Dogs hurting themselves is one of the saddest things we, as pet parents, can witness. There’s nothing worse than finding out that your pup is hurting, especially if you have no idea how it happened or how long they’ve been like that.
On Monday, May 27th, one Golden Retriever was limping up a storm, but she wasn’t getting quite the sympathy she’d been wanting. When she sought it out from her orange cat sister, things got even funnier:
@thegoldenbreakfastclubMiss drama herself #fyp #foryou #dogs #dogsoftiktok #puppy #vet #dog #goldenretriever #maple #golden #pets #cute #dogsandcats #pup
The Golden Breakfast Club isn’t complete if miss Maple’s paw isn’t working right! Thank goodness she was literally fine the whole time…
Related: Golden Retriever Siblings Have a Snack Race and It’s Actually Quite Smart
Maple is a 3-year-old Golden Retriever, and her sister is Waffles, an 8-year old orange cat with some extra toes. Waffles is still pretty young by cat standards: she’s about middle-aged, possibly a little bit less. You’d never know it by looking at how she acts, though! She’s as crotchety as they come!
Poor Maple managed to hurt her paw somehow; she was favoring it and showing it off to anyone who would listen. That includes Waffles, who did not care one bit about Maple’s achy paw. After a call to the vet, the family was advised to keep an eye on it and bring her in if it persisted, but miraculously, she was all better when she wanted to go outside. What a shocker!
Why do dogs limp for ‘no reason’?
By all accounts, Maple was absolutely not seriously injured, and she may have never even been hurting. The way she was acting would certainly make one think that there was something wrong, but there just wasn’t. And, if you have dogs of your own, you know that this happens more often than you’d think, but… Why?
There’s no way to prove that Maple or any of our other pets aren’t hurting a little when they limp, because they probably are. While it’s typically not severe enough to be a sprain or a break, there are other things that could be going on:
- They stepped on something that you didn’t see
- They’re having a cramp in that leg
- They got bitten by a bug
- There’s an underlying bone/joint issue (which is pretty common in Goldens)
Dogs don’t follow the same social conventions that we do. While humans know that limping around for an hour after you step on a LEGO is a little bit too much, dogs just don’t know that. They’re also scared of recreating the pain: they may not realize that the threat is gone and it’s safe to step now. Of course, sympathy treats are always nice, except if you’re Maple. Then, you just get the kitty claws!
