puppy limps, yelps in pain and then minutes later is happily playing

by cindy
(sunny CA)

Hi I have a 6 month old mix Dash/beagle/Chih. He has had a slight limp these past two days. Yet today when he was picked up he yelped in pain, upon putting him down he could not put pressure on his front leg and was dangling it, he whimpered and yelped when he tried to lay on it.

After about 10 minutes he was romping around again limping as before but playing happily. This happened again , but shortly after he was walking about(limping)again playing with his toys and rough housing with our other dog. I am afraid to touch him! Right now he is biting and chewing on our older dog wanting to play.

I did give him doggie asprin from the pet store but am wondering if I should have a wait and see approach or take him in?


Hi Cindy
If your pup has hurt himself by jumping or playing too rough, this could explain the limping and yelping. Generally this is something that clears up within a few hours when the pup shows only intermittent pain.

However, if he continues to do this for more than a day I would definitely take him to your vet for a check up. You want to be sure that he hasn't done any real damage.

Small breeds like this aren't generally prone to the kind of bone/joint problems that large breeds are, but they can still have degenerative or inherited skeletal problems any your vet is the one to be able to make an accurate diagnosis.

I wish you the best of luck and hope this little guy is doing much better soon.