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Why is my 7-month-old French bulldog limping after elbow surgery?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | French Bulldog | Male | unneutered | 7 months and 1 day old

Our French bulldog broke his elbow when he was 3months old, he had surgery and got two screws put it. He is now going on 7months old and his leg seems to be giving him trouble this week, he woke up one morning and was limping and couldn't put much pressure on it but it improved itself within a few hours and he was perfect again. Now again tonight - 3 days later he is starting to limp on it again, it was perfect in between the 3days. What could be the issue? Thank you

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Lotus Altholtz

Veterinarian, Board-Certified Lab Animal Medicine Specialist

Published on January 10th, 2019

Koby is a cutie! Ideally he just sprained his forelimb/only has a soft tissue injury and will respond well to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (recent blood work showing normal liver values is usually recommended before prescribing NSAIDs such as carprofen/Rimadyl) for a few days along with activity restriction for a week. This conservative therapy may be chosen as long as the limb does not appear swollen, acutely painful, etc. on physical exam/palpation. Re-x raying that limb would be ideal to determine if there has been migration of the pins/a new fracture etc. but could potentially wait if he is putting weight on the limb/it does not appear swollen/ and he responds well to the pain medication. As he has pins in his limb, he will be more prone to arthritis as the years go by and would likely benefit from being on a joint supplement such as VetriScience Mobility Flex or Vetriflex for life. Best of luck!

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