March 21, 2010

Bulldog Puppy with Weakness in Back Legs

Hello

I just wanted to get your opinion on my bulldog Bitzy(Bo Bo).  She’s about 7 months old and has already been through her first heat.

For the last few months(4 or so) we noticed she babies her hind legs quite a bit, mostly when she gets up from sitting, and she doesn’t like for us to touch her hind legs,but mostly down towards the bend of her legs. She doesn’t yelp if we do touch them she just kinda pushes/licks our hand if we do. She also tends to lick and bite at her legs out of the middle of no where as if something has bitten her.

Once she’s up if there something she wants to stay up for like playtime,eating or to go to bed, then she stays up, but if she just gets up to go outside or to wonder around the house then she usually will sit down not much after getting up.

Although she has no problem running around the yard at full speed pickin on my twice her size old english buddy, or chasing the garden hose when it on. For a while we thought she was just being lazy maybe,or maybe overweight, but now as the time has progressed and she’s lost a little baby puppy pounds and we’ve noticed how she sometimes just want to lay and sleep were thinking it’s probably something a bit more serious. if you have any idea in what could be wrong with our bitzy bo bo please let us now asap.

thanxs very much.

—

Hi Dawnette,

English Bulldogs go through growth spurts at certain ages. During growth some
orthopedic symptoms can appear that will take care of themselves as she grows.
Since this has been going on since she was a puppy, there could be other causes.
There are some spinal conditions in bulldogs that could be affecting BoBo’s hind legs.
If she is showing weakness in the legs, I think you should take her to an orthopedic
vet for evaluation.
She may be biting at her legs when she gets a twinge of pain.  It’s often difficult for
us to tell when a dog is in pain because they are very stoic and do not like to show
any pain or weakness.  This is an instinctual response to pain left over from when
they lived in the pack in the wild.
Because of their breeding, all bulldogs have hip dysplasia to a certain degree.  That’s
the source of their charming “rolling gait” where their hind end sways when they trot.
Some bulldogs may even have their joints come out of the sockets.  Most show no
serious problems related to this but some can have pain.
There is also a spinal condition that can cause some nerve damage that can cause
weakness in the hind quarters.  It is also a genetic condition due to over breeding.
Sometimes they can get sore muscles like the rest of us but since she seems to have
had this for a while and she appears to be getting worse, she may be in pain.  Some
x-rays may be in order to rule out anything serious.
your bulldog pal,
Jan
Posted to behavior,breeding,conditions,english bulldog,Orthopedics

* Comments(2)

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Comments

  1. ARA
    July 13th, 2013 | 10:52 pm

    my English bull dog is about 2 years old and she has problems with her hind legs when she plays and/ or runs a lot.
    does anyone know why this happens to bulldogs?
    and what can be done??? she can barely get around when this happens to her?

  2. Jan
    July 14th, 2013 | 8:39 am

    Orthopedic problems are quite common in Bulldogs, due to inbreeding. In fact they all have hip dysplasia to an extent. She may be suffering from either hip or joint problems and it is not a good idea to let her run around to the point where she’s in pain. You should probably take her to an orthopedic specialist vet who can tell you what’s going on and suggest treatment options. Here are a couple related posts: http://www.askbulldoghealth.com/?s=orthopedics&sbutt=Go

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