Dog wimpers when putting weight on front leg

[ercollins699]

Hi. My 4 1/2 yr old 55 lb black lab/some chow mix did something to his front leg playing today. I can touch, move and squeeze on his leg and I get nothing. Now if he puts any weight on it or moves from laying down he cries in pain. There is nothing in his paw or webbing. I cannot afford a trip to the vet unless absolutely Necessary.

[Barkingdog]

There are low cost vets you could check into and if you can't afford vets bills it's really not fair to your dog. Your dog could have a broken leg and it should be checked out .

[hazelrunpack]

Do you know which part of the leg is affected? Elbow, shoulder, wrist?

For elbow or shoulder injuries, we usually take the dogs in to the vet right away. Generally, if they've done something severe enough to mess up one of those two joints, then they need to get checked out.

Often, though, if our dogs have injured a wrist or foot, it's just a sprain. For suspected strains and sprains, we'll generally wait 24 to 48 hours before calling the vet. Often, such things clear up on their own after a day or so--or are at least markedly better. If it appears to be a wrist or foot that's hurt (you should be able to see just a bit of swelling around the toes or in the wrist), see if he'll let you put an ice pack on it. If it's not much better after two days, best to see the vet.