Apparent weakness in puppy's back legs?

Take leg out of position and see if the dog naturally returns leg to proper position. If so then anatomical problems are less likely.

Possibly the anal glands need expressing as this sometimes causes the rear legs to seem out of sync with the front legs. This usually affects jumping though.

Film this behavior to show the vet and perhaps the vet can make something out of it.

Take a video of her getting up from the couch. Then send/show it to your vet and see what they say.

@livelaughlove21 Excellent ideas, get it on film. My male dog wouldn’t eat for a bit and I could tell by his eyes he was scared when he tried to eat. My vet didn’t see it and said it wasn’t a problem. I held my ground and demanded he look into it. I thought he was going to throw me out of the place, but I stood firm. He did the X-ray and found a stone completely blocking the intestines. He listened to me from then on and we had a great relationship. But I knew my dogs better than anyone. Have faith in you.

You may want to consider having her checked for hip dysplasia

I really doubt that this is nothing. I second hip dysplasia, you should get her checked out. With my dog, the vet ran his hands over her hip bones and then confirmed his suspicion by x-raying her.

Hip dysplasia can appear in young dogs, but it almost always affects jumping, running, climbing, etc. Daisy has absolutely no problem doing any of this. She’s female, so she squats to pee and poop. All of her weight is basically on those back legs, supported by her hips. She has no trouble getting down or up from that position. When she lies on a hard surface, like the floor, she seems to get up fine. She’ll jump up and put her paws in your hand to “dance” on her back legs and those legs have never given out under her.

Right now, we cannot afford an x-ray unless she really needs one immediately. If it were to get worse or cause her noticeable pain, I’d take her on Monday. However, this will probably have to wait a few months if it stays stable. My husband has been having tailbone pain that refuses to go away and our insurance is insisting on 6 physical therapy sessions before they consider approving an MRI. That’s $300 in copays over the next two weeks and, if he does get the MRI, I’m sure we’ll get a nice bill afterward even with insurance, I graduate college in December and we’ll be better off financially once I secure a job. Money is tight right now.

I am not a vet, but my labrador has had diagnosed hip dysplasia for two years – she runs, jumps and plays just fine. I have never heard of HD affecting a dog’s playing in the early stages. It is weird that Daisy can get up fine after lying on hard surfaces, but it would still worry me. Are you planning to take a video to show your vet, at least?
Sorry about your husband.

I doubt a month will hurt anything. Worth the vet visit though if you’re noticing, maybe warning signs.

@longgone I will take video when I’m able to take her in. It’ll be January, at least, unless I see it getting worse. As of now, it’s been stable for the entire 7 months we’ve had her, so I don’t think it’s much of an emergency right this minute. I’ll keep an eye on her in the meantime.

Hip dysplasia is a genetic condition and the effects come on gradually over a number of years. My next door neighbour’s labrador had it; she was fine until the age of about four or five then she started having difficulty walking. By the age of nine she couldn’t walk at all and she was in constant pain and had to be euthanased.

@downtide Thanks for that.,.

Since asking this, I’ve noticed more and more symptoms of hip dysplasia that I never noticed; the “bunny hop” when running or going upstairs and a sway in her hips as she walks being the two big ones.

Asking this question was pretty random and not the result of me seeing her having a harder time getting up than before. But since posting it, it seems to have gotten worse overnight. She’s having trouble standing from sitting or lying down on all surfaces now. She didn’t want to run to our car from the house like she normally does and, after coming home from my mom’s house today, she started limping. Her back legs occasionally cross when she walks as well. She’s not playing as much either, but she was really excited to see my mom and dad like she usually is, jumping around like crazy.

How is it possible that it’s getting worse so fast? I’ve done research on hip dysplasia and they say the sooner the symptoms start, the more severe the case. Puppies under 1 have been euthanized because of it and now I’m scared to death. The thought of it brings tears to my eyes and I can’t get my mind off of it.

The vet is closed tomorrow, so I’m going to try to get her in on Tuesday. Not sure how I’ll come up with the money, but I don’t want her to suffer if there’s something we can do. If I have to put my puppy down, I won’t be getting anymore dogs. This sucks.

You may have unconsciously picked up on her slowly getting worse. I’m glad you’re going to the vet after all. That is why I was worried…HD is hard to spot. Try not to freak out yet, it might still be false alarm. If she is still in pain, you could try warming her hip area with a hot water bottle. Don’t worry yet.

@livelaughlove21 Don’t buy any trouble. Wait and see what the vet says. My dogs developed hip problems when they weren’t that old. They responded well to Rimadyl and they had a really good run well into old age.

My sister’s dog disappeared for a week. When she came back she had trouble with her back legs. The vet xrayed and said everything looks fine but she has some type of nerve damage. Maybe a slight hit by a car but no broken bones. She ‘bunny hops’ when she runs [and she can run fast].
I would just have the vet check her out and see if there is anything with the hips. Also watch her bowels because that could be a sign of nerve damage.

In case anyone is interested in an update, here it is.

I couldn’t get a vet appointment for a couple of weeks, but I took her today. An exam and an x-ray later, she was officially diagnosed with hip dysplasia. It’s mild to moderate in the right hip and moderate to severe in the left.

The vet wanted her to start on a joint supplement, so we bought a nice expensive bottle of that. According to the Amazon reviews, it works miracles. I’m excited to see her get some relief soon.

The vet said we will only start her on the NSAIDS when necessary, considering the liver damage they can cause. She also spoke to us about surgery options. The one I’m looking into for the future is the FMO, but only when she starts having more problems. They say it’ll run at about $600–700 and she’ll hopefully only need it on one side at first. Much better than the $6000–7000 total hip replacement.

In the meantime, we’ll be making sure she gets a walk every day, doesn’t gain unnecessary weight (easy with Daisy – she’s thin), and rests when she needs to. We’re also researching other ways we may be able to help.

The diagnosis really bummed me out, but crying about it won’t help Daisy. It’s our job to make sure she has the longest pain-free life as possible.

An FHO on the severely affected side will probably improve her quality of life significantly.

@syz That’s what I hear. The vet says we need to wait until she’s a bit older, though. Like it says in your link, it limits their mobility quite a bit. Right now, she’s only in minor discomfort, but can still jump and be a puppy, so we won’t take that away from her until need be.

She just missed the cut for the TPO option.

@livelaughlove21 glad to hear you got to the vet. Another option to help her is possibly swimming. It is no stress on the legs and might help build her muscles up to assist in her walking. Keep us post on the little girl. Good luck and happy walking.