like that. The vet told me he was in the early stages of LP. He suggested a joint supplement. We immediately put Jaxx on Nupro, the one with the joint supplement. After he was on the Nupro for a while the skipping has stopped. 


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## SWHouston (Aug 23, 2013)

The difference between a soft (grass) surface and concrete is that concrete would not demand as much flexibility in his Toe joints and Nails.

I would suggest that you (gently*) rotate each Toe forward and back, then two in opposite directions, roll side to side as well. Then, focus on his Nails. Same thing, push/pull/rotate.

* = Pressure equal to what his weight would normally apply.


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## Jaclyn_M (Sep 5, 2012)

intent2smile said:


> Jaxx used to skip like that. The vet told me he was in the early stages of LP. He suggested a joint supplement. We immediately put Jaxx on Nupro, the one with the joint supplement. After he was on the Nupro for a while the skipping has stopped.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Thanks for the comments! Is this the supplement? NUPRO JOINT & IMMUNITY SUPPORT | Dog Vitamin Supplements Dog Vitamins Arthritis Dogs Treatments


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## intent2smile (Dec 4, 2011)

Jaclyn_M said:


> Thanks for the comments! Is this the supplement? NUPRO JOINT & IMMUNITY SUPPORT | Dog Vitamin Supplements Dog Vitamins Arthritis Dogs Treatments


Yep that is it


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

Skipping usually means luxating patellas. I'd start with the supplement first.


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## Rach_Honey (Jan 13, 2012)

Honey skips! The vet initially thought LP, that was ruled out. They then thought Legges Perthes Disease, that was ruled out. 

Turns out, Honey just likes to skip!! Little monkey! I give joint supplements now anyway, just in case.


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