Front legs: wide stance, elbows turned out?

Hi

my friends boxer x ?? has started to develop a strange gate/stance. She lost her other boxer nearly 2 yrs ago through fits/back end went/old age and she admits she noticed something odd for a little while now but has been in 'denial' (this girl is 9 I think). I saw a picture of her girl sitting in the back of the car (saw her in the flesh the other night and didn't notice anything and it wasn't mentioned) with her front legs really wide apart and her elbows turned out the way.

Ill find out more detail when I see her again but anyone heard of anything similar?

I have not come across this before that I can recall, but thinking about it there could be several possibilities and only a vet can determine what is going on.

Is her breathing laboured I wonder? If we have congested lungs, it is sometimes easier to breath if we stretch our arms out and above our heads; perhaps dogs are the same, and she has found the postion to be more comfortable. For it to be both front legs does rather suggest to me something going on in the body.

Maybe someone will come on who has experienced this with their dog.

I put 'dog elbows turned out' into google and there is a lot of stuff relating to this on the web (lots relating to boxer puppies) and various causes for older dogs. Wouldn't like to hazard a guess.

Yes that's one of the possible causes given Bitkin.

Well blow me down.........I do have a working brain cell then!! Thanks Tang

Yes you obviously do as I had to google for a bit to find that as a possible cause. And you just THOUGHT OF IT ALL BY YOURSELF!

Yes, well, I have had occasion to adopt the arms akimbo and above head position myself many times, so it came to me straight away

I will be interested to hear a vet's verdict

I've read that it can be caused by a lumbrosacral injury (or lower back I think that's the same thing) and the wide stance and thrown elbows is due to the weight being carried forwards to relieve pain? She is dizzy by name dizzy by nature and absolute fire cracker :0) I totally get the breathing thing though.

Vet vet vet for sure. Will update when I know!

Just remembered a previous convo where friend said she had started to obsessively lick and rip up the carpet. She thought she might have been upset as they recently moved house (albeit next door! ) but I'm thinking maybe she could be in pain?? She was being so unusually destructive she had to put her in her cage ( she normally has run of downstairs and is a very we'll behaved girl)

Went with my friend to the vet earlier after seeing the intermittent drunkeness behind (i tried to turn her feet over but she just laid down!) and toand its not good news.
day she has started wetting herself when she sits down.
Vet did the knuckle test and she didnt right her right rear at all and the left rear showed signs of delayed reaction

she also has a number of mammory tumours. Friend knew she had one lumpy boob which had weeped recently and she had bathed it but vet said it was mastitis (no smell or goo, just clear)

unfortunately she is not insured but either way she is now 10 and the vet said that you could strip the mammories but that doesnt solve the instability issue which she referred to as possible spondylosis and with her age and prognosis she suggested having a think about what my friend wanted to do.

she back home with a course of antibiotics for the mastitis and a week of anti inflammatories to relieve any pain she may be experiencing and then she is to go back to see how things are going.

all things being equal think its going to be a case of pain management going forwards.

Friend got in touch with someone she knows who has a litter brother and he has recently gone right off his back legs and is on steroids and has to be carried out to the toilet

lots of tears and sadness from the humans but Dizzy still a perky girl and wondering what the fuss is about bless her