Kaya is 8 months old friendly happy go English lab girl puppy and its my first time owning a dog. Last month I've noticed her front legs/elbows making clicking/popping noise when she stands up from lying down or when she pivots I hear the popping sound from her front elbows(sound like the air pockets in the humans knees). She doesn't show any discomfort, walks, runs with out any issues. I'm wondering given the age because she is growing her elbows/joints will be making noise...is this natural for lab puppies or is this a sign of elbow dysplasia and that I should starts saving up for surgery? We visited our Vet last week and she said its too early to tell and recheck when she is a year old.
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Hi and welcome to the forum It's always a worry if we think something's not right. I understand how stressful it can be. If you're not confident about the opinion you've got so far it's perfectly reasonable to get a second opinion from another vet, ideally one who is a specialist in orthopaedics or joint issues. It's definitely the case that you can't tell if joints will be perfect or not till the dog is about a year old (they don't bother doing hip and elbow scores till then), but I'd think that at 8 months you could probably tell if something is definitely not ok. There are people here who have had direct experience with elbow issues so I am sure they will be along with advice
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Echo what Rachel has said. I don't have any direct experience with elbow issues, but if you are worried I would get another opinion.
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Buster has ED and i noticed his leg clicking now and again, the first time i asked a vet she had a look at his legs but wasn't confident and did tell me that its nothing to worry about, but i had read things on this site, when our dog walker came back to us in Sept she did tell me that she thought he was limping which i had seen on and off for a while, i immediately called the vets and got an appointment that night with the specialist in orthopedics and he was very good Buster didn't show any signs of pain, the vet put him on tablets and in between appointments his leg was clicking like anything, so the vet changed his meds and touchwood he is fine on the tablets, the vet got him in for xrays so at 8 months We had the dreaded conversation that yes he does have ED. So if you are worried like Rachel and Lisa say speak to a specialist you know your own dog and know what is right or not, good luck lets hope it is nothing to woory about.
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound I second the expert vet advice too. We have thought Lilly had ED. Vets exam was ok. X rays were OK. Saw vets specialist and turned out it was HD. Must admit to feeling quite negative about our local vets at first. Got there in the end though I would ALWAYS look for expert advice for hips and elbows after my experience. Hope you get things sorted.
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Thank you, I appreciate all the feedback... Cheers, Soner
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Penny has hip dysplasia that was diagnosed about a year ago but she started showing symptoms when she about 7 or 8 months old. She also makes a clicking sound sometimes but I don't think this comes from her back legs. One of her 'wrist' joints clicks but doesn't seem painful. I myself have a lot of clicky joints that don't cause me any issues. It could just be because she's still growing but if you're worried it's always best to get checked out. If your current vet hasn't put your mind at rest maybe you can get a second opinion or ask to see an orthopaedic vet?
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Hi, We have a slightly similar story to Penny & Lilly; Monty was diagnosed with moderate /severe HD on left hip at just 6 months old, yet before that we really couldn't be sure where the problem lay, front or back legs, just something a bit 'limpy' and odd about his gait. We also heard occasional clicks. They x-ray'd all his joints, and nothing showed up anywhere on his front joints, only left hip (though of course they said that they bones were under developed and it was possibly too soon for elbow problems to show up on xrays) He's now treated with monthly cartophen injections and daily nutriquin supplements, but I have to say the clicking has got progressively worse, and I truly believes it comes from his front legs not the back most of the time. When I point this out the vets say that the treatment for his HD is helping all his joints equally, and there seems little point in putting him through further x rays just to get a diagnosis for ED in addition to HD at this point. However the big difference between Monty and Kaya is that we definitely did, and do still see some definite stiffness / signs of discomfort on occasions, and you are not experiencing that, so I would not want you to worry unduly. Partly the reason we had the x rays done so early was that the vet recommended combining them with a castration, which we were going to do anyway within a couple of months, so only one general anaesthetic was given to Monty rather than two. I find the vet advice differs within my own practice depending who we see, so I wouldn't hesitate to go back and get a second opinion.
Re: 8 Months old English Lab, front elbows clicking/popping sound Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it. Cheers, Soner
