SYMPTOM
Limping or lameness
Visible favouring of one or more legs during movement, which may be constant or appear only after activity.
Joint Disease
Degenerative, inflammatory, or developmental conditions affecting one or more joints are among the most common causes of limping. Osteoarthritis produces chronic, often gradually worsening lameness that may be more apparent after rest or during cold weather. Immune-mediated polyarthritis can produce shifting lameness affecting multiple joints. Developmental conditions such as hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, and osteochondrosis may produce lameness that first becomes apparent during growth or early adulthood. The character of the lameness — whether it is consistent or intermittent, whether it improves with movement, and which phase of the stride is affected — can help localise the joint involved.
Soft Tissue Injury
Sprains, strains, tendon injuries, and ligament ruptures can produce acute or chronic lameness depending on the severity and location of the injury. Cranial cruciate ligament disease is one of the most common causes of hind limb lameness in dogs, producing varying degrees of instability and pain. Muscle tears, tendonitis, and bursitis may produce lameness that fluctuates with activity levels and may improve with rest only to recur with exertion. These soft tissue causes may not produce obvious external signs, making the lameness itself the primary indicator.
Bone Disease
Conditions affecting the bones themselves can produce lameness through pain, instability, or altered mechanics. Fractures, whether traumatic or pathological, typically produce acute, severe lameness with reluctance to bear weight. Bone infections (osteomyelitis), bone tumours, and panosteitis in young dogs can all produce lameness of varying onset and severity. Bone-related lameness is often characterised by its consistency — present with every step rather than intermittent — and may be accompanied by visible swelling or palpable abnormalities.
Neurological
Conditions affecting the nerves supplying a limb can produce lameness through weakness, incoordination, or altered proprioception rather than pain. Nerve root compression from disc disease, peripheral nerve injury, or neuromuscular conditions may produce a lameness that appears different from pain-related limping — the limb may be placed abnormally, knuckle over, or circumduct during the stride rather than showing the typical shortened stance phase of painful lameness. Distinguishing neurological from orthopaedic lameness can require careful observation of the gait pattern.
Paw or Nail
Problems affecting the paw pads, interdigital spaces, or nails can produce lameness that may be immediately obvious on examination or may require careful inspection to identify. Foreign bodies lodged between toes, broken or torn nails, paw pad cuts or burns, interdigital cysts, and nail bed infections can all produce acute or chronic lameness. These causes are sometimes overlooked during initial assessment but may represent straightforward conditions with clear treatment paths once identified.
Why timing matters
Early observation
When limping first appears, the circumstances of onset provide valuable initial context. An acute onset during or after specific activity may suggest a traumatic or mechanical trigger, while a gradual onset without clear precipitating event may suggest a degenerative or inflammatory process. Early in the presentation, the lameness may be mild and intermittent — noticeable only during certain activities, on specific surfaces, or after particular levels of exertion. The animal may appear to "warm out" of the lameness with gentle movement, only for it to return after rest, a pattern often associated with arthritic conditions.
Later presentation
Persistent lameness may develop secondary consequences beyond the primary cause. Chronic favouring of one limb redistributes weight-bearing stress to the remaining limbs and spine, potentially creating compensatory pain and dysfunction in these structures. Muscle atrophy in the affected limb may develop over weeks, visible as a difference in bulk between the lame and sound limbs. The animal may progressively restrict its activities, leading to deconditioning that compounds the original problem. At this stage, the clinical picture may involve multiple layers of dysfunction — the original cause, compensatory changes, muscle wasting, and reduced fitness — that interact with each other.
The trajectory of lameness depends significantly on the underlying cause. Arthritic lameness tends to gradually worsen over months but may fluctuate with activity, weather, and flares of inflammation. Cruciate ligament disease may show acute worsening followed by partial improvement and then gradual deterioration. Bone tumour-related lameness typically progresses steadily over weeks. Soft tissue injuries may improve with rest but recur with activity if the underlying structural damage persists. Whether the lameness is improving, stable, worsening, or showing a pattern of remission and relapse helps characterise the underlying process.
Conditions commonly associated
Osteoarthritis in Dogs
Hip Dysplasia in Dogs
Intervertebral Disc Disease in Dogs
Cruciate Ligament Disease in Dogs
Luxating Patella in Dogs
Higher-grade patellar luxation can produce persistent lameness as the patella remains displaced for extended periods or permanently, disrupting normal knee extension and weight-bearing mechanics.
Elbow Dysplasia in Dogs
Elbow dysplasia commonly presents with forelimb lameness, which may be subtle and intermittent initially or become more persistent as the condition progresses.
Osteosarcoma in Dogs
Progressive lameness is often the first clinical sign of appendicular osteosarcoma, initially intermittent and weight-bearing before becoming persistent and non-weight-bearing as the tumour destroys bone architecture or pathological fracture occurs.
Lyme Disease (Borreliosis)
Lyme disease in dogs can cause limping that may shift between legs, often described as a shifting-leg lameness, typically appearing weeks after tick exposure and sometimes resolving and recurring intermittently.
Soft Tissue Sarcomas
Soft tissue sarcomas affecting limbs may cause lameness as they enlarge and interfere with normal muscle or joint function.
Immune-Mediated Polyarthritis
Immune-mediated polyarthritis causes joint inflammation that often results in shifting or multi-limb lameness that may vary in severity.
Patellar Luxation
Lameness may occur intermittently during luxation episodes or become more persistent as joint changes develop.
When to explore further
Lameness that persists beyond a few days without clear improvement, or that worsens over time rather than gradually resolving, may suggest a condition that is unlikely to self-resolve and may benefit from characterisation to understand the underlying cause.
When limping affects different limbs at different times — shifting from one leg to another over days or weeks — this shifting pattern may suggest a systemic process such as immune-mediated polyarthritis or tick-borne disease rather than a localised structural problem in a single limb.
Lameness accompanied by visible swelling of a joint or limb, particularly if the swelling is firm, warm, or painful to gentle pressure, may suggest an active inflammatory, infectious, or proliferative process within or around the affected structure.
A sudden onset of severe lameness where the animal is completely unwilling to bear any weight on the affected limb represents a different level of concern from mild intermittent limping and may indicate a more significant structural disruption such as a fracture, ligament rupture, or acute joint infection.
Lameness developing in a large-breed young dog during the growth phase, particularly if it shifts between legs or is accompanied by reluctance to exercise, may suggest a developmental orthopaedic condition that has its origins in the growing skeleton.
Careful observation of the lameness pattern can provide useful characterisation. Noting which limb is affected, whether the lameness is worse when the animal first rises or after sustained activity, whether it improves with gentle movement, and whether specific activities such as stairs, jumping, or turning provoke it more than others can help localise and characterise the problem. Watching the animal walk on different surfaces and at different speeds may reveal aspects of the lameness not apparent in a single observation. Comparing the muscle bulk of the affected limb to its counterpart on the opposite side can indicate how long the limb has been favouring.
Last reviewed: 24 April 2026 · Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS