Manni's legs tremble when he pees

One weird thing about Manni is that his legs always tremble when he pees. If he's lifting his right back leg to pee, his left front leg trembles. And vice versa if it's on the other side.

We mentioned this to the vet and she didn't seem concerned about it, but she didn't offer any explanation. I've poked around on his legs to see if he's in any pain, but he doesn't seem to be.

I'm wondering if anyone else's dog does this. I just don't know what to think about it.

Is he over weight or walk funny at all? If you rotate his hip in the socket does he seem in pain or try to resist you at all? Also, how old is he?

Max did this sometimes but he was old and had minor arthritis. You just want to make sure he has no hip dysplatia, arthritis or so over weight he is unable to support himself :yikes:

Right now he weighs 103lbs, and the vet says she'd like to get him under 100lbs. His hip does sometimes pop when he sits down, but he doesn't seem like he's in any pain.

We just had his 1 year checkup a few weeks ago and the vet said he's doing great. He's also incredibly strong, so I have a hard time believing he can't support his own weight. It's weird ...

Also, he does limp sometimes, but only if he's gone hiking several days in a row. I assumed it was just because his muscles were sore. We also mentioned this to the vet, but she didn't seem concerned.

The popping and trembling worry me a bit. Could be arthritis or something similar. Did you tell your vet about the popping? If not I'd do that and see what she says.

Maybe just getting that extra weight will do the trick.

I also mentioned the popping to the vet, and again she wasn't concerned. She wasn't the vet we normally see, and I'll admit I was less than enchanted with her. That's one of the reasons I came here to get something of a second opinion.

Manni has been on a relatively strict diet for about 5 months now, but he's only lost 2 pounds. He's a very low-energy dog (unless he sees a squirrel), even though he gets walked over an hour every day. We only feed him 2 cups of kibble per day, supplemented with a handful of green beans at each meal. I wish we could get him to drop those extra pounds ...

I feel your pain! Lucas is the same way, lazy lazy lazy. but loves his food. lol What kind of food do you have him on? How about treats? does he get a lot of "extra's"? Maybe you can post in the food section for more help on dropping those extra pounds. I'm sure someone will have some advice to help you.

The limping, popping, and trembling aren't good signs to me. Lucas started with very similair problems (trembling in back legs instead of front) and now he's not doing so well with his arthritis. I'd have it checked now by your regular vet if you can, see what he has to say. Good luck

I actually had a long thread on the "Dog Food and Recipes" a while back regarding Manni's weight and diet. After quite a bit of research, we decided to feed him Eagle Pack Holistic Select Large & Giant Breed Adult Formula. Our target was 1250-1300 calories/day, but the vet recommended that maybe we cut it down a little bit more.

As for treats, we give him maybe 5-10 Wellness WellBites treats per day when we're outside doing training. If he gets any more than that, we cut down his kibble and give him more green beans.

Other than that, he doesn't really get much. We don't give him scraps off the table, although we do let him eat our apple cores (he LOVES apples).

I'll talk with my wife about taking Manni to the vet again. We've already spent so much money getting this dog tested by the vet for other things (I think we're a little paranoid as first-time dog owners), so we're nervous about more expensive vet bills.

Anyway, thanks for the help!

P.S. If you want to read more about his food and treats:
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_LGAdult.html
http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/wellness/dog_wellness_treats_wellbites.html

If his front legs are trembling when he lifts is back leg, maybe its a balance thing. Like when someone learns how to bench press their arms shake even though they are strong enough to hold the bar up.

The limping thing could be pano. Gunnar had that from about 8-9 months till he was about 15 months or so. It'd flare up from time to time and you'd see him favoring that leg. It was a sore spot right in the middle of his forearm, you could find it by pressing down the leg. Our vet had us give him a regular asprin when it flared up to help with the inflammation and irritation. It didn't cause him to not want to exercise and play, we had to keep him calm and do things that were more mental games than physical when it was flaring up.

This is bit off topic but I heard apple cores are bad, has anyone heard anything about that?

Apple cores contain an extremely small amount of cyanide. From everything I've read, it's really not a problem unless you've got a very small dog and you're feeding it lots of apples. Manni is anything but small, and he maybe gets 2-3 apple cores per week.

It may very well be balance. He's got really long legs and is incredibly clumsy even by lab standards.

I've not heard of pano, but I think his limping is probably related to his exercise level. When I go on travel, we hire a guy to take Manni out hiking for 2-3 hours in the afternoon. If I'm gone for an entire week, by the end of the week Manni is limping pretty noticeably. He typically will stop limping after a few days. Also, I should have mentioned that he's ~5 years old.

Oh, ok then it's probably not pano. I thought I read somewhere in the thread that he was just a year old. At 5, with his size, he could have a touch of arthritus. Check with your vet, but I bet an aspirin would help him feel more comfortable.