My dog's leg is weak. Could it be a stroke affecting just one leg?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. With these symptoms, this could be due to a primary neurological disease or heart condition. I would recommend having Scooter examined by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. I would recommend having his blood tested and chest x-rays taken. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hello, sorry to hear about Skittles. There are certainly several things that can cause dogs to have problems moving their legs. What you're describing however, seems to be more likely associated with an injury to her back. Most commonly in dogs, they may "slip" a disk which causes compression to their spinal cord. There are other injuries that are not compressive such as an swelling due to autoimmune disease in the spinal cord, a stroke to the spinal cord, or a fibrocartilagenous embolism which is more associated with larger breed dogs. Again their are other possibilities such as if she sprained a muscle or hurt her knees. Due to the concern for a potential back injury, Skittles should be evaluated by a veterinarian promptly to ensure she does/does not have a back injury. There are 2 options if she does have a back injury, you may elect to treat conservatively with strict rest and at home medications for 4-6 weeks or you may elect to have a neurologist evaluate her. The neurologist may then recommend an MRI and surgery based on the MRI. I know this is a lot of information to understand/explain so shortly but I would start off by having her evaluated by your veterinarian soon. In the interim, keep her quiet and rested, (no jumping, running, rough playing), make sure she is urinating and defecating, and keep her low to the ground. Best of luck and hope this helps.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Scrapoy! If Scrapoy is having neurologic signs (leg weakness, knuckling, not moving the leg(s), walking drunk) I would worry that he is suffering from a slipped disk in his neck or back. The shaking is common when dogs are in pain and disk can be very painful. I would recommend taking Scrapoy to the Vet today for an exam. I hope this helps and I wish you the very best!

It is not possible to say whether that was a misdiagnosis without a hands on exam of your dog. It is possible that your dog had a blood clot that caused the sudden lameness. You will need to monitor your dog closely, as such clots can move within the blood vessels and cause further damage. At the first sign of breathing trouble, lameness or obvious pain, your dog needs to be seen by a veterinarian. Treatment depends on severity and extent of the damage. You may also want to consult with your regular veterinarian whether he recommends an ultrasound of the heart (heart disease often is a source of an embolus/blood clot) and whether it may make sense to put your dog on some anticoagulation medicine.

Poor Toto. This sounds like it may be a neurological issue causing her immobility in her front leg, especially of all her preliminary testing came back normal. At this point I would highly recommend asking your vet for a referral to a neurologist, who can run more advanced testing (I.e. MRI, CT scan, etc) to diagnose her problem and then explore her treatment options.

Little Baby Boy needs to see the veterinarian quickly. Weakness/neurological signs are never normal and can indicate many things including toxin ingestion, drug exposure, an infection in the brain, low blood sugar, a middle ear infection or liver dysfunction. Vestibular disease affects older dog but an infection in the middle ear is similar. A stroke would be very unlikley unless he got into certain medication or had a congenital abnormality. Also, yes, there are classic presentations to these diseases but not all pets read the book about how they should look so other presentations are possible. A physical exam and bloodwork is needed to begin figuring out the cause and the best treatment. Other diagnostics may also be indicated. I hope it's nothing too serious and that he gets back to normal quickly.

It sounds like what you are describing is weakness. Did your pup have a neurologic exam? What we look for is evidence of pain (although this can sometimes be inconsistent in pets), loss of sensation to the feet (does he fail to flip his foot back over when the top of his foot is placed down?), and presence or absence of reflexes. The results of these tests can help to determine if it's neurologic in origin and what portion of the spinal cord may be affected. Although, it can sometimes be hard to differentiate orthopedic from neurologic disease. Plain xrays of the spine are helpful to rule out any bony abnormalities, and sometimes we can see evidence of narrow disc spaces, but ultimately we cannot see the spinal cord, nerves leaving the spinal cord, or the soft tissues. If a neurologic problem is suspected an MRI is often needed. But, there are also some other conditions that can cause weakness that are metabolic in origin (has your guy had any senior lab work recently?) or related to loss of signaling to the muscles (for example a disease called myasthenia gravis) or related to a degenerative process such as degenerative myelopathy. If there is a component of pain detected on exam then anti-inflammatory pain medication may help. If you feel like things are getting worse it would be a good time to have a re-evaluation with your family vet. Another option as well, if a neurologic process is suspected, would be to have a consult with a veterinary neurologist. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!