Dog leg injury problems can cause severe stress and discomfort to your pet. Left untreated, these injuries may cause permanent disfigurement, painful swelling and infection, and a host of other potential side effects and results. In diagnosing the injury that is affecting the dog's leg, you and the vet will work to determine how the injury developed, whether it can be prevented in the future and how to best go about treating it. In order to make a proper diagnosis, there are a few things that you will need to know prior to your visit to the vet's.
Monitoring Symptoms
While you should plan to take your dog to the vet as soon as you can after noticing his injury, it's also important that you have a general sense of any other health issues that may be going on for him. As soon as you notice that he's developed some sort of an injury on his leg, look for any other signs of injury or stress. If your dog has injured himself in one localized area, you may not notice anything else that is unrelated to the leg. Otherwise, you may find symptoms including the following:
- Nausea
- Vomiting and diarrhea
- Loss of appetite
- Difficulty walking or moving around
- Tenderness and soreness in other locations
Take note of any and all other suspicious symptoms that you're able to recognize before you take the dog in to the vet. This will help the veterinarian to better diagnose the problem so that you can identify and treat the issue at hand.
Diagnosis Procedure
Once you've taken your dog to the vet for an examination, he'll begin by doing a brief physical test. The purpose of this is to determine the nature of the injury and to identify any other problem spots that may be causing your pet discomfort. Your vet will be looking for any areas that seem to cause your pet pain or discomfort upon palpation.
If the vet suspects that your dog has a broken or fractured bone in his leg, he'll likely order a series of x-rays and other tests to be done. This will determine conclusively what the nature of the break is and how to best go about setting and addressing the fracture. If, on the other hand, your vet suspects that there is something else wrong with your pet's leg, he may have a different set of tests done. It's not uncommon for vets to have bloodwork samples taken in order to identify abnormal leg function and injury.
After properly diagnosing the issue, you and your vet can work together in order to devise a treatment plan based on your pet's needs. This typically involves a series of medications to help relieve pain and also a brace or other support system to keep the leg in place and prevent further injury while it heals. Ask your vet for more information.