puppy hurt leg playing, how long to fix before x-ray?

[chicadelmonton]

On Friday we took our 3 month old lab puppy for a walk now he's had all his vaccinations. He's bouncy and gregarious and loves playing iwth other dogs (he's met a few on-lead in shared gardens). He ran straight into a game going on between two much bigger dogs (we were in a puppy park but they were about a year old) and they bowled him over. He started screaming and lying on his back and when we picked him up one of his back legs was obviously injured although he was fine in himself.

We took him straight to the vet but they couldn't find damage so figured just tissue trauma, gave him some pain relief and said come back tomorrow if no better. But yesterday (which was tomorrow) he seemed to be able to put some weight on it so I didn't. Then in the evening as I pulled him gently on to my lap he started squealing again. He's still carrying the leg a bit.

Should we carry on with rest or back to the vet today?

I was less stressed with my human babies!

The vet said to bring him back the next day if no better, so I would get him checked out, just to be sure.

He needs the vet for further pain relief if nothing else.

Puppies tend to bounce back pretty quickly so my instinct would probably be to just rest it over the weekend and ring the vet if there's no improvement by Monday. If he has a restful weekend it's not going to get any worse.

But you could ring and see about getting him some painkillers if nothing else.

He needs the vet.
And 3 months is far too young to be bouncing into the middle of a pile of older dogs playing. You need to prevent that in future.

@wolfiefan I know you are right. I was an idiot.

The vet prescribed loxicom so he had that yesterday.

I've got an appt for later on this morning.

Not an idiot!! Lab puppies tend to be ridiculously friendly and have no sense of self preservation!! Do be careful of over exercising. I’ve met many two year old labs with hip and elbow issues recently.
Hope he’s better soon.

Thanks Wolfiefan. My last dog was a huge mastiff who was already adult when I got him, so I'm very puppy green. How much exercise do you think is too much? I've been doing about 20 mins a couple of times a day.

Amount of exercising is unlikely to cause joint issues but type of exercise will.

So gentle walking and trotting if the puppy can self regulate is fine.

However rough play, chasing, twisting, slipping on slippery floors, running up and down stairs jumping etc can cause joint issues and needs to be prevented.

Hope he feels better soon

The so-called "five minute rule" has largely been dismissed - the idea is to ensure you build up the amount of exercise your puppy gets gradually, and to limit the amount of leaping, twisting and turning they do.

So, no ball chasing, no zooming around with big dogs, no running on hard surfaces or slippery floors. But longer, slow and sniffy walks on grass or sand with lots of breaks are absolutely fine.

that's great advice thanks. The vet couldn't find anything wrong and is sure there's no torn ligament as apparently this would be very unusual in a puppy. Just going to keep him in for a few days. Pic of the impatient patient attached...

He's gorgeous!

I'm sure he'll be just fine, they bounce back so quickly as puppies. Mine did similar when he wasn't much older than yours and he was fine after a few days :)

Bless him. I have giants. I allow free play in the garden. It’s on lead marching about I limit strictly. Brain games and training will tire him out while he’s grounded!

been there, done that with retriever pups - some of mine have been total wimps and reacted as though they were mortally wounded (remembering my own over reaction at first pup's over reaction to a nettle sting 🤣) others are much more stoic.

Lots of rest and pain killers - but be careful that the pain killer doesn't cause him to overdo it.

This is the first of many times you will be deciding vet or no vet. My three yr old chased a squirrel / fox in the garden when she went out for her last pee the other night (about midnight) - she didn't come back when called - and when I went to get her she was pitifully hopping on three legs. I checked the leg that she wasn't putting weight on - no visible signs of injury, nothing obviously dislocated or broken, skin all intact - so I decided to wait until morning as she would be asleep anyway. Next morning she was fine, all four legs working perfectly, I suspect she hit it on something and gave herself a painful bump (she is a bit of a wimp).

I think you have realised already but dog parks are bad bad bad news, completely unregulated, all kinds of bad beahiour and no control. I would avoid always. Its very difficult to have a trained dog if you use dog parks aside from injuries.
Painwise it should improve in a few days but there ahould be no heat anywhere on the joint if so then back to vet.

Thanks for all this advice, definitely taken on board.

He was much better today and I've been walking him slowly to encourage him to put weight on the sore leg.

Good to hear he’s getting better. I have a border collie who needs lots of exercise, both physically and mentally. I personally didn’t take him in dog parks at first and then only took him in when there was only one or two dogs in there. Now he’s 3 years old, all the puppies there run rings around him.

I don't even know what a dog park is? What is it? like a secure park where there are lots of other dogs? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I try and avoid big open spaces with other dogs now. I can't bear the hooning around, and the twisting and rolling scares me as I have a retriever type and worry about joint issues.