My dog is having trouble walking....help!

[Rockne]

My parents were watching our dog on Saturday and when I picked him up Saturday night they said that he was having a hard time getting up and down the stairs & he was walking funny. They said nothing traumatic happened to him during the day, but throughout the day it was progressively getting worse. By the time I got him home, he was very wobbly on his legs and could barely maneuver the one step into our house. He has been walking very gingerly and struggling to get up and down since then.

It seems as though it's both of his back legs that are bothering him. We took him to the vet on Sunday and she gave him some anti-inflamatory medicine and said to keep an eye on it. We're scheduled for x-rays on Thursday, but has this happened to anyone else?

Our dog is almost 1 year old and had shown no signs of any hip problems before Saturday. We just can't figure out how he went from pretty normal to so bad so quickly.

Any help?

[calgal]

He could have just twisted himself in a wrong direction and pinched a nerve. Since he's so young he will heal quickly. I'd try and keep him as quiet as possible so no further injury to the area happens.

[mulroony]

Sorry to hear about your pup, hopefully he just pulled a muscle and is a bit sore. I have seen one of my dogs look like he was in serious trouble over what happened to be a pulled/bruised/nothing major muscle problem, and a couple of days later he was just fine.

[Rockne]

I'm hoping it's just a pulled muscle somewhere, but it breaks my heart everytime he trys to get up and then slips or falls. Thursday can't come soon enough. Should I be worried about hip dysplasia?

[theGOOCH]

Rockne? Notre Dame fan by chance?

Like a lot of symptoms there are serious reasons this could happen and non-serious ones

The same thing happened to Blitz a couple months ago. I ended up taking him to a veterinary orthopaedist. We're not really sure exactly what it was either. The doc said it was most likely a pinched nerve and it was likely in the neck (yeah even though it's the back legs) It could be caused by a minor injury or, since he's a Doberman, Wobbler's syndrome which can be really bad news. He's been off his medicine (they gave him prednisone) for about 3 weeks and is good as new. She said its unlikely that he'd be doing this well off his meds for this long without surgery if it were wobbler's especially since it came on very acutely and acute cases of wobbler's tend to be much more debilitating and progress more quickly than cases when it comes on gradually.

If he's not better soon ask about steroids (prednisone) Blitz went from barely being able to stand to walking around pretty easily within a couple days on them. Then it took a few weeks for him to run and jump like his old self. He was on a six week treatment which started with a pretty high dose.

The doc recommended in either case to use a harness instead of a collar to save strain on the neck (he can still wear a collar, just don't attatch the leash to it)

also....find out if the x-rays he's scheduled for are myelograms (I'm certain I spelled that wrong) They are pretty invasive and some docs say to only do them as a last resort because they can cause a lot of soreness and temporary lameness themselves. If they are just x-rays its no big deal.

I know it's scary, but just hope for the best. It could be nothing major in the long run.

[mulroony]

I am no expert, but I have never heard of a dog that young suffering from HD. What breed is he again??

[Rockne]

He is a shepherd/huskie mix. And yes, we're huge Notre Dame fans. Our dog's name is actually Rockne.

I didn't think HD came on as something so sudden, but the vet said it might be something to look at.

Like I said, Thursday can't come soon enough.