Snowie has a slipped lumbar disc (L7/S1 to be exact). Since being diagnosed a year ago we are more aware than ever of his gait and if he drags his feet. When he trots on the beach, you can see a distinct drag mark for both back feet -- it looks like the big pad in the middle of the paw came down first on the sand and then dragged for about 3-6 cm. Mostly see the drag marks at the end of the day, seldom in the morning (probably from a good rest during the night). His back seems to be healed for all we can tell -- he willingly jumps onto the bed and is very frisky, rears up on his hind legs when he's very excited, and shows no discomfort (a huge difference to a year ago when he'd do none of this). Now, we never paid attention to his paw prints before he was diagnosed with a slipped disc, so for all we know he's always dragged his feet (he's always looked clumsy). They have not got worse in the last year, but they have not improved either. Am wondering if anyone else had inspected their dog's paw prints and noticed any drag marks? Our vet said that dragging feet is a sign of nerve damage and showed us how to test it: tuck Snowie's back paw under and see how quickly he recovers it back to the normal state (when standing). Something I must do -- he's lying down now after an outing so I won't bother him to stand up right now. When the vet did this several months ago thankfully his paw went back to normal immediately (whew!). When I showed the vet photos of the drag marks he wasn't surprised, said it was consistent with a slipped disc. I'm also always checking other dogs' paw prints on the beach!! And I've seen no drag marks. (We hardly ever go to the beach anymore given that the soft sand is no good for Snowie's back, but we've just had a long weekend away at a beach house -- thankfully hard sand -- so this is why it is uppermost in my mind.)
Yes, he's seen photos. He said it was consistent with a nerve injury such as a slipped disc. I was just wondering if anyone here on the forum has ever inspected their dog's paw prints and seen similar, particularly if no injury was suspected?
Not really what I found was the nails and tops of my dogs feet would get abraded and sore. He ended up in baby socks with sticking plasters on the tops and a light boot. The boots were to heavy for him as he got older. I had to really protect his feet from damage a his spine deteriorated
As Euan had a herniated disk, I never observed his footprints! I know that when he was examined after his operation, the function all came back normal. Later, when he was in so much pain the vet didn't test him.
That's one of the things the Vet asked me when Jet had her acute back pain episode. He asked me if I had noticed her "knuckling under." It means exactly how it sounds, were her knuckles ending up under her foot and being dragged as @SwampDonkey describes. Jet had not and she never did but it's apparently a common thing with neurologic injury in the back. You might have to put booties on Snowie to protect his feet from the abrasion, if this is what he's doing. Dragging his pads I would think might lead to abrasion too. Oh, and since we can walk on sand in summer and snow in winter I do notice foot prints.
My guess is that is something neurological. My dog drags his right back leg after having hip surgery. Physical therapy helped a lot, especially electrical stimulation. Talk to your vet about it.
I've just checked Snowie's pads and thankfully they are perfect, no sign of abrasion (whew! yet more things to worry about!). But I shall keep a close eye on them. He doesn't knuckle under although I have heard him scrape a nail on the pavement once in a while and he does trip if the surface is uneven (seldom, but it has happened). Poor boy. And yet you should've seen him this past weekend: we went back to a beach house we were at earlier this year and his excitement to be there, it was so incredibly joyful -- he tore around when he got there, leapt up the terraced garden and down again, up onto the deck, for about 5 minutes, at full speed. When we were there earlier this year, while he was still having treatment for his back, he was nothing like this, so we were happy to see so much improvement. But obviously disappointing to see the pad drag marks on the sand, this being our first time back on a beach since we were here last.
Poor Snowy! To answer your question, yes - Brogan and I spent a LOT of time at the beach and I could always tell his prints as he dragged his back left foot. He had spondylosis so his back end got weaker as he aged. He always dragged a bit (this the unique paw prints in the sand) and it got worse when he was tired. We had one really horrible day when the scraping wore down his (already short) nails and hit the quick - blood all over. He seemed in zero pain (and indeed was ready to keep on walking) but I felt like the worst dog mom ever. After that, if we had a longer walk planned, his little socks and shoes went on his back feet (Ruff Wear with Vibram soles, worked a charm). People thought he looked ADORABLE, he thought he looked like a sexy beast (you could always tell when he was proud of himself) and no more bloody toes. Oddly enough, if you put four shoes on him, he walked like he was stepping in chewing gum, but one or two shoes and he'd walk completely normally. Go figure. Anyway, it worked great and solved the problem without (apparently) causing any additional problems to his gait.
Thanks @Emily_BabbelHund. I do find reading accounts like yours very reassuring. I have never seen a dog in boots in our area so it was never something I even thought about! But if the time does come... (hope not!) then at least I will be forewarned and know what kit I need to get for Snowie. Regarding Brogan dragging his left foot -- this is exactly what we thought, too, that it's his left foot. Then it suddenly dawned on me that both drag marks weren't the same paw, but alternating paws. A light bulb moment! Aha! The two paw prints next to each other are one front and one back, not both back paws side by side. Doh! Which kind of lead me to wondering: if he's dragging both paws, it is most odd that he has symmetrical nerve damage; I would've thought one side would be worse affected than the other. Luckily Snowie has been in great health of late and we've not been to the vet in a while. But the symmetrical drag marks are something for the list when we visit again. I can imagine Brogan walking so proudly! Lovely boy!
Snowy too could have his own little set of boots! If it helps to know, Brogan was still walking just fine (if very slowly) up to his passing and never seemed to be in pain. I was afraid he would get painful or be unable to walk sometime after his spondylosis diagnosis, but he just kept happily plugging along and it didn't impede on his quality of life in the slightest. So no need to think the unique paw prints in the sand are something horrible!
Same here my boy had a lot if pain relief due to his condition but once we got a good idea what he needed to help him He was happy and relaxed. He still was going for a walk everyday and had a great quality of life.we had to do things differently but we still did them. He was known as the wobbly dog in the neighbourhood. He was a happy boy who was everyone's friend. I had a very different life type of dogs life with him I had to work hard to keep him well. I had to manipulate his joints and muscle twice a day walk him through assault courses designed to keep him picking his feet up and do hydro once a week. He had a good life for 8 more years . He did dog things and even won golden oldy competition at a dog show at 12. Whatever happens you have Snowie you lucky devils and he's wonderful. I was happy to have had wobbly dog it was great
