Limp

I hate, hate, HATE when any of my dogs, long-term or CCI loaners, show signs of illness or injury. They can't tell you what's going on, which makes it hard to assess the gravity of the situation. Ill or injured puppies seem like a crime against nature. I want them robustly, strappingly healthy.

I'm commenting on this here because Dionne has started limping. I thought I noticed a different rhythm in her walk a day or two ago, but the limp only really became apparent last night. Today it has varied from "almost imperceptible" to "definite" (but not extreme.) We keep scrutinizing her right front paw, feeling the pads and furry spaces in between them, but we see nothing and we can't seem to identify a specific point of pain.

Such a well-behaved patient

By coincidence, she was due for her final set of shots today. Steve took her in to the vet's office, where she was very brave (by his account), not flinching at the injections or resisting the intranasal bordatella vaccine. Steve mentioned the limp to the vet tech, who agreed that it didn't seem very pronounced. She suggested we wait a few days and see if it clears up.

In the meantime, I'm wondering if it could be panosteitis. None of our puppies has ever had that, but I've seen other dogs afflicted with it in dog class. It's an inflammation of the bone shaft that people sometimes refer to as growing pains. The good thing is that it goes away, often quite suddenly and usually by the time they're two.

Not a horrible affliction, if a pup has to have something.