Severe to Moderate Sprain

[A team]

Question to the group,

My 3 year old BLF sprained her left ankle, the injury happened 17 days ago. I promptly took her to the vet at the time of the incident, x rays were taken and she was diagnosed with a severe to moderate sprain.

The swelling has gone down, she still favors her right leg, at times of excitement it is hard to keep her from running and jumping about, if you didn't know she was injured you wouldn't be able to tell.

I plan on taking back to the vet next Friday.


Has anyone had experience with sprains? I know injuries and healing differ from dog to dog but I'm trying to get an approximate timeline for the healing process. As stated it has been 17 days and I'm really missing working and training with her.

[hotel4dogs]

8-12 weeks time to heal properly....

[EdA]

You describe her injury as her "left ankle" which is the hock joint, is this correct? Then you describe her as being lame on her "right leg" so would that be front or rear?

[walt8@cox.net]

Had a sprain like that on my dogs achilles tendon, where it attaches to the hock. Ice for a few days, several times a day. Wrapped it up, carefully, to try to control the swelling. No up and down stairs for a while.
Swam her a week later, swelling came back. Waited another week, started swimming her again. This time no new swelling. Got her into the water easy, no lunging.
2 months before resuming our training. Started back in easy, no big water entries, soft hay fields on land, watched very closely.
I know swimming isn't always an option this time of year, so your timelines could be very different if it's the same type of injury.
Walt