Iliopsoas Muscle Injury

[ChristineX]

My lovely slightly hyperactive/reactive/ADD etc Irish Terrier Duke has spent the last two days mostly on 3 legs - thanks to the two new dogs at the back who like aggressively barking at him... so he has done a LOT of fence running the past week!

well, a visit to our favourite vet (managed to miss him for almost 2 years, now), and it wasn't the toes, or the foot - its the hip. Hoping its the hip flexor muscle that is damaged, he is on my least favourit drug, rimadyl (they were out of every other applicable drug) for a week, and if there are any residual problems, then its x-rays to look for damage to the hip joint.

On a good note, the vet could not believe how he has mellowed out, in the vets words he was 'crackers' when I first got him at 17 months, and he is delighted how Duke has mellowed out.

So, does anyone have any experience with this type of injury, is there any way I can help Duke get over this injury, and how do I prevent it in the future - given that I don't think he is about to slow down, however mellow his temperment has become!

As you can see, I'm hoping its the muscle, and not the hip joint that is the problem.

ChristineX

[ChristineX]

The illiopsoas muscle (not necessarily correct spelling) is the muscle that moves the hind leg forward. Duke most likely has either sprained it, or has a tear in it. Happens often in very vigourous activity, and once done, is apparently more prone to repeated occurances.

Funnily enough, his major symptom is trying to chew his foot off. He's been at the vets a couple of times for this, without finding anything in particular wrong apart from the chewing damage. Just goes to show, some vets are better than others!