Periodic limp in cold

Q: I have a 5 month old teddy bear puppy. She has been having consistent bilateral hind leg issues but only out in the snow when it is cold. She will be running around just find and then will pick up a hind leg and hobble it for a few steps then put it back down and run around on it. She will only rarely cry or whine. She runs around inside all of the time and have yet to ever see it happen inside. We also never saw it happen outside when it was warmer a few weeks ago. Our vet said patellar luxation but is that something that can be cause in the cold weather? Also, how often have you seen a puppy grow out of this issue?

A: Low grade patellar luxation would be my first quests also, was your vets response based on physical examination. Any lameness is exacerbated by cold temperature or unsure footing. Please let me know of other questions. With patellar luxations of grades 1 or 2 most will self correct with approaching skeletal maturity.