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Expert: - 1/27/2011


Question
Our Havanese puppy, Bailey Levi, is almost 10 months old.  He is current on all vaccinations.  He was neutered October 6, 2010.  He did fine post surgery.  Recently we have noticed he has intermittent trouble walking, mainly presenting itself after rest.  He will stand/sit on his hind legs, sometimes whine, or walk backwards.  When he finally starts walking forward it is with hesitant, painful looking steps.  Once he gets moving, which can sometimes take a few minutes, he runs around like a little firecracker. At first we thought it was his legs but today my husband noticed when he has the trouble walking he also has either one or two lumps that appear in his neuter incision line.  When the lumps are not present he does not have trouble walking.  He is eating fine and we don't notice any problems otherwise.  Any advice you can offer would be appreciated.  Thanks for your time.

Answer
Those lumps are glands that will swell off and on from stimulation. Even though he is neutered, he is still young and it is easy to stimulate them. These glands can be large so they could make him uncomfortable when he walks. That is usually not the case, however.

I would take him in and have the vet look over his incision line. He could have some adhesion's that are pulling and hurting him a bit. While not common, it is possible. He could also have a suture in there that hasn't dissolved entirely and is pulling.

Call your vet and ask them the best way to approach this. Most likely it's the glands and they will dissipate (the times that they swell that is) in time.  

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Jana Connell RVT, CVT

Expertise

PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING TO ME: I am NOT a vet and do NOT diagnose diseases. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I will give you suggestions and steer you toward calling your vet for help. You can call the vet's office and talk to the technician there or the vet at times. Don't be afraid to call them! If you have a serious issue with your pet please post it to one of the veterinarians in here- I will tell you the same thing in my answer. IF your pet is injured or in an emergency situation, CALL YOUR VET- Do not wait and post in here. Just call the vet's office and get them in to see the vet right away. Critical treatment time is lost if you seek answers here when you should have your precious pet at the vets!! Don't sit at home waiting for an answer when your pet is critically ill or injured!! I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals. I DO NOT answer questions about birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS/REPTILES/FROGS/RABBITS/PET BIRDS OF ANY KIND so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I, as well as other experts in here, do NOT do homework questions- that is for YOU to do! Please respect these rules for all of us. Thanks!

Experience

I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a Small Animal Nutritional Consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina. I also specialized in Small Animal Dentistry which is a field I truly love.

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Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

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Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT. Certified Veterinary Dental Technician Have over 500 logged hours of Continuing Education Credits(that means I keep up to date!).

Awards and Honors
Nominated for Expert of the Month for the last 5 years.

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