Dog limping

Little backstory, Almost two weeks ago on the 16th, my pup ringo, somehow got a laceration right on his knee. It was decently deep. The vet had to sedate him to put a couple internal stitches as well as 4 external stitches. I was advised that the stitches in that area can be tricky because of the constant tension and stretching of the knee. About 4 days after the stitches were placed… they somehow came out. Took him the following day and they put 4 staples in… well, those came out last night too! The laceration itself is healing nicely. But that’s not my concern. Would there be any obvious reason he’s still not putting weight on his leg? He’s limping and won’t put any weight while walking. He can stand with his foot on the ground. But as soon as it comes to walking or trying to run, his foot stays right in the air. I’m worried something might be wrong with a muscle or tendon? In not sure. I’ve been able to squeeze, pushing, stretch all over his leg and he has no reaction. Except till tonight when I pushed his leg towards his body, into his hip and he winced a little bit. Any idea what could be going on? Nerve pain? Tendon? Muscle? I don’t have a lot of money as I am a broke college student who took in a stray a year ago 😂. The first pic is the original laceration, second pic is after the stitches came out, third is currently after the staples came out. He also just finished his prescription for anti-inflammatory and is almost done with antibiotic. He’s in a cone 24/7 except for a couple minutes throughout the day when I can keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t lick, but to let him get his itchies out.

Hello - I'm afraid that there are lots of possibilities.   The wound could be infected.  It could simply still be very inflamed and pulling / hurting when he weightbears.   There could be a foreign body in there.  He could be remembering the pain.  There could be other, unanticipated damage elsewhere in the leg.  He could simply still be inflamed and needed to rest it.  Were you given / following post op instructions from your vet in this regard?  Usually, vets will see you for a post op check after this sort of surgery, but if you have any concerns before then, it's always a good idea to ask for the leg to be checked again.  'What should I be expecting to see in this particular case at this stage?' Is always an excellent question.  I hope that something there is of help.