Joint support for dog with crooked legs? Update- Cruciate tear- leg brace?

[Cammie]

Suggestions for long term maintenance for a dog with crooked legs? This is Mochi, my dog’s bestest friend. She’s from Tijuana and is essentially a pit bull chihuahua mix. About 35lbs on very short legs, both fronts are crooked but left is worse. She’s 1.5 years of age.

She’s sound for the most part, goes on long walks and plays quite a bit but every once in a while she’ll tweak that left front and be lame from anywhere from 1 min to all day. Sometimes she’ll be off for a few steps without any obvious cause, other times she’ll take a bad step while running or playing, yelp or scream and be non-weight bearing for a few minutes but then walks out of it. She also occasionally has a hitch in her hind leg, like you see with loose patellas/stifles catching. She saw the vet for that, x-rays were inconclusive but there was some arthritis and her right tibia at the tip wasn’t fully developed.

I’ve suggested starting her on a good joint supplement and asking her vet about Adequan, but any other ideas? Other than not jumping on/off things as much as possible and keeping her weight down. I know the long walks will be problematic as she gets older too, just trying to keep her as comfortable and sound for as long as possible.

The photos are showing the worst angles of her legs- she isn’t quite that crooked if “posing” nicely, but you can see what how much her legs can twist when playing or running.

![image|666x500, 75%](upload://uV1jGoyrFY0SQeJmbHGUuknm

[LookinForSpace]

Cosequin DS is a good joint supplement. Or Dasuquin.

I’d recommend keeping the nails as short as possible too. She’s very flat-footed and longer nails will increase the tendency to rock her weight back on her heels (so to speak) instead of on her toes, which increases flex/stress at the pastern joint.

Looks like her nails could be shorter in those photos. A nail grinder (dremel tool) may be useful for keeping them short by grinding them once or twice a week.

Did the vet also x-ray the left front? It looks like an injury/deformity to that pastern joint.

She lacks rear angulation (too straight in the rear), so that may also make the slipping patellas more likely. If she has a hitch or hops a step or two at a time in the rear, that’s typically a slipping patella but if it’s inconclusive on x-rays, maybe it’s mild.

Oh, NOW the last two photos show up. Looks like you’ll need to work on getting those nails back with daily grinding, the quick looks like it goes almost to the end of the nail.

I’d also recommend against using a harness to walk her. In general (unless you have a sledding harness), they restrict front movement and put excessive strain on the muscloskeletal system and joints, particularly in the forequarters. And of course, encourage pulling!!

[Dr_Doolittle]

Completely agree with all of the above.

[Cammie]

Thanks for the suggestions and advice! Keeping her nails short is a good tip, hadn’t thought about how it would affect her foot position but they definitely are too long. She was at my house the other day and was click-clacking all over the place on the wood floors. Plus catching a nail on the grass or turf would definitely tweak her leg as well.

She hasn’t had x-rays done of her front legs, but her legs were like that when they got her at 8 weeks old, so I assume it’s congenital defects rather than injury. I’ve had two chihuahua fosters with the same kind of crooked legs so my guess is Mochi just drew the short straw genetically.

She does pull like a freight train- they had her in a harness from puppyhood but just recently started taking her to a trainer who has them walking her in a choke chain. She’s doing much better but still has work to do- she’s not walking on a slack leash yet but at least isn’t dragging them down the street now. She also is one of the most stubborn dogs on the planet- teaching her to lie down was a multi-week project with the trainer. She’s an absolute sweetheart though. Just need to keep those legs happy!

[4Frogs_aLilypad]

Dasuquin Advanced

[S1969]

@Cammie

She hasn’t had x-rays done of her front legs, but her legs were like that when they got her at 8 weeks old, so I assume it’s congenital defects rather than injury. I’ve had two chihuahua fosters with the same kind of crooked legs so my guess is Mochi just drew the short straw genetically.

It’s most likely genetic faults. This is called “fiddle front” and is a common fault in many breeds although this dog is pretty extreme. You see it a lot in smaller terriers like JRTs, so much so that people think it is normal.

Joint support - Cosequin or Dasuquin are highly rated. But definitely also keep the weight off. When dogs like this get fat there is much more pressure on those joints.

[Cammie]

Update on Mochi. It appears that she has torn the cruciate ligaments in both hind legs at some point. She’s been on Adequan and joint supplements since July, and the owner started taking her to a vet who specializes in both Eastern and Western medicine in August. She’s not a candidate for surgery for both financial and living situation reasons, so they started a regimen of Prolo injections and PRP along with acupuncture and laser treatments.

Initially she responded really well. Her right hind is much worse than the left. Previously she wasn’t putting her full weight on it when standing square, and she would stick it straight out in front of her when sitting down. She had some atrophy around her right hip as well. She started putting full weight on that foot and was moving much better over the past few weeks. Starting to go on short walks and her hips were looking much more even in muscling.

But now she’s tweaked something again, where she’s off for a few steps when she first gets up but then walks out of it. The one vet at the practice who does the PRP wants to continue injections and is now recommending the owner buy a brace to help further strengthen the leg. It has to be custom of course, since this dog has wonky leg conformation that is the likely cause of all of the problems to begin with.

No guarantee that a custom brace will be sized correctly and they’ll be out the money if they get it wrong. The initial articles I’ve found say that the braces are not really helpful and I’m not seeing anything study wise that looks promising but may not be looking in the right places. Does anyone have any direct experience or recommendations for or against a brace? They’ve spent a lot of money so far on vet bills, and are reaching their limit financially. They will buy one if needed, but at this point they are so frustrated and confused as to what will help they are reluctant to move forward. They can’t keep doing endless injections and if being slightly off for a few steps is the best that can be expected for Mochi then they can live with that and just manage her the best they can.