Elbow displaysia

[Citygirlrurallife]

Our 8.5month old golden retriever has I think the early symptoms of elbow displaysia and I’m so worried and sad. He was limping on his front leg a week or so ago, took him to the vets who couldn’t see anything massively wrong so just said to make him rest for a week, we’ve been gradually going on short lead walks again in the last few days and he’s def not limping anymore. But, he does lift the leg a lot like he doesn’t want to put weight on it (though have seen him put full weight on it and doesn’t seem to cause discomfort) and when he lies down he curls that paw under him.

im going to go back to the vets to investigate fully but would love some positive stories to keep me sane and keep the anxiety at bay

Don't panic. It could well be an injury or 'growing pains'. Common in larger dogs as they mature.

I teach agility and would have him onlead for at least two weeks then build back up very slowly. Dogs are great at being lame one day and sound the next when really they need much more time to recover. Injuries can take months. I'd not worry yet.

Thankyou @Newpeep i really appreciate you taking the time to respond, we’ll keep him on the lead for another few days and I guess book him back into the vet next week? They did warn us to do any more investigations because nothing was immediately obvious he might have to go under GA for an X-ray or MRI 😢

MRI would be the next step as bone issues tend to be quite obvious. They also tend not to weight bear at all IME.

I'd not go down that route yet unless the vet advises it. Do you know the scores of the parents? If good then obviously no guarantees but it is unlikely to be ED. If you don't know or they are not good then more of a concern but I would say he is young to be showing signs and being a large dog they can get pains growing. A fellow trainer has a newfoundland, fully health tested parents. He developed a similar problem and she was terrified of it being serious but it turned out to literally be the canine version of growing pains.

My Lab had growing pains in his elbows. The previous Lab was diagnosed with elbow dysplasia but it turned out to be a mechanical injury caused by faffing about. ED is unlikely from health tested parents.

My 9 year old lab has elbow dysplasia. She was x rayed & diagnosed. She's on Loxicom for pain relief & Rhia flex devils claw supplements which have been a game changer, as she no longer limps.

Thankyou so much for replies, very reassuring - his parents were both health tester and his dad’s scores were amazing, his mum was reasonably average for a GR